With so many low cost and high quality desktop publishing softwares and laser and inkjet printers available today, many of our customers are creating their own files for print. Following are recommendations we ask you to follow in order that you may prepare your files properly from the beginning for Carolina Professional Printers. When your files are prepared correctly from the start, it is easier for us to meet your time, quality and budgetary needs for the printing jobs you submit by file.
We Support The Following Desktop Softwares and formats, and recommend that you create your file in one of these:
· Adobe InDesign (Mac and PC)
· QuarkXPress (Mac and PC)
· Microsoft Publisher (PC)
· Microsoft Office Applications (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
· PDF (See also our brochure regarding Jaws PDF Courier)
· Postscript (.ps)
Regarding Graphics
Please use only .EPS and .TIFF file formats for photos and clipart (.JPEG files lose information each time they are edited and saved, and usually of too low a resolution for print quality). Please place or insert the art and photos, do not copy and paste.
The resolution of your graphics files should be 300 DPI or better, at the actual size to be printed. Bitmap art should be 1200 DPI or higher, and JPEGs should be provided at the highest resolution available; both .BMP and .JPEG files may incur additional prepress fees in order to be converted to .EPS or .TIFF formats.
In order to commercially print your file, we will need all graphics included along with your file (see Sending Your Files To Us, below).
Fonts, Fonts, Fonts
There are many fonts to choose from these days; some are included in software packages free of charge, some can be purchased in sets from reputable firms that specialize in fonts and graphics, and many are available free on the internet.
In order for fonts to be usable for printing, they must be licensed and embeddable. Many fonts available over the internet are not licensed for commercial printing and cannot be embedded in the file. When we receive the file you wish printed and open it on our computers, the fonts must be either already on our computer or be embedded into the file for us to use. If the fonts are not available, the software will attempt to replace the fonts with readily available fonts; not necessarily similar to the fonts you intended. If we don’t recognize the font name, we cannot choose a similar font for you unless you include a hard copy or PDF of the file.
The best course of action regarding fonts is to use the fonts licensed with the softwares you have purchased or to purchase them from reputable firms. You will know if all of your fonts are embedded when you package your file to send to us (see below).
More About Fonts
When choosing fonts, it is always best from a design standpoint to limit the number of fonts to a maximum of three, one or two serif and one or two sans serif. Serif type is usually used for body content, while sans serif type is usually reserved for headings.
If you want to have a bold or italic type, please choose a bold or italic font, rather than stylize the font from the Microsoft toolbar with B or I. Stylized fonts will not appear bold or italicized after our Computer To Plate system “rips” the file.
As Soon As You Begin Creating Your File
· Specify the colorspace you are wishing the file to be printed in; do not use RGB. If you wish spot colors, you must specify the Pantone colors being used; if you want a two color document, use only those two pantone colors and their designated tints (shades), otherwise you document will be multi-color. If you want full color, specify CMYK.
· If you have a logo or other artwork that absolutely must be the exact same color every time you print it, only Pantone (PMS) color designations will give exact results. If you do not know your PMS colors, we can identify them for you.
· Please leave a 5/16” inch (or 2 picas) margin all around your document for press gripper.
· If your document has folds, please make sure the panels are correct before creating your document. Microsoft Publisher templates are not correct for print output, and will need to be adjusted. Templates are available for our customers at no charge that are QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign or Publisher ready; please call us for your specific job need.
· Designate the overall document size including bleeds. For bleeds, please include crop marks for cuts and allow 1/8” margin past the crop marks for any bleed.
Pitfalls To Avoid
Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, and Excel cannot generate spot color printing, and much of the clipart graphics are RGB images with low resolution meant for internet use. These do not print well, and may shift color when converted to CMYK.
· Just because it looks great off your ink jet printer does not mean it will print well on a press. Our equipment is very specific to the printing industry, and the steps listed above are required in order to generate a quality printing job.
Sending Your Files To Us
In order to send a complete copy of your file, it is necessary to include all fonts, graphics and documents when sending to us for print; including the complete sets of fonts. The font sets must be embedded in order to ensure the layout will remain stable when our Computer To Plate “rips” your file and requires the font sets to revert to. A hard copy sample or PDF document is necessary to compare to the printed copy.
QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Publisher have built in routines to collect and organize documents and their supporting files. These programs’ routines save a copy of the document along with necessary graphics and fonts in a folder (or file in Publisher’s case) for you to send to use via disk or our website File Transfer Portal (see our “Using Our Website” brochure for further information regarding our FTP).
QuarkXpress: Use the “Collect for Output” command.
Adobe InDesign: Use the “Package” command
Microsoft Publisher: Use the “Pack and Go” command (generates a .PUZ file)
Microsoft Word: Embed your TrueType fonts using the following commands:
1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and click the Save tab.
2. Select the Embed TrueType fonts checkbox.
3. Save the document.
Microsoft PowerPoint: Embed your fonts using the following commands:
1. On the File menu, click Save As.
2. On the toolbar, click Tools
3. Depending on your version, you may click on Embed TrueType fonts or Save Options, then select Embed TrueType Fonts checkbox and choose to Embed all characters.
Microsoft Excel: No options are available; a PDF is suggested.
Illustrator or Freehand: All fonts should be converted to outlines, and embedded in a PDF for print. Not recommended for page layout.
Why Do I Need to Do All Of This?
When we receive your file that you wish to have printed, we preflight it in our PrePress Department before sending it to our Production Department to print. Preflighting involves checking your document file to be certain it is ready for output to our Computer To Plate system (CTP). Our CTP electronically generates the press plates necessary to print your document on our presses.
How We PreFlight Your File
The following Preflighting steps are part of our Quality Control program; however, not all steps are necessary for every file (please see our Printing Terms Glossary at http://www.professional-printers for definitions of terms):
1. Confirm that all fonts and graphics are included with the document, and that all graphics are present.
2. Check that the size of the document as quoted is the same as the size of the document in the file. Check for bleeds not indicated previously.
3. Check that ink colors in the job specifications are the same as in the document. Check colorspaces for appropriateness (no RGB, CMYK for process color, proper number of Pantone colors for spot. Check screen angles , and confirm that specified paper is appropriate for the job.
4. In a multi-page document, check for page ordering (reader spreads vs. printer spreads) and page creep.
5. Confirm that trapping is active in the document, and check each color item for trapping exception errors.
6. Check panel sizes in folded documents.
7. Open all raster images and check for appropriate color space.
8. Identify ink densities in photos and evaluate effects of expected dot gain.
9. Check resolution of raster images, both before and after scaling in layout program.
10. Check for presence and quality of clipping paths in raster images.
11. Check photos for color cast, dust and scratches. Evaluate overall quality of the image.
12. Check for trapping requirements in raster images.
13. Open all Bezier (vector) artwork and check for missing fonts or images.
14. Check Bezier images for appropriate color space.
15. Check in densities in Bezier images and evaluate effects of expected dot gain.
16. Check for trapping in Bezier images.
17. Print laser copies and laser separations, and compare to proofs supplied by customer.
18. Fax laser prints or email PDF proof to customer for final approval.
Some files may require special prepress preparation in order to print properly, and additional charges will apply if needed. After preflighting your file, we will inform you of any additional work that needs to be completed beyond your quoted price; you may choose to make the corrections yourself, or we can complete them for you at an additional charge. Good Luck and Happy Printing!
