Method and system of performing prepress operations using a shell document

A system for performing prepress operations with respect to a print job, the system comprising: a prepress workflow system configured to: receive (100) a document to be processed by a workflow, generate (105) a shell document corresponding to the received document, wherein each page of the shell document comprises an external reference that corresponds to a page of the received document, perform (110) one or more first prepress operations on the shell document to produce a modified shell document, and perform (115) one or more second prepress operations on the received document to produce a modified received document; and a printing device in communication with the prepress workflow system, wherein the printing device is configured to print the modified shell document and the modified received document.