Insurance Cards - Duplex Print [Documaker 12.1]

Question

Hello,
We are trying to build insurance cards - which have information both on front side and back side. Here are some more details of the cards.    
1. A Page (8.5in/11in) should contain three such cards (dimensions are such that if the cards get repeated, A4 will accommodate three of such cards).
2. A header with a standard wording on the front side of the paper and a blank header should be printed on back side of the paper.
3. Each side of the Card has a border. It is expected that the border to overlap exactly on top of each other on front/back.
Here is what we did.
1. Created a Front side header and a back side header. Marked the following options on Section properties.
Front Side Header: "Options" : Entry and Print, "Duplex" = Front Page | Back Side Header : "Options" = "Optional Back" and "Duplex" = "Rolling"
2. The Front Side Card Section Properties : Duplex : Front Page and Trigger - Manual Trigger
3. The Back Side Card Section Properties : Duplex : Back Page and Trigger - Manual Trigger
**These are one of the combinations that we are working upon. However we are unable to get the desired result. I would appreciate any suggestions to get this working.
Please let me know if I need provide more information. Thank you.
Documaker Studio Version : 12.1

Answer 1

Unfortunately, I'm not sure there's enough information - at least for me - to say what you are doing right or wrong. Therefore, I'll throw out some generalities and see if any of this helps.
Whether you have headers on both sides of the page is not as relevant as it is that your card front and back line up correctly. So the key will be to ensure that the sections are assigned the same origins (front and back) and that the starting position of those origins is the same. For instance, you did not describe whether you intend to define the form with the necessary sections pre-defined on the pages or whether you are trying to dynamically trigger from 1 to 3 cards per page. For instance, the letters I get from my insurance carrier have perforations where the cards go, so the "space" for the cards is always there. The cards that are not to be printed are either left blank or have "VOID VOID VOID" where the name goes. If that is your situation, then you can pretty much define a "canned" form that already has all the sections placed where you want and use absolute origins.  If you intend to "use" the space where secondary cards would normally print for other purposes when there is only one, then you are going to use a different (probably relative) origin method. Studio does a pretty good job showing your the net effect of relative placement.
Duplex is determined by the first "printable" section on the page. This can be a header if you have one, but doesn't have to be. If you have no need for a real header, simply create a "dummy" placeholder section and give it an origin that will make the succeeding sections place where you want.  Although this is a dummy section, you do have to assign the same recipient that your card sections will use. And that means you either have to assign that recipient a count of 1 or you have to use the Always trigger and assign the count on the trigger.
Remember "placeholder" is a type of section attribute and is not to be confused with "hidden". Hidden sections are not considered printable and therefore will not control the duplex settings.
So if you are defining a canned form, you would go ahead and create both pages in DMStudio and assign the necessary sections to both sides. Then you just have to remember to assign the duplex setting to whatever is the first printable section on the page that will have the same recipient as your card sections.