Not sure how to prepare your files for the printing process? Don’t worry! Paper Arts will review all files prior to production to ensure your expectations are met. However, having files as close to print ready as possible will shorten the pre-press time and decrease overall costs.

If you have detailed questions regarding preparing your files, please contact us, we would be happy to assist you. Paper Arts has program specific requirements for preparation available for your use. Please contact us for more information.

General file preparation tips:

ARTWORK/IMAGES
LAYOUT
FONTS
COLORS
STEP AND REPEAT/UPS PRINTING
TRAPPING
RULES/LINES

Only use high resolution images suited to the offset printing process. Set scanning resolution at double the output line screen. (For example, if you need 110 line screen film output (LPI) for a spot color job, scan at 220 (DPI) dots per inch.)

• Include all image and graphic files imported into your document. Graphics that are missing may remain visible but will output in low resolution and look pixelized and fuzzy. Also please supply original and editable copies of all graphic files.
• All raster images should be saved as TIFF or EPS formats. All image files should be in CMYK mode and not RGB.
• Do not save files in JPEG format. If necessary, JPEG compression with “Maximum Quality” setting may be used as it will not have any visible loss of details.
• The resolution for all raster images/photographs should be 300 dpi at 100% of reproduction size. The minimum acceptable resolution is 200 dpi.
• Do not resize or rotate images within a page layout program. Resize in an image manipulation program like Photoshop. Do not scale images in layout application more than 20% as a loss of detail will occur.
• Do not embed any profiles to the image.
• Do not drag/drop or copy/paste graphics from the graphics application to the page Layout Application. Always use the Place/Import command to get images into a page layout program.
• Do not enlarge or reduce the TIFF format images in PageMaker. Use EPS file format for images to be placed in PageMaker.
• All vector illustrations (Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw files) should be saved in EPS format. Make sure all colors are defined as CMYK colors and, if required, as spot colors. Delete unused colors.
• Text wrapping should be avoided for placed images or graphic elements as it will disturb the text

• Do not use extra paper than the finished job size.
• Do not include bleed area and cut/crop marks in the page dimensions.
• Do not make manual spreads. For example, do not take a large paper size i.e., 17”x11” and accommodate two 8.5”x11” pages manually.
• Extend all bleed elements approximately .125” to .25” outside the page area.
• All page elements other than bleed items such as page numbers, logos, design elements should be minimum of .125” inside the page area.
• Delete items not used in the layout. Do not just drag them off the page as this will cause problems in processing your file.

• Make sure you include all fonts used in the document as well as in EPS graphics. PostScript fonts are preferable, but TrueType fonts are also accepted. Each PostScript font has two components – screen fonts and printer fonts – make sure you include both.
• Prevent illegible text by avoiding very small type sizes. We suggest that you avoid using a font size less than 6 points.
• Select type styles such as bold and italic from the font menu. Do not apply the bold or italic button to normal font.
  

• Make sure all colors are defined in CMYK. The RGB color space is larger than the CMYK color space. It is important to note that not all colors defined in RGB can be perfectly reproduced in CMYK. Your images may print black and white or with inaccurate color if you neglect to convert images.
• While defining colors within an application, select Color Type as “Process Separation” and the model as “CMYK”, unless you want to define a color that is to print as a spot color.
• Make sure all unused colors in file are deleted, before submitting a file.
• Do not apply “Registration” color in place of “Black” color, as the former separates in all the colors.
• When converting Pantone colors to CMYK, double check to make certain the color is able to be replicated in CMYK.
  

• Do not manually impose step and repeat up jobs (e.g. labels, business cards, tickets, etc.).
• Provide one unit with perfect document setup.

• Please don’t apply trapping to any document in layout software.
• If you want specific trapping to avoid misregistration, please provide details with your order submission.

• Never use default hairline setting for lines.
• Specify the thickness of all lines. The minimum thickness of the lines should be
  • for solid (100% ink) line on a white Background – 0.25 points
  • for tinted (screened) line – 0.5 points (Restrict the tint colors to two)
  • for reversed line (white) – 0.7 points on a black or a colored background