Is Full-Color the New Standard for Office Documents?

[mattbeals]

Is Full-Color the New Standard for Office Documents? | The DocuMentor | ZDNet.com

Better figure out how to deal with Office files ya'll...

 

[wawelk]

i would doubt it, microsoft normally screws this stuff up, even if their photos are now cmyk vs rgb, i would guess that they still have two major issues, black text will still be a build, and they will still make it very difficult to get a photo out of word and into a decent program without losing mass quality, and when you ask tech support for help they will just blame it on adobe, or quark or whoever.

 

[mattbeals]

Keep it RGB and it's not so much of an issue to get decent color. I think I finally found what CMYK Microsoft is using in Publisher. There are tools available to fix the RGB black/gray type issue. Acrobat Pro is one, Callas pdfToolbox (which has a specific setting for Office RGB) is another. Let's not forget PitStop and Quite A Box of Tricks. Lots of choices, you just have to take advantage of them. Of course it is possible just to keep ignoring such a large installation base. Not that Printingforless.com does about $20MM a year dealing with a lot of file formats printers don't want. But hey, it's not like there is a shrinking print market.

Publisher color samples

Microsoft Standard CMYK Profile

 

[Cory Smith]

if you haven't figured out how to successfully work with office files by now, then you probably have bigger problems.

Lots of tools to help you along the way.

 

[kslight]

Heh..

Bring it on... I like it when people try to use Publisher/Powerpoint as design software...*smacks forehead*

 

[Craig]

My favorite design tool is Excel!

 

[SlaveToTheMan]

Lies, BroderBund 's PrintMaster Platinum is the new tool of choice! See, you can tell it's Professional because it has the word "Platinum" in the title.

 

[Cory Smith]

the other popular title is PrintShop Deluxe, also made by the fine folks at Broderbund. Which is more powerful? Deluxe or Platinum.

 

[giant1958]

my favorite design tool is excel!

you have got to be kidding me!!

 

[mattbeals]

printingforless.com , expresscopy.com and vistaprint.com to name a few don't mind taking the money of the clients who supply files in odd or standard file formats. A client who supplies an Excel or PrintShop Pro compared to a press perfect CMYK PDF from InDesign spends the same US currency as the rest of us. Can you imagine what an extra $20MM a year would do for a business? Wait, printingforless.com knows...

 

[Joe]

I don't mid the odd files but I reserve the right to complain about them on internet forums.

 

[SlaveToTheMan]

I'd imagine those businesses you're referring to have tight processes in place to convert color spaces, embed fonts, etc. and generally de-crap the misc file types they receive. Most independent shops can't even be bothered to buy a legit copy of Pitstop, or if they can, they don't go much beyond that step. So no, there's very little hope of making real money from an onslaught of jobs from 3rd rate applications when any profitable time has been consumed by manually correcting said files.

It's all fair and well to hold up the Banner of Automation, but unless the Owner is willing to put the money & training in place to implement such a scenario, it's all conjecture.

 

[mattbeals]

They do have tight process controls, at least one of them I know for sure does. What stops a company from having tight process controls like some of these guys? Is it that much to ask to be consistently good at something? I think people would be very surprised at how efficient companies like printingforless.com and Expresscopy.com are using good employees who are good at what they do. You don't have to be highlyautomated to do work like this. Putting dollars and time into training pays off. Find good people who fit the company's "ethic" or "mission" (what ever you want to call it) rather than a warm body to fill a seat.

I can't say enough about how well run printingforless.com is. They spend a lot of time training employees in house. They give employees a sense of autonomy and ownership in the work and the business. They spent the time to develop processes, test those processes, execute them and refine them. They are constantly learning and evolving.

Even if you don't do things like PFL.com or Expresscopy.com, why can't someone else develop similar systems and processes? What makes them or anyone else different? The "anomaly" or exception if you will. It's a business right? So run it like one and not a fire station where you're always rushing to put out a fire.

Proper Previous Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. It doesn't just sound good, it's sound advice.

 

[Morning Flight]

The other popular title is PrintShop Deluxe, also made by the fine folks at Broderbund. Which is more powerful? Deluxe or Platinum?

PrintShopPro Deluxe is, Cory. The current version (PrintShop 23 Pro Publisher Deluxe) sells for $68.02 at Amazon Stores. Printmaster Platinum costs half that.

When Unitac still offered commercial printing (we're now strictly in-plant for our Printfire software manuals), we used InDesign for most of our work, but occasionally grabbed PrintShop for quick-and-simple stuff. Certificates, coupons, real estate flyers - whenever we knew we could use one of the templates. That was the biggest draw.

The problem back then was mainly with the low resolution of the generated .pdf files. Haven't upgraded to the current version, but from what I understand, the output is now hi-res. If anyone has problems with that, there's a solution on Tech Support, Manuals & Troubleshooting for Consumers from Dixiegirl_10. The fix is for PrintMaster, but apparently works for PrintShop as well.

BTW, you and mattbeals are both right, it shouldn't matter these days what the customer walks in with. If our print shop doors were still open, I wouldn't care if the job was on the back of a napkin.

Hal Heindel
Unitac - Who we are