Use this article when your shop runs un-folded, un-bound sheet products — flyers, posters, postcards, business cards, single-sheet menus, point-of-sale headers — and you need Estimator to price a fast print-and-trim route without folding or binding overhead on every quote. After this you will have a flat product category that appears in the create-estimate product picker and prices the simplest route on the price breakdown.
Steps
1. Create the category
Open Estimate Setup → Products → Categories, then select + Add New. Fill in the fields below.
Identification
Name — the customer-facing product family (e.g., "Leaflets & Flyers (un-folded)", "Posters", "Business Cards").
Display Name — leave the same as Name.
Category Type — choose Flat. This tells Estimator that quotes in this family carry no folding and no binding pass. The flat type is the simplest commercial sheet category.
Calculation and imposition
Price Model — set to paper_calc. Estimator prices by parent sheet and run length.
Price Adjustment Model — pick Gross Profit% for general flyer work. Switch to VA per Press Hour if your shop reads margin against press hours on long-run posters.
Bleed — default bleed in millimetres applied to each page (e.g., 3 mm).
Flags
Allow Same Size Sheet — switch to Yes if you offer a no-bleed economy variant where the artwork sits within the safe area of the parent sheet and no edge trim happens. Leave No for the standard bleed + trim path.
Mixed Production Enabled — leave No unless your press routinely runs multiple flyer SKUs as a single ganged sheet.
Markups
Labor / Machine / Delivery / Outwork — default markup percentages (e.g., 20% each).
Save the row. The Pending Changes count increments by one in the sidebar.
2. Define the part
Open Category Parts for the new category. A flat product is a single part — one sheet, printed on one or both sides.
Add one part row:
Name —
body(orsheet, whichever your shop uses).Production Steps — typically print → cut. Flat products skip folding and binding. If you offer a laminated flyer or postcard, add laminate between print and cut.
Tags — pair the part with compatible substrates and presses (e.g.,
coated-text-150,digital). Estimator filters routes using these tags.
Save the part row. Pending Changes increments again.
3. Configure the quote inputs
Open Finish Sizes, Page Colors, and Field Rules under Products.
Finish Sizes — add the finished trim sizes your shop offers. Common entries for general flat work: A6 105 × 148 mm or 4 × 6 in, A5, A4, A3, US Letter, US Tabloid. Select Custom Size to let estimators enter bespoke dimensions.
Page Colors — list the colour combinations you accept. Common flat options: full colour single side, full colour both sides, full colour front / black-only back.
Field Rules — surface conditional inputs like laminate, spot UV, rounded corners, and perforation so estimators only see the options that apply to this category.
A flat category does not need Page Limits or Page Folds — those only apply to bound and folded products.
4. Apply the changes
Open the Pending Changes panel in the sidebar and review the staged category, part, and quote inputs. Select Apply Changes to publish to live setup.
The Pending Changes count returns to zero, and the flat category appears in the create-estimate product picker with the simplest print-and-trim route on the price breakdown.
Things to know
A flat category does not include any binding or folding step. If a customer asks for a folded version of a flat product, that is a separate category — create it as Folded rather than reconfigure this one. Sharing one category across folded and un-folded routes makes Estimator pick the wrong route at quote time.
The Allow Same Size Sheet flag controls whether Estimator is allowed to lay the artwork on the same parent sheet without bleed. The cost saving is real (no edge trim) but the design constraint is strict — only enable it when your customers genuinely buy no-bleed flat work, otherwise leave it No.
If a flat-product quote ends up routing through a folder or stitcher anyway, the most common cause is that a finishing machine has this category in its accepted list but the part's Production Steps do not request that step. Open the binder or folder editor and remove this category from its accepted list if you do not want it to participate.