For trouble free printing follow these guidelines

The following guide will assist you with your electronic file preparation. If you have a specific problem that is not covered in this guide, or have other questions, please feel free to contact us. Improperly prepared files can cause delays in manufacturing or undesirable results with the printed product. 

PDF checklist

Fonts must be embedded in the PDF or converted to paths (to check in Acrobat Pro go to: File > Properties > Fonts Tab) any fonts used in the document should have (Embedded Subset) next to the font name. If not check your PDF settings in your design / desktop publishing application and re-make the PDF.

Images used within PDFs must have a resolution of at least 300dpi. To check an images resolution in Photoshop go to:

Image > Image Size and check Resolution setting. Please Note: Simply increasing the resolution in Photoshop does not improve the resolution as the resolution of an image will come from the settings applied at the original creation, for example a digital cameras image quality setting. 

However to increase the resolution of a file in Photoshop go to: Image > Image Size and turn off the ‘Resample Image’ option then increase ‘Resolution’ to 300dpi, you will notice the actual ‘Document Size’ will reduce to the correct dimensions for the image at 300dpi. This image can then be replaced in your design / desktop publishing application and enlarged to a maximum of 130% without the loss of data.

PDFs must have at least 2mm bleed

Definition of Bleed: Printed colours that extend to the very edge of a page require the image area to extend past the finished trim size. To cut the job to its actual size the file needs to be prepared with 2mm bleed. For example if the job is a business card (90x55mm) the actual file size would need to be (94x59mm).

Images used within PDFs must be CMYK not RGB colour mode (to convert images to CMYK in Photoshop go to:

Image > Mode > then select ‘CMYK Color’. The Preflight component of our prepress workflow will convert all RGB images to CMYK using the industry standard ‘CoatedFOGRA39’ profile but the colour may change slightly to what you are expecting.

Number of pages in a PDF must match exactly that of the product that is being ordered. For example if ordering a 8 Page Booklet then the uploaded file must consist of 8 pages.

A safe margin of 3mm from the edge of the document must be kept free from important objects, type and details to ensure that they are not cut off during trimming due to guillotining tolerances.