Good news: a print-ready PDF isn't mystical. If you know the six or seven things to check, you can send a file that goes straight to press without a single phone call back. This guide walks through all of them in the order we check.
This guide exists because we get asked "what do you need from me?" three or four times a week. But genuinely — if you're unsure, send what you have. We flag issues, tell you how to fix them, and nobody goes to press with a broken file.
Start with the right file format
PDF is the universal print delivery format. It preserves fonts, embeds images, and locks down your layout so nothing shifts on the press side. It's what every printer on the planet wants to receive.
Best-case PDF settings
- PDF/X-4 preset (Adobe apps call it "High Quality Print" — that also works)
- Fonts embedded or converted to outlines
- Images embedded (not linked)
- Crop marks and bleed included
- CMYK color mode
- Images at or above 300 DPI at final size
Acceptable alternatives
- Native Illustrator (.ai) — we open it, outline fonts, and export PDF our side
- Photoshop (.psd) — fine for photo-heavy jobs; make sure it's 300 DPI at final size and CMYK
- InDesign package (.zip) — includes linked images and fonts; easy for us to handle
- Canva PDF print downloads — work, but watch out for RGB color and missing bleed
Bleed, trim, and the safe zone
This is the single most common thing we catch. Bleed is extra artwork beyond the trim line so a slight cutter drift doesn't leave a white sliver on the edge of your piece.
- Bleed
- 0.125" (1/8") on all sides
- Trim line
- The actual final cut size
- Safe zone
- 0.125" inside trim — keep text here
On a 3.5" × 2" business card, your document size should be 3.75" × 2.25". Your background should extend to the full document edge. Your text and logos should stay at least 0.125" inside the 3.5" × 2" trim box.
Without bleed, a cutter shift of 1/32" leaves a visible white edge. With bleed, the same cutter shift just trims your background a hair closer — invisible to the eye.
CMYK, not RGB
Your screen is RGB — red, green, blue light mixing to produce color. Print is CMYK — cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks absorbing light. The color spaces don't overlap perfectly, and some RGB colors simply don't exist in CMYK.
When we convert a file from RGB to CMYK for press, certain colors shift visibly: bright blues go purple, neon greens go muddy, vibrant reds warm up. If you designed in RGB and approved a proof on screen, the printed piece will look different.
Building in CMYK from the start
- Adobe Illustrator: File → Document Color Mode → CMYK
- Photoshop: Image → Mode → CMYK Color
- InDesign: New document → Print intent (defaults to CMYK)
- Canva: use "Print" templates (their print downloads convert to CMYK)
If your brand uses a specific Pantone color, tell us. On offset we can mix that exact PMS ink. On digital we can get as close as CMYK allows (usually within a reasonable tolerance for most brand colors, except some vivid blues and oranges).
Image resolution: 300 DPI at final size
DPI stands for dots per inch. Print requires 300 DPI at the final printed size. A photo that looks sharp on a webpage at 800 pixels wide is going to be pixelated when you print it at 8 inches.
Quick math: 8 inches × 300 DPI = 2,400 pixels wide minimum. If your source image is 800 pixels wide, you're effectively printing at 100 DPI — and it'll look like it.
What needs what
- Text and logos
- Vector (AI or PDF) — scales to any size
- Photos for print
- 300 DPI minimum at final print size
- Large format banners
- 150 DPI is fine — viewed from distance
- Web-sourced images
- Usually 72 DPI — insufficient for print
Free stock photo sites often only offer medium-resolution downloads unless you pay. If you pulled an image from Unsplash or Pexels, check it's the large version — the thumbnail version will print badly.
Fonts: outline or embed
If we don't have your font installed on our machines, your layout will reflow — text will resize, line-break differently, and your design will fall apart. Two ways to avoid this:
Option 1: Convert text to outlines
In Illustrator: select all text → Type → Create Outlines. Your text becomes vector shapes instead of live text. Pros: it's guaranteed to print exactly as you see it. Cons: you can't edit the text anymore. Always keep an editable master file somewhere safe.
Option 2: Embed fonts in the PDF
When exporting PDF, there's usually a checkbox for "embed fonts" or "subset fonts." Enable it. The fonts travel with the file. This keeps text editable if we need to make a small tweak.
Transparency and flattening
Effects like drop shadows, semi-transparent overlays, and blend modes are "transparency" in design software. They look right on screen but can render weirdly on press if the PDF export doesn't handle them correctly.
The fix: export as PDF/X-4, which preserves transparency natively, rather than the older PDF/X-1a format which flattens everything in advance (sometimes badly). Modern presses handle X-4 without issue.
The full pre-flight checklist
- 1File is a PDF (or native AI/PSD/INDD if you prefer)
- 2Document size equals final size + 0.125" bleed on all sides
- 3Artwork that touches the edge extends into the bleed area
- 4All critical text is 0.125" inside the trim line
- 5Color mode is CMYK
- 6Brand-critical colors are specified as Pantone if exact matching is needed
- 7Images are 300 DPI at final size
- 8Fonts are outlined or embedded
- 9Exported as PDF/X-4 with crop marks and bleed
What we catch on our end
When your file hits our quote form, the first thing that happens is a preflight check. We look at every item in the checklist above. If something's off, you hear from us with specifics: "Your bleed is 0.06" instead of 0.125" — can you re-export with the standard bleed?" or "The blue in your logo is RGB — it'll shift on press. Do you have a Pantone number for it?"
Nothing goes on press with a broken file. That's the whole point of the preflight step — to catch issues at the desk, not at the press.