We’ve already discussed how the PDF is the best file to hand off to your printer. Although that sounds simple enough, if you have worked with PDFs at all, you know it isn’t. The question is which PDF format? Today we look at available PDF presets and which to choose for your printing.
You know that saving your print project as a PDF is the best way to ensure that what your print team sees is the same as what you see. It also ensures no fonts, images, or color information are lost. But when you go to export a PDF from an Adobe Creative Cloud application (or other software) there are a whole lot of options available. Compression, Output, Marks and Bleeds, what are all these and what do you do with them?
Each of these available menus allows you to tailor the details for your PDF. How you set these options depends on what you are printing and how you are going to print it. That might include things like – are you printing digitally or on a traditional press? Does your project have bleed? Does your project include transparent objects? This can go on and on, and of course as printers we aren’t even going to mention all the options for digital media.
The obvious disclaimer here is to point out that talking with your printer early and often is the best way to set up your project with what you need. But Adobe also provides a number of PDF presets that make the whole process quick and painless. Today we’ll leave all the options to the experts and take a look at these presets.
High Quality Print:
This option sounds like it’s great for printing, but it isn’t the actually the best option. This preset is fine if you are printing on your own office or desktop printer. It will reduce your the dpi of your images and won’t alter your colors. If you are handing off to a printer however, we don’t recommend this.
Press Quality:
This option is generally best if you are having a large commercial print run in process inks. This preset will convert any RGB images in your file to CMYK and also down-sample images to 300 dpi. Although this can be a great choice in certain instances, we don’t normally recommend this to our customers.
PDF/X-1a:2001
PDF/X are a series of PDF presets that really take into consideration what a print provider needs. Generally speaking, any of the PDF/X formats are your best choice. Each of them gives us as your print provider the most options and flexibility. That said the 3 versions available allow for different levels of options, and the newer the version (notice the year in the last 4 digits in the name) the greater the flexibility.
The biggest issue with PDF/X-1a is that it will flatten transparent elements in your project. This limits what we can do to make changes with them after the fact. So, we don’t recommend this preset.
PDF/X-3:2002
This option is similar to PDF/X-1a except that it gives more flexibility in terms of color management. If you are using older versions of Adobe’s software then it may be your best option.
PDF/X-4:2007
This is the option we most recommend. Since we do a lot of digital printing, this preset gives us the most access and options on our end. It gives us flexibility to manage colors, handle transparent elements, and let us set up your project for our systems. It also gives us plenty of options if you are printing with spot colors.
Smallest File Size:
This option is primarily for uses such as sending in email, putting up on a website, or any kind of on-screen project. As printers we don’t use it unless we are sending a file internally for someone to look at on their monitor.
In the end, each of these PDF presets make your life as a print designer easier. A single one-click option to get your files ready to go. By taking advantage of the PDF/X-4:2007 PDF preset, you can save time and relax knowing that your file gives us (or your printer) the options we need to get your project looking great.
Of course these PDF presets aren’t the end of things for setting up a PDF. As we mentioned, there are a ton of options you can dig into and learn to build your PDF. You can get into more details here at Adobe.com.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask below.
cutpasteandprint Printing, graphic design, binding, and promotional product specialists in Huntingdon Valley, PA. We proudly serve the Bucks and Montgomery County areas with superior quality, great customer service, and a commitment to getting you and your the best possible printed materials. Our services include: Digital Printing, Offset Printing, Graphic Design, Promotional Items, Bindery, and Copying.
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