Enhancements have been added to integrate the package with management and production systems and to simplify the searching, viewing and retrieval of files.

New features include enhanced support for Adobe InDesign and Photoshop files and the automatic capture, storage and transmission of metadata about files for use downstream in production or in MIS.

Other features include the ability to see previews of QuarkXPress and InDesign files from within WebNative without the applications for remote approval, and the linked file viewer, which simplifies searching for and using assets.

The increased adoption of InDesign and the use of later versions of QuarkXPress, which allow users to place native Photoshop files, has led the firm to add further support for the format. It said that the use of a single .psd file with multiple versions would help to simplify asset management.

A new versioning plug-in for use with Photoshop automatically creates and saves versions of files, imposes a structured way of working and a version management component allows the remote viewing of the files.

To integrate the production and administration of jobs and files the firm is working with Adobe's XMP format to keep metadata in stored files. It believes that for page production XMP is a more efficient way of capturing, storing and transferring metadata than JDF, although as another XML-based format the two are compatible.

Story by Barney Cox