What Is A Print Ready PDF?

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Creating a print ready PDF and submitting it to your printing services provider like Executive Services can speed up the printing process and allow you to get hard copies of your documents quicker.

When you send a print ready PDF, you can avoid having to send multiple files in many cases. You won't have to send as much instruction on the print job to the printer. This means that there will be less room for error or confusion. 

Print ready PDFs simplify the workflow process and inevitably allow the pre-press tasks of printing a document to progress much faster. 

A print ready PDF meets the following criteria:

  • Colors: In a print ready PDF, colors are set to CMYK rather than RGB. 
  • Size: A document is not ready for print until it is properly sized to print out correctly on the right size paper. In a print ready PDF, the page size of the document should be the same as the finished trim size. 
  • Fonts: For the fonts in a PDF to be ready to print, they should be either converted to outlines or embedded. 
  • Resolution: Resolution on images in documents should be easy for a printer to handle. This means that they should be set at around 300 dpi. 
  • Images: Images must already be embedded into the document file. 
  • Bleed: If there is an object that must print all the way to the edge of the page, a bleed should be included. Standard bleeds should measure .125". However, different document preparation and graphic design programs have different processes of creating the appropriate bleed.
  • Artwork: When artwork is included in a PDF, it needs to be set at the proper distance from the edge of the page for the document to be print ready. Make sure that artwork is a safe distance from the edge of the page so that it won't be distorted or cropped in printing.  
  • Text: Black text in a print ready PDF must be set to pure black rather than a mixture of CMYK. Also, white text must not be set on overprint. 
  • Order of pages: If there are multiple pages, pages need to already be properly ordered for the document to be considered ready to print. This means that pages should run in order from the front cover through the back cover. If any blank pages are needed in the document, they should already be inserted in the PDF. 

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16 March 2015

About Me

Talking About Printing Flyers

Hello, I'm Cass O'Connell. In an effort to maintain a decent sized customer base, I always send out flyers to new areas around my region. I pick the areas according to the demographic description provided by my state. I have a specific range of customers I want to attract. The flyers I use are printed by a professional company that offers a wide variety of paper and ink types. The flyers are also designed by that same entity. All of the artwork used on the flyers beautifully encapsulates the purpose of my company. I would like to share my experience with using printing services for my flyer needs. I will talk about the materials, tools and techniques used to print my flyers. Thank you.

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