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Published: 29 November 1998
Major update 30 November1998. Last minor update 25 May 2001.

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Tip of the month is edited by Peter Ring, PRC (Peter Ring Consultants, Denmark)
- consultants on how to write user friendly manuals

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If you have corrections, better texts or suggestions for improvements, please let me know.

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Contents

• Introduction
• Which format should I deliver?
• How to transfer it to the print-shop
• How to make a colour separated Adobe Acrobat file

Introduction

• Less than ~100 copies: Internal/external photocopying or laser-printing (digital printing).
• ~10 .. 10,000 copies: Xerox Docutech, a 600 dpi A3 b/w laser printer running 135 copies per minute, often combined with a scanner. (Tip from Graham Wyatt, GP Wyatt Technical Services, UK).
• ~100 .. ~1000 copies: "Grey-zone". Depends on local equipment available, quality demands, and which price you can get from the print-shop.
• ~1000 .. ~250,000 copies: Offset printing. Internal printing using paper plates may be suitable for ~ 300 .. 10,000 copies.
• ~250,000+ copies: Offset or photogravure printing.

In the "good old days" you send the manuscript to the typesetter, and after numerous proofs you or somebody else pasted up the final document for transferring it to the printing plates via a camera. This is still a suitable method (except that the text is transferred as data) when making very high class printed matter. But very few manuals need to be treated that way.

The most cost efficient way today is to make the final document in-house or by using an external contractor (like PRC), and then transfer the final file(s) to the print-shop for direct filmmaking or laser-printing.

But which formats etc. is preferred by the printer?

Basically: always ask your print-shop!

Which format should I deliver?

• The original DTP format , e.g. the PageMaker file. Important points:
• When saving, always include all fonts used either with the file or by adding the font files.
• Use preferably PostScript fonts. Printers are generally still by large very PostScript oriented, and TrueType fonts are known to course problems with some photo-setters.
• Include the original graphics files used. Theoretically this should not be necessary, but if something goes wrong (which often happens) it can save both you and the print-shop a lot of time and trouble. For 4-colour printing, always include the files and make the file linked to the document (not encapsulated) because the printer may want to adjust the colours before printing in order to get the best result.
• Include a copy of the final document on paper and/or as Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file(s). If it is a colour job, include a colour separated printout. With programmes, which can deliver colour separations (e.g. PageMaker), you can make colour separated Adobe Acrobat files, too/instead, see below .
• Always ask for a proof print. If using ink spot colours a faxed copy of the films may do, otherwise insist of a colour proof. In that way you will discover typical errors like ...
• wrong colour separations.
• wrong line or page shift.
• wrong page numbers in an automatically generated TOC. E.g. MS Word may have been set to "refresh" the TOC as part of the printing procedure, and that may cause unwanted changes.
• Advantages of sending the original DTP format:
• Easier for you. You don't need to do any conversions.
• Easier for the print-shop - if they have the same software and know it well.
• Disadvantages of sending the original DTP format:
• Problems with different software versions (e.g. PageMaker 6.0 versus 6.52).
• Problems with different platforms (PC contra Mac).
• They may by accident make unwanted changes to the document.
• PostScript printer files .

They can be made by "printing to file" to a PostScript printer, preferably the photo-setter (e.g. Linotype 300). The typical standard file type is .PRN, but sometimes it is .PS. You "print to file" by checking the appropriate checkbox in the printout dialog box.
• Make sure ...
• Colour separations are correct.
• Page and line shifts are correct.
• Page numbers in an automatically generated TOC is correct. E.g. Word may have been set to "refresh" the TOC as part of the printing procedure, and that may cause unwanted changes.
• You can check a PostScript file in three ways:
• Convert it to an Adobe Acrobat file using e.g. the Adobe Acrobat Distiller, and then see it in the Acrobat reader.
• Use Ghostview to see it directly. Gostview is freeware/shareware and downloadable from many places, e.g. http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ , which also includes the installation instructions.
• Copy it to your printer. In DOS use the order ...

