Glossary collator or collation

Definition of collator or collation

collator or collation

1.  The act of separating copies into collated or sorted sets. Analog copiers use mechanical collators or sorters. These send one copy per bin, and then send the next copy of the next original to each bin, starting with the last page and finishing with the first page. Digital copiers (if equipped with adequate memory) do not need a mechanical collator. They are usually capable of storing the entire job in memory, and then printing out one set at a time, beginning with the first page. In addition to this collation function, digital copiers have other methods of making it more convenient for the operator to retrieve the collated sets. They may be offset, meaning that each completed set is shifted approximately 1 inch away from the one before it. They may be rotated 90 degrees; one set is fed landscape orientation, the next is portrait, then landscape, etc. Also see criss-cross sort, rotate sort.