Method for identifying printed products in print finishing, at least comprising the following steps: • printing at least one printed product to be processed, at least one outer side of the printed product to be processed being provided with an optically capturable printed image , • feeding the at least one printed product into an apparatus for print finishing , • capturing at least one printed image of the at least one fed printed product by means of a reading device of the apparatus for print finishing , • defining at least one optically capturable identification feature within said at least one printed image , which serves to uniquely identify the respectively printed product and/or at least one process assigned to said at least one printed product , this definition comprising the arrangement and extent that determine the spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature and/or the content-related configuration within a spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature , • transmitting this definition to an evaluation device of the apparatus for print finishing of the printed product , • transmitting the printed image captured by the reading device to the evaluation device , and • evaluating optical properties of the printed image transmitted by the reading device in the at least one defined spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature by means of the evaluation device of the apparatus for print finishing, the identification feature being formed by at least one part of the original printed image which dispenses with image elements used primarily for production, characterized in that the identification feature extends over at least two regions (12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the printed image that are separated from one another. • printing at least one printed product to be processed, at least one outer side of the printed product to be processed being provided with an optically capturable printed image , • feeding the at least one printed product into an apparatus for print finishing , • capturing at least one printed image of the at least one fed printed product by means of a reading device of the apparatus for print finishing , • defining at least one optically capturable identification feature within said at least one printed image , which serves to uniquely identify the respectively printed product and/or at least one process assigned to said at least one printed product , this definition comprising the arrangement and extent that determine the spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature and/or the content-related configuration within a spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature , • transmitting this definition to an evaluation device of the apparatus for print finishing of the printed product , • transmitting the printed image captured by the reading device to the evaluation device , and • evaluating optical properties of the printed image transmitted by the reading device in the at least one defined spatial region (12, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3) of the identification feature by means of the evaluation device of the apparatus for print finishing, <EOS>