Before You Prepare the File:

1. Summit detailed information about your project. By providing this information, a lot of problems can be avoided and time saved.
2. Create documents in Page Layout Software, such as Quark Express or Adobe PageMaker. Do not create documents in drawing programs such as Illustrator or Freehand.
3. Create your document the exact size of finished piece.
4. Extend image off edge of page for bleeds (about 1/8 inch of extension is standard).
5. Create file with multiple pages rather than one page per file.
6. Create document as single pages, not reader's pairs or printer's pairs.
7. Supply Laser copies of your document with color break and noted.
8. Import Graphics (i.e. Illustrator, Photoshop, Freehand) into Page Layout document.
9. There are several types of images that may be placed in page layout documents. All of these fit into two main categories: A) Bitmaps - are literally a map of pixels, each pixel has a unique color assigned to it. Bitmaps can be black and white, grayscale or color. Tiff files are high-resolution bitmapped images. Tiff images can be very large files. They also cannot be resized without a change in resolution. Photoshop uses the term bitmap to describe a black and white image. B) EPS - Encapsulated Postscript File - have mathematical formulas rather than a map of pixels.
10. Scanning Images - The number of pixels per inch in an image is called the image resolution. Resolution should be determined when the image is created or scanned. Resolution is specific to each image and should be determined by how the image is going to be printed. The Resolution should be set to twice the intended line screen of the printed document.
11. Resolution -If resolution is too low, the image will appear rough when printed. If the resolution is too great, the file will contain extra information and the file size will be larger than necessary.
12. Scaling Images - Never enlarge Bitmap EPS images (such as scans) more than 5 to 10 percent because images are created or scanned with a specific resolution that will only be accurate at the original size.
13. Supply Linked Files - When images are imported into Page Layout documents only a screen representation of the image is actually made a part of the document. The remainder of the file information is kept with the original image.
14. Color - Page Layout applications preload certain colors by default. Extra colors left in the color list may be used by mistake, therefore they should be removed before document layout begins.
15. Images imported into page layout document containing custom color must match the custom color names used in the page layout document.
16. Fonts - The most common fonts are Postscript. Postscript fonts describe type as a series of lines rather than a series of dots. Each postscript font requires two sets of files - a printer font and a screen font.
17. Collecting For Output - Collect all elements of the job to properly output the document. (Document file, linked files & fonts, [both screen and printer fonts]). Copy these files to a storage device to send to CoriGraphics.

The Top Ten Problems of Digital Files

1. Missing or incorrect fonts
2. Missing or incorrect trapping
3. Files defined with incorrect color; RGB vs. CMYK (common with flatbed scanners)
4. Scans supplied in wrong file format
5. Incorrect page settings or page setup
6. Graphics not linked
7. Incorrectly defined or undefined bleeds
8. No laser proof supplied
9. Missing graphics
10. Resolution too high or too low in customer supplied scans