Automatic insertion of special pages into black & white digital printing jobs

A print shop environment including multiple printers ( 122 HV, 122 C) under the control of computer resources ( 116, 118, 120 ) to automatically print complex documents is disclosed. According to the disclosed embodiment, a companion plug-in application operates in combination with an authoring application, to permit a human operator to select certain special pages, such as those to be printed by a color printer ( 122 C). These pages are assigned to a media type that is not valid at a high-volume printer ( 122 HV), causing an invalid job configuration for that page. The special pages are printed at the color printer ( 122 C), and that output is loaded into an inserter ( 135 ) in the high-volume printer ( 122 HV). The main job is modified to interpret each of the invalid job configuration pages to insert commands, so that the special pages can be inserted by the inserter ( 135 ) at the correct location in the output job, when printed by the high-volume printer ( 122 HV). The complex documents are thus be generated and printed in an automated fashion.