Brief Guide to Creating Print-Ready PDF Files
The quality of your printed end product depends a great deal on the decisions that you take during the creation process of the PDF file. Many of us simply pay a professional designer to ensure quality in our PDF files. However, for products that do not involve very complex designs, following the guidelines below will go a long way in getting your PDF files print-ready. Most of the steps mentioned are simple to follow and focus on the individual components of the file. They try to ensure that components such as fonts, images and so on are each of good quality so that the final PDF file too is of high quality. Using poor quality components may not only compromise the quality of the product but could also corrupt the PDF file. You may then have to repair pdf file before proceeding.
" Regardless of what application you are using to create your PDF file, you must first ensure that you are using the right settings for the different components. Your selection of whether fonts should be embedded, of how the image data is to be saved and if the colors are to be converted, all play a role in determining the quality of the final product. For example, if you choose the default settings for Adobe PDFMaker in Microsoft Office, the PDF file will not have the kind of quality required for high-quality printing. It is therefore important that you understand what kind of settings you need to select while creating the PDF file. You could choose the Print-quality settings available in the application or consult the printer on what settings work best for professional printing. Trying to convert a low-quality PDF file into a high-quality one will only corrupt the file and you may not be able to repair pdf files converted in this manner.
" It is also important that you convert components such as colors, images or objects only when absolutely required since every time you convert a component, you are compromising the integrity of the file to that extent. Select the components carefully and minimize the conversions so that the final PDF version looks as close to your original design as possible.
o Try to maintain live transparency in the file for as long as you can.
o Colors that are device independent such as RGB are the best for printing purposes - try not to convert them to device specific ones such as CMYK, unless you are specifically advised to do so.
o Instead of outlining or rasterizing text, keep it in the original form as fonts. Too many conversions may also introduce unwanted errors and you may have to repair pdf file before proceeding.
" Start to proof and preflight in the very initial stages so that you can catch mistakes early on. Rather than catch an error during the printing process, it is best that you identify the problems while you are still working on the PDF file. Technical problems can be fixed easily when still small and even corruption issues can be dealt with using third-party tools such as Advanced PDF Repair from DataNumen. You can easily repair pdf files and ensure that that final PDF file is free from errors and completely print-ready.
" Regardless of what application you are using to create your PDF file, you must first ensure that you are using the right settings for the different components. Your selection of whether fonts should be embedded, of how the image data is to be saved and if the colors are to be converted, all play a role in determining the quality of the final product. For example, if you choose the default settings for Adobe PDFMaker in Microsoft Office, the PDF file will not have the kind of quality required for high-quality printing. It is therefore important that you understand what kind of settings you need to select while creating the PDF file. You could choose the Print-quality settings available in the application or consult the printer on what settings work best for professional printing. Trying to convert a low-quality PDF file into a high-quality one will only corrupt the file and you may not be able to repair pdf files converted in this manner.
" It is also important that you convert components such as colors, images or objects only when absolutely required since every time you convert a component, you are compromising the integrity of the file to that extent. Select the components carefully and minimize the conversions so that the final PDF version looks as close to your original design as possible.
o Try to maintain live transparency in the file for as long as you can.
o Colors that are device independent such as RGB are the best for printing purposes - try not to convert them to device specific ones such as CMYK, unless you are specifically advised to do so.
o Instead of outlining or rasterizing text, keep it in the original form as fonts. Too many conversions may also introduce unwanted errors and you may have to repair pdf file before proceeding.
" Start to proof and preflight in the very initial stages so that you can catch mistakes early on. Rather than catch an error during the printing process, it is best that you identify the problems while you are still working on the PDF file. Technical problems can be fixed easily when still small and even corruption issues can be dealt with using third-party tools such as Advanced PDF Repair from DataNumen. You can easily repair pdf files and ensure that that final PDF file is free from errors and completely print-ready.