How to Prepare Your Files for Perfect Printing
A great print job starts with a great file. This guide will walk you through the essential steps to ensure your design prints exactly as you envision it.
Proper file printing preparation is the foundation of professional print quality results. At Spencer Printing, we've seen how attention to detail during the file printing prep stage can make the difference between a good print job and an exceptional one.
Our comprehensive file printing preparation guidelines have been developed through decades of experience to help publishers avoid common pitfalls that can delay production or compromise quality. Whether you're preparing files for your first book or your fiftieth, following these file printing prep standards ensures smooth production workflow and delivers the crisp, professional results your project deserves.
Your Print-Ready Checklist
Before you send your file, make sure it meets these five key requirements for the best possible result. We explain each one in detail below.
Correct Dimensions & Bleed: Your file is sized correctly with a 0.125″ bleed on all sides.
High-Resolution Images: All images are set to 300 DPI for crisp, clear printing.
CMYK Color Mode: Your document’s color mode is set to CMYK, not RGB.
Fonts Outlined or Embedded: All fonts are converted to outlines or embedded in the final file.
Exported as a PDF: Your final, print-ready file is saved as a high-quality PDF.
Print Prep Importance
These file printing preparation requirements might seem detailed, but each step serves a crucial purpose in achieving optimal print quality. Our prepress team reviews every file using these file printing prep standards to catch potential issues before they reach the press.
When files arrive properly prepared according to these guidelines, we can focus on delivering exceptional print quality rather than troubleshooting technical problems. Remember, investing time in thorough file printing preparation on the front end saves both time and money during production, ensuring your books print perfectly the first time and meet your quality expectations.
A Detailed Guide to Each Step
A bleed is a small extra margin (we require 0.125 inches) of your design that extends beyond the final trim edge. Because printing and trimming have minor variations, the bleed ensures that there are no unprinted white edges on your final product after it’s cut to size.
DPI stands for “Dots Per Inch.” Images on screens look fine at a lower resolution (like 72 DPI), but for high-quality printing, 300 DPI is the industry standard. It ensures your photos and graphics look sharp and crisp, not blurry or pixelated.
RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the color model used for digital screens. CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) is the color model used for full-color printing. Your design files must be set to CMYK to ensure the colors you see on screen are as accurate as possible when printed.
If you use a font that we don’t have installed on our computers, it may be automatically substituted, changing your design. Outlining (converting text to shapes) or embedding the font file into your PDF ensures that your typography looks exactly as you intended.
A PDF (Portable Document Format) is the industry standard because it packages all your images, fonts, and layouts into a single, self-contained file. This ensures that nothing shifts or changes when we open it on our end, guaranteeing a more accurate print.
Files Ready? Let's Get Started.
Following these guidelines is the best way to ensure a perfect print job.
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