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Supplying Files

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This document was last modified on the 27th September 2007

Supplying print ready files

One of our frequently asked questions is:
How do we supply files to you in the correct format that will give us the best possible result for print?

The following sections will help you to supply the best possible print ready files.

Images:

How you supply images and photographs is very important because the last thing you want is for them to come out all pixilated and lacking detail. We would recommend that all images and photographs be supplied with a minimum resolution of 300dpi.

Something else to consider is that all Images and Photographs should be converted from RGB to CMYK or grayscale. One of the reasons for this is because all printing presses print in four colours, CMYK. Black and White Images or Photographs should be converted to CMYK or greyscale depending on the result that you want, for example you can convert an RGB Black and White image to CMYK to give it a warmer feel.

Types of programs and files

To start with, the the types of files that we can accept: As you may be aware there is a vast amount of different desktop publishing programs and image manipulation programs around, for this reason we have listed the programs file types that we can accept below.

  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe Acrobat Distiller
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe Pagemaker
  • Quark XPress passport
  • Corel Draw
  • Macromedia Freehand
  • Microsoft Publisher
  • Microsoft Word

If you use InDesign, Illustrator or Quark Xpress you can create pdf's direct from these programs and then we can work with these straight away. You will of course have to set output settings accordingly or the pdf's will not be formatted correctly.

Distiller Settings

If you use Acrobat Distiller to create PDF's then we can provide the .joboptions settings for you. This has been setup so that you can use this straight away and it will tell you if the pdf has been created correctly as well as if an image is below 300dpi.

The following link will enable you to download our preset settings.

either right click and save target as or control click. Pyramid Distiller Settings

PDF types that we accept

PDF/X-1a checks incoming jobs for PDF/X-1a compliance and creates PDF files only if compliant. PDF/X-1a is an ISO standard for graphics content exchange. PDF/X-1a requires all fonts to be embedded, the appropriate PDF boxes to be specified and colour to appear as either CMYK or spot colours. PDF files that meet PDF/X-1a requirements are targeted to a specific output condition (for example, offset litho printing according to SWOP).

If you can create and supply us with a PDF/X-1a type PDF document then we should be able to work with this straight away. However if you cannot create this type of PDF document then simply supplying us with the original artwork will enable us to create a print ready PDF from your artwork (Illustrator, Quark etc).

Why are PDF's important to us

PDF's are the industry standard print ready document for the major print ready workflows. Here at Pyramid Press we use Heidelberg's Prinect Printready workflow