XPress Press - Preparing files for Output

Acceptable Disk formats:
Iomega Zip/Jaz
CD/CD-R
Floppy Disk
Syquest or EZ-135
SuperDisk 120 MB

*Files can be zipped or compressed using Stuffit or WinZip.

Collecting files for Output

In QuarkXPress this feature is found under the File menu and is called "Collect for Output". After choosing this menu item, click on the New Folder option in the dialog box that appears prompting you for a report name. Save this New Folder with a descriptive name to your Desktop or to some other easy to find location. Click on the Collect button. A copy of your Quark document and the links (graphics) used in it will be saved into this folder. Quark does not copy fonts, however, so they need to be gathered up and sent to us as well.

In PageMaker this feature is located in the Utilities menu: Plug-ins: Save for Service Provider. Click the "Package" button. In the dialog box that appears, first click on the Desktop button, then the New Folder button. Save this New Folder with a descriptive name. Click on the option to copy fonts. Click the Save button. When the operation is complete, click on the Close button. A copy of your PageMaker document and the links and fonts used in it will be saved in the folder.

In Microsoft Publisher 2000, in the File menu choose Pack and Go: Take to a Commercial Printing Service... Be sure to Include Linked Graphics, Create Links from Embedded Graphics, and Embed TrueType fonts.

Getting your files to us:
US Mail
E-mail (for files smaller than 2.0 megs)
FTP (for files larger than 2.0 megs)
Fed-Ex
UPS
Or, call us, we will come pick them up at your office.

E-MAIL:
You can send small files (less than 2.0 megabytes) by attaching them to an e-mail message. Preferably, all files should be placed into a single Stuffit or WinZip archive.

Preparing Files for Output & Printing

Preparing Disks

Please label all media with your name, and the name of the project we are producing for you. Provide a printed directory of all supplied media. Please do not send files that are unrelated to the job at hand, or if you do, put them in a "Do not Use" or "Please Save" folder.

Laser Proofs

Please send along a laser proof of the final version printed at 100% size. You may need to tile the document if it is larger than you can output on your printer. We would prefer a color proof when your project involves process or spot colors, but if this is not possible, please print out a laser proof with colors printing as grays, and mark up the output to indicate where the colors fall. Images or artwork that is to be scanned or picked-up from a previous job should be clearly indicated as such on the laser proof.

File Preparation

EPS: Please supply us with the original files as well as the EPS files that have been created (i.e. QuarkXPress files exported as EPS and some versions of FreeHand). Frequently we need to trap or rebuild the file before we can output it. It is a good idea the minimize the "nesting" of EPS graphics. This occurs when an EPS graphic is placed (imported) into another EPS graphic instead of being combined with "copy" and "paste". This can result in a document that fails to output correctly or at all.

FONTS: Please send all fonts used in creating the document (including those used in linked or embedded EPS files). For Adobe type 1 (postscript) fonts, we will need both screen and printer fonts.

SCANS: Supplied images should be of sufficient resolution for the requested final output. Process color (CMYK), and Grayscale images should generally be at a resolution that is twice the desired line screen. For example, a grayscale photo used in a brochure that is printed at 150 line screen should be scanned at 300 dots-per-inch (d.p.i.). Line art (like a one-bit TIFF for example) can be up to 1200 d.p.i., but 600 d.p.i. is usually sufficient. There is no advantage in supplying artwork that exceeds these resolutions, it will only add processing time. Images that are much greater in resolution may appear a lot softer when printed as they have to be downsampled when output. Images that are lower in resolution may appear jaggy or pixelated when output.

If an image is black and white only, without shades of gray, it is better to save it as a 1-bit TIFF. Grayscale images are 8 times larger in file size. TIFFs (both grayscale and 1-bit) can be assigned a color in QuarkXPress or Pagemaker.

It is better to scale, crop and rotate images in an image editor (such as Adobe Photoshop) rather than in the page layout program. When these manipulations have to happen "on-the-fly" it greatly adds to the complexity of the file being output, and may greatly increase the processing time required.

LAYOUT: As cutting is never perfect, items that extend to the edge of the finished press sheet should be set to bleed 1/8" off the edge. When possible, the document size should be the same as the finished size, with items set to bleed if required. Text should not be any closer than 1/8" to the final trim line of your document.

Please remove extraneous items that are on the pasteboard, and delete colors that are not used in the document. Please be sure to assign colors consistently. If a placed EPS graphic contains the color Pantone Warm Red CV, the same color should be applied to any items in the page layout program that you would like to output and print the same color. The color must be called out exactly the same (i.e. not "Red" or PMS Warm Red CVC", but "Pantone Warm Red CV") in both the program that created the EPS file and in the page layout program.

We have provided a PDF file of the most recent version of the CREF Guidelines

CREF stands for Computer Ready Electronic Files. This is a document drafted by graphic arts professionals that specifies how to prepare desktop publishing files so that they can be successfully output and printed. Adherence to these principles will help to minimize the problems that can occur with computer generated documents, and will save the time and money that would be wasted troubleshooting files that have been built incorrectly.

To save this PDF file to your hard drive in Windows, right click on the link and choose "Save this Link as" or "Download Link to Disk" from the pop-up menu that appears. On the Macintosh, click and hold on the link until the pop-up menu appears. Choose "Save this Link as" or "Download Link to Disk".

If you need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, it is available from the Adobe Systems website.

(This link will open in a new window.)