Design for print

Notes below

Adobe PDF Presets —

Press Quality — Full quality images, used for commercial printing
Smallest file size  — Proof emails, small resolution
High Quality Print — In between the two, used for printed proofs
PDF/X-1a:2001— Legacy formats

Litho printing —

PDF colour separations
Ensure you provide the right format to the printer
Some printers provide a specific preset

Press quality PDF settings —

All settings are automatically set correctly
Pages / Spreads depending on printer
Bleeds > Use document bleed settings (Film magazine)
All images are converted to CMYK, ensure the images are CMYK prior to placing them
All printers marks > Crop marks (ask printers whether this needs to be included)

Document processing

When exporting as a pdf, go to:
Window > Utilities > Background Tasks
Provides error alerts — useful for troubleshooting

PostScript file

File > Print > Printer > PostScript File
PPD (Postscript printer description) > Choose the preferred printer
— Choosing Adobe PDF 9.0 allows you to export documents larger than A3, for example
PostScript files will convert (into a PDF) and open in Preview
Uncompressed images and all fonts included

Colour separations

You may have an indesign document that you need separating for screen-printing positives
— Output > Separations and choose the desired colours

Acrobat Distiller

Used to convert PostScript files into a PDF
Choose desired PDF preset and drag the PS file into the Distiller window


Booklet printing

File > Print booklet to reorder the pages
You can export this as a PDF — Some printers require the printed spreads as opposed to the readers spreads
Print settings > PostScript file > Adobe PDF 9.0 > Center images, print blank pages etc


Multiple objects on a page
(business cards on an A2 document, for example)

Export the file as a Press Quality PDF
— Ensure you have the crop and bleed marks
A PDF will work exactly like an image when placing it into another InDesign document


Alignment & grid

Go to Edit > Step and repeat
Make sure the vertical and horizontal values are the same as the placed PDF
Create a grid that would fit as many images on the document as possible
If printed double sided, ensure they aligned center (group and align)

Placing InDesign files

You have an option to place InDesign files into another so you can later make alterations

File > Place > Show Import Options

In the dialog box, you can choose what pages you intend to place

The default crop option is the page bounding box but if you have bleed, you need to include this

There is no options to add crop marks — these need to be added to the original InDesign file

Go to the original file

The slug are is used to show the printer marks (crop marks)

File > Document Setup > Edit the Slug settings (10mm)

Use the line tool to create your own crop marks within the slug area

Placing an InDesign file within another creates a live link
You can go to the original file, change any formatting and it will automatically update

To make sure documents are aligned properly, use the options bar at the top of the window:

Top left will be X: 0mm, Y: 0mm

If you have all the pages on the same document, it will be referred to as Work & Turn / Tumble

Rotate the pages 180 degrees to ensure it will print double sided

Glyphs

You can access the glyphs of a font by going to Type > Glyphs

System Preferences > Language & Text > Input sources

Turn on the Keyboard & Character viewer

Icon in rop right corner — when open, press the alt key to see what the shortcuts are