Supported Programs For Digital Printing
Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Corel Draw, QuarkXpress, Publisher, Word and the rest of microsoft office package.
Supported Programs For Offset Printing
Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Corel Draw, QuarkXpress.
*NOTE* We DO NOT use layout programs that are available at discount department stores
like Print Master, The Print Shop, Print Perfect etc.
Preferred File Type? PDF, PDF, PDF!
Our preferred file type is a PDF, since they allow for smaller file sizes and embedding fonts. By embedding font it guarantees that your file will be printed in the type face that you designed it in. If fonts are not embedded, a default font replaces the missing font. While most programs will notify us of this when we open the file, there are cases when it hasn’t resulting in the document being printed with the default font. So for the closest, easiest, and most accurate copymaxinc.com experience we highly recommend that you upload PDFs when you place orders.
IMPORTANT! Microsoft Word Documents
While we can read and print from your Microsoft Word Documents, we highly discourage it. Mainly because, although possible, Word is not a program meant to be used to create a professional brochure or flyer. Many difficulties could occur with you order should you choose to upload a Word file to us.
1. Missing Fonts, resulting in fonts being replaced with a default font.
2. Errors with margins and page breaks, resulting in changes to paragraph format and layouts.
3. Bad links to images, resulting in blurry or pixilated images.
4. Inability to manage print quality.
So to summarize, while we can print from a word document, to best insure that your project matches what you see on your computer we encourage you to send us Adobe .PDF files, as they are the best bet to ensure that your copies are to your satistfaction.
IMPORTANT! Publisher Documents
As in Word, fonts are an issue with Publisher as well. If we don’t have the fonts you used your document will look different to us. If you use publisher you may be asked to email us the fonts that you used. Your font files can be found on your computer in the font folder of your windows program.
Go to your hard drive and select the Windows folder and then select the Fonts folder. The font file should have a similar name to the name of the font. Sometime it is only an abbreviation with the .ttf as the file type. Simply attach that file to your email like you would a picture or other file and send it to us.
Methods to create or save to a .PDF
1. Print to .PDF - If you have purchased the full version of Adobe Acrobat (not the free Adobe Acrobat Reader
that is available online) you will have a print driver that give the ability to print to .PDF from any design or word
processor program you have on your computer. Simply select Adobe PDF as your selected printer, select the
desired printing options and click print.
2. Photoshop - First flatten the layers of your image. Go to the menu and select Layer>Flatten Image. Then
File>Save As and select Adobe PDF.
3. Illustrator - Convert all text to outlines. To do that select all (Ctrl+A) and either;
a.) hit Crtl+Shift+O
B.) Go to the menu Type>Create Outlines
c.) Right click on the selected text and choose Create Outlines
Then simply chose File>Save As and choose Adobe PDF
3. Quark Express - Choose File>Export>Layout as PDF
4. InDesign - Chose File>Export then select Adobe PDF as your file type
5. CorelDRAW - Choose File>Publish to PDF.
6. For other programs look under your Save As and Export options to see if you can save or
export to a .pdf.
7. Click HERE for a free PDF maker.
*NOTE* If you are unable to send us a PDF we will keep an eye out for any error messages that
the program tells us such as: missing fonts, missing links for images, and obvious formatting
errors. However if no message is given to us by the program we will not know if fonts are
missing, if images are bad quality etc.
Recommended Print Requirements:
1. All documents and images should be at least 300 DPI (a.k.a. pixels per inch/dots per inch). This resolution results in you getting a crisp, clear and professional look to your order. You can also use a less than 300 DPI document or image, but the higher the DPI the better the quality of our prints or vice-versa.
*NOTE* It is NOT recommended that you use graphics or pictures downloaded from the internet.
Pictures on websites or screen shots of websites are only be 72 DPI, as that is the resolution of
a computer monitor and a web standard for websites. A 72 DPI graphic will appear fuzzy or pixelated
when printed.
2. For best color matching results please use a CMYK color profile for color copies. This will help (but not guarantee)that your copies will be as close as possible to your desired colors. If there are concerns over matching a specific color, please use the Comments section of our order form to relay that concern to us.
3. Please upload a PDF file if possible.
4. Margins - Our offset printers by default leave a 1/8” white margin on all sides, our digital printers leave a 1/4" margin on all sides, so please design your document accordingly, unless you want a full coverage bleed to the edges. In that case please follow the directions on bleeds below.
*NOTE* Our offset printers by default leave about a 1/8” white margin on all sides, our digital printers leave a 1/4" margin on all sides.
BLEEDS
A bleed is the term used to describe the printing of a document with no white margins of the edges of the paper.
To Correctly set up your file for a bleed:
1. If printing an 8.5x11 or 11x17 document, please design you document to be at least
an 1/8” to 1/4” larger on all sides.
For a template of an 8.5X11 Tri-Fold brochure with bleed Click HERE for PDF
For Example:
8.5 x 11 = 9.0 x 11.5 (for a 1/4” bleed)
11 x 17 = 11.5 x 17.5 (for a 1/4” bleed)
2. Then use crop marks to show us where to cut the document down to the correct size.
To place crop marks look in your print setup for an area or tab called “Prepress” or
“Marks & Bleeds”. Graphic design programs like Illustrator, InDesign and
Corel Draw should all have a printing or page/printing setup option similar to this.
*NOTE* Programs like Microsoft Word will not have an option for full Bleeds.
*NOTE* Simply making your background color or image fit the entire 8.5x11 or 11x17 page
does NOT make your document a full bleed, it will still have the 1/8” white margin.
