Submitting Files

If you would like to download these instructions, they are available in PDF here. If you have any questions, please contact your salesperson or CSR.

Jobs sent into Printing Partners for digital printing or conventional printing should adhere to these guidelines as closely as possible. By meeting these guidelines, there is a greater opportunity to reduce the overall cost of your job by reducing the amount of time spent altering, correcting or preparing your file. Subsequently, it will move faster through our shop.

These requirements are simple and if taken into consideration prior to starting a job, will significantly reduce problems upon the completion of your job.

For Conventional Offset printing jobs:

• All colors & images should be in RGB.

• PMS colors should not be altered and should be appropriately specified.

• Images should have a minimum effective DPI of 400dpi when placed within the document.

• If the design has images or color that bleed, there should be a minimum of one-eighth of an inch (0.125in) on all sides that trim.

• The document size should be the same as the trim size of the final piece.

• Open files are preferred, please see instructions below on how to package & send open files.

For NexPress or digital printing jobs:

• All scans processed in RGB should remain in RGB.

• All digital photographs should remain in RGB.

• Colors should be CMYK.

• Critical spot colors should be specified as spot Pantone colors, not as a Pantone Bridge CMYK Build.

• Images should have a minimum effective DPI of 400dpi when placed within the document.

• If the design has images or color that bleed, there should be a minimum of one-eighth of an inch (0.125in) on all sides that trim.

• The document size should reflect the trim size of the final piece.

• Open files are preferred, please instructions to the right on how to package & send open files.

Submitting Files

For Adobe PDF files:
Make sure the PDF is high resolution. If you supply us with a low resolution PDF, the output results may not be what you desire. Instructions on saving high-resolution PDF files are available for QuarkXpress and InDesign. If you are using an application other than Quark or InDesign, the basic setting will be the same.

For Open files:
These types of files are Quark, InDesign, Illustrator, Corel and etc. When you send this type of file to us, you will need to supply all of the elements that go with that job, including items such as fonts, images, and any artwork that have been placed or used on your pages. If you are using Quark or InDesign, the manufacturer has simplified this process; all other programs will require that you collect these elements manually. On a PC, this can be difficult when it comes to locating your fonts.

Collecting your files to send
Quark and InDesign provide a function within their programs that collect and package all of the elements, including your fonts and package them for sending to us. This function is called “Collect for Output” in Quark and “Package” in InDesign.

InDesign

InDesign users can select “Package” under the File Menu. A box will open and request instructions, which provides the opportunity to tell us what you need to complete. This step is not necessary and users can select “Continue.” You will then be presented with a dialog box requesting the name of the folder to save the elements. At the bottom of the window are a series of check boxes; these are your options of what we collect. The first three check boxes are the most important, Copy Fonts, Copy Linked Images and Update Graphic Links in Package. Click on Save, once the InDesign file is finished, copy this folder to your media or compress (ZIP) the file and send it to us.

QuarkXpress

QuarkXpress users will open the document, load the fonts and verify that all links are updated according to the file. Proceed to the “Collect for Output” option, located under the File Menu. You will be presented with a dialog box that asks where you want to save the document and what you want to include in this collecting. It is advised to create a new folder to include all fonts, linked images, embedded images and layout(s). Once Quark is finished, you will have a layout, a fonts folder and an image folder in the folder you created. Copy to your media or compress (ZIP) the file and send it to us. Quark provides a warning about collecting fonts, and while it is not legal to collect and distribute fonts, you are allowed to distribute the appropriate fonts to companies such as Printing Partners in order to complete a job. We will only use these fonts for your specific job, and once complete, they will be archived with your job in case we need to re-run the job at a later date.