Its a PDF World…

At this point, I’m thinking most everybody that buys printing know what a Print-Ready PDF is. But even in 2012, we get a fair amount of people sending us non-PDF files to print from. Now that’s not really a problem, because wecan usually print any file sent to us, but if you want it faster, less expensive, and with no surprises, it’s worth learning how to work within a PDF work-flow.

First, lets talk about printing from PDF’s. When done properly, PDFs print better, their smaller files so their easier to transport, and the potential for error goes way down. I’ve run into a few people who think that they are going to get a higher quality print job if the give us native files, but today, that’s just not the case. You see, when made properly, A PDF preserves all the qualities and care you built into that original file. And it does it in a smaller package, with fonts, graphics, and all the links included.

So why is it a big deal? Well, its got a lot to do with how we process work. To put it simply, we have a PDF work-flow, so whatever we do, we start with a PDF.  That means what ever type of file we get, we need to open it up in the native application first to make it into a PDF. That means in some cases we need to load the fonts, we need to make sure all the links are in place and so on. That requires we spend more time on the job, run the risk of a missing font or graphic, or even alter the text-flow (which can have grave consequences at some point).

So the question comes down to this…with all the tools designed to make a high quality, print ready PDF, why wouldn’t you? At the risk of repeating myself, you’ll save money, you’ll save time and the risk of error drops drastically. Don’t hesitate to call us and open up a conversation on what it takes to get you up to speed on PDF’s.