COPY /B myfile.prn LPT1:
... where "/B" means copy in binary format (important), "myfile.prn" is to be replaced by the file you want to print, and "LPT1:" is the port you want to print to.
• This method is only applicable to b/w printing and simple ink-spot colour printing. With 4-colour printing, especially including photos with critical colours like human flesh, leave it to the printer unless you are a real expert and knows your printers equipment VERY well!
• Adobe Acrobat files.

Some printers accept Adobe Acrobat files. If you use that solution, please note:
• Most printshops accepting Adobe Acrobat files prefers CMYK colours. In that case, export the graphics in CMYK colours: when exporting to PDF, click the "Control" button and in "Output color model", tick "CMYK (best for print output)". You can download a 2400 dpi CMYK PPD (15k) here , and a text file (2k) here with some more information. This PPD, the text file and other useful comments was delivered by Chris Mason, British West Indies, http://net.ai .
• In the Distiller's box "Workflow" ...
• Tick "Include downloadable fonts".
• Tick "Override distillers' job options", and then click the "Edit" box to open the "PDF job options" dialog box.
• In the "PDF job options" dialog box:
• Untick "Subset fonts below".
• Tick "Embed all fonts".
• Untick all three "Downsample to ... dpi". Otherwise the image print quality may be very lousy.
• Always carefully check the PDF file before sending it. The Adobe Acrobat Distiller is not 100% error free !!!

How to transfer it to the print-shop

• Send a disk. Please note, that Mac disks in most cases can't be read on a PC, but PC disks can be read on a Mac.
• If the files are too big, or the total project is big, consider file compression. The most accepted file compression format today is .ZIP, which can be opened on many platforms, incl. PC and Mac. Don't use self-extracting .exe files, unless you know that the receiver uses a PC. For ZIP compression and decompression software, click here .
• Send a CD-ROM. Please note, that you can burn in several different formats, incl. PC and Mac. Make sure you burn the CD-ROM in a format the printshop can read. If in doubt, test it.
• Send an Iomega ZIP-disk . First make sure that the printshop can open your type.
• Transfer via the Internet . There are two ways:
• You send it attached to an e-mail. This is the easiest way, but there are a few pitfalls:
• Make sure the printshop can read the attached file. There are four attachment formats: ASCII, BinHex, UUencoded and MIME, and most mail programmes can only handle one or two of them (and not always the same). The most commonly used format is MIME (primarily "Basic MIME" if there are more). The freeware mail programme Pegasus can handle all attachment formats.
• Make sure your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and the print-shop's ISP accept large e-mails. Many ESPs has limitations to the size of a single e-mail with attachments (often 1 to 5 MB) and/or limitations to the total content of a mailbox (often 2 to 20 MB). If in doubt, ask the ISPs.
• You upload it to your website and then the print-shop can download it from there. The advantages are, that there is no size limits, and up- and downloading is faster. To reduce the up- and download times, compress the files, e.g. as ZIP, see " Send a disk " above". The procedure is as follow:

How to make a colour separated Adobe Acrobat file

• 100% electronic control of colour separations. You can't control the finer details, but you can control e.g. whether a colour image is being colour separated or not, or if there is an unwanted black colour below an ink spot colour.
• Giving the printshop a good idea of the outlook of the films they are going to produce for printing.

• transfer of high quality 4-colour documents for printing !!!

1. In the DTP programme (e.g. PageMaker), start printout of a colour separated page. When printing has been started, stop it (unless you want it on paper, too).
2. Export the document as Adobe Acrobat.
3. Always carefully check the Adobe Acrobat .PDF file before sending it. The Adobe Acrobat Distiller is not 100% error free !!!

If you disagree with these ideas - or have other relevant points, experiences, or ideas +/-, please e-mail me !

Ideas for new "Tip of the month" subjects are VERY welcome, too!

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