Customer supplied PDF files

[stevetdm]

we are trying to implement a post production pre flight of all customer supplied PDF's. this will ultimately result in speeding up the proofing process and educate our customers on how to supply perfect pdf'.

we want to look and identify all the usual issues printers have from Bleed to low res images to black type created out of cmyk plus a host of other issues.

most of our clients use in design and then write PDF's but we are still getting a lot of issues. we have just implemented sending clients our pre-defined settings . In the past we have just fixed a lot of problems using pit stop but this obviously put's additional time on the job that cannot always be recovered.

we use a prinergy workflow but without the insite application which i know is an effective tool to capture this. Any workable solutions you guys may have would be appreciated.

 

[Digital Press Guy]

I'm no longer a PDF ACE but saving as pdf causes more problems than its worth. You may want to educate your clients how to use Acrobat Distiller.

I know on Adobe's website there are procedures to properly distill a file for print.

 

[Talking Tech]

PDF Preflighting and Prinergy

PDF Preflighting and Prinergy

I thought Prinergy had a module that preflighted basically using Pitstop preflight profiles? Maybe not, if you aren't able to do this.

I agree that having your customers know Acrobat Distiller could be useful, but I wouldn't rely on them, especially if they are willing to give you their native files. Distiller relies on making a Postscript file first, while Postscript today is no longer the ideal solution. The better solution (with caveats) is to directly export to a PDF from the application that the file was created within -- unless the application doesn't have that ability, e.g. Microsoft Powerpoint, etc.

If you can't use Prinergy Connect (and I'm not a Prinergy guy, so...), use something like Pitstop Server, Callas PDF toolbox Server or some other automated solution for PDF preflight.

 

[jrhmobile]

Customers need to supply the RIGHT kind of PDFs

Customers need to supply the RIGHT kind of PDFs

Hello Steve.

Like others have offered here, it's not enough to have customers provide PDFs to you ... you want to have customers provide the right kind of PDFs. PitStop server is a good tool for recognizing problems and can automate some of your common fixes, but there's no software package that can automatically fix all the variables that can screw up a PDF sourced print job. Factors that come into play include:

1) What kind of jobs are they submitting?
2) What kind of software and what version(s) are they using to create those jobs?
3) What software and what version(s) are they using to generate the PDFs?

As you said you've already discovered, just getting client-supplied PDFs is no panacea. When your preflight software lights up client jobs like a Christmas Tree, it's a mixed blessing. The good is that at least you didn't discover it on press; the bad is that you now have to fix it (which requires time and/or money, depending if you can recover the repair costs from your client) or kick back the job (which can cause customer-relations problems immediately or down the line).

The best way to avoid problems is to qualify clients who conceivably can give you good PDFs and then provide support and documentation that ensures they do give you what you're looking for. Things work better if they use page layout applications (InDesign, QuarkXPress, even old PageMaker users). These applications can create print-ready jobs, and it's easy to find the right switches to have these programs consistently crank out print-ready PDFs to your specs. Not as good, but still often acceptable is for clients to use general office applications -- e.g. Microsoft Office -- and Adobe Acrobat 6 Standard or better to generate PDFs out of their office applications.

The worst case scenario is with clients who use office applications and some alternative PDF generator to Adobe Acrobat. The quality of the end result is impossible to predict, although the tendency is for the final PDF product to be pretty bad. As you well know, there's nothing more ominous than hearing a new customer say "I made it easy for you, I did it myself."

If your goal is to reduce prep time in-house, the best way to do that is to give your clients the tools to get it right in the first place. For savvy clients, documentation that lets them enter the right settings on their own is the best way to do that. Less experienced clients using Acrobat can be served by installing custom PDF settings that ensure you get the results you're looking for. Either way it takes an investment of time and effort on the front end, but it'll pay dividends quickly down the road.

If you have a good prepress consultant you can call upon, they can help you implement a plan that'll meet your needs with a minimum of time and effort. If you don't, not to sell myself, contact me at my address below and I'll be happy to help you get started down the right path.

Randy Hagan
help (at) RandyHagan (dot) com

 

[AlexH]

helping customers supply "good" PDFs

helping customers supply "good" PDFs

Posting the correct distiller/PDF output settings is certainly a good start, and you can bolster that with information from the Ghent PDF Workgroup (gwg.org), which has a lot of very useful information for clients.
I would suggest generating a low-res annotated PDF report out of PitStop and sharing it with customers to help them understand what errors were in a supplied file and prevent their recurrence.
While clearly in the self-serving/sales dept, Enfocus PitStop Connect was designed specifically to address this problem. This app enables you, the printer/specifier, to create a droplet that preflights files, runs Action Lists to correct/optimize, and then transfers the file to you (and only you) via FTP. You can decide what errors you're willing to accept and to require the customer to sign off on them so there's no confusion as to what was supplied. Finally, you can create and distribute as many droplets as you please for free. The client doesn't have to install anything, and the process is transparent; they just drag a PDF onto the droplet and it takes over.

 

[mattbeals]

we are trying to implement a post production pre flight of all customer supplied PDF's. this will ultimately result in speeding up the proofing process and educate our customers on how to supply perfect pdf'.

we want to look and identify all the usual issues printers have from Bleed to low res images to black type created out of cmyk plus a host of other issues.

most of our clients use in design and then write PDF's but we are still getting a lot of issues. we have just implemented sending clients our pre-defined settings . In the past we have just fixed a lot of problems using pit stop but this obviously put's additional time on the job that cannot always be recovered.

we use a prinergy workflow but without the insite application which i know is an effective tool to capture this. Any workable solutions you guys may have would be appreciated.

Steve, there are a number of different tools and locations that we can put preflight in different ways. I'd be happy to discuss this with you and see which set of tools fit your needs best.