PDF is the standard file type we use here at Q Print group. We, and many other printers, use PDFs because they are vector-based. This means that we can edit the artwork to have the correct colours, size, print marks and so on.
This article is meant to serve as an all-in-one guide for how to export your artwork to PDF. Please note that most of these programs update frequently. This is the process for exporting artwork as of the 17th of June 2021.
Adobe Suite
Indesign export to PDF
In the top header menu hit the File option then in that list, select Export…
This will open a new window of your documents to choose where the file will save to. You can also choose what the file name will be. Make sure the Save as Type selection is Adobe PDF (Print).
A new window will open. Change the Adobe PDF Preset to High Quality Print. The compatibility ideally should be the most recent one but using older versions like Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) is fine as well.
In the General tab, make sure that under Pages, All is selected and that the Export As option is Pages and NOT spreads.
In the Compression tab, make sure all the image quality options are set to Maximum.
In the Marks and Bleeds tab, under the Marks section select the Crop Marks box. Under the Bleed and Slug section make sure that you select Use Document Bleed Settings.
You can review your choices in the Summary tab and hit the Export button.
Illustrator export to PDF
In the top header menu hit the File option then in that list, select Save As…
This will open a new window of your documents to choose where the file will save to. You can also choose what the file name will be. Make sure the Save as Type selection is Adobe PDF (*PDF).
A new window will open. Keep the Adobe PDF Preset to Illustrator Default. You can use the High Quality Print preset option if you prefer.
In the General tab, under the Options section you can choose to deselect Preserve Illustrator Editing Capabilities. Doing so will make the file size small to send via email. There may be some instances where it’s better to keep this option selected in case the person receiving the artwork needs to edit it on their end.
In the Compression tab, make sure that all the Bitmap Image options have the Do Not Downsample option selected to ensure the best image quality.
In the Marks and Bleeds Tab, under the Marks section select the Trim Marks option. Under the Bleeds section make sure to select the Use Document Bleed Settings option.
You can review your choices in the Summary tab and hit the Save PDF button.
Photoshop export to PDF
Photoshop, as a general rule, is not a great software to create print design. It is intended as a photo editing software with design features. When exporting to pdf from Photoshop it flattens the layers into single image that we cannot edit on our end. With that being said, if you need to export an image from photoshop following the steps below.
In the top header menu hit the File option then in that list, select Save As…
This will open a new window of your documents to choose where the file will save to. You can also choose what the file name will be. Make sure the Save as Type selection is Adobe PDF (*PDF). When this option is selected, also make sure that you tick the box for ICC Profile U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2.
A new window will open. Change the Adobe PDF Preset to High Quality Print. In the General tab, under the Options section you can choose to deselect Preserve Photoshop Editing Capabilities. Doing so will make the file size small to send via email. There may be some instances, especially when using photoshop, where it’s better to keep this option selected in case the person receiving the artwork needs to edit it on their end.
In the Compression tab, make sure that under Options that the Compression is JPEG and the Image Quality is set to Maximum.
Because you cannot add bleed on a photoshop artboard there is no option to export with bleed or trim marks. When creating the artwork, it’s a good idea to give the artwork a visible margin which you can design outside of to take into account the bleed.
You can review your choices in the Summary tab and hit the Save PDF button.
Microsoft Office Suite
Exporting Word to PDF
To save a word document as a PDF, go to the File tab in the top menu.
In that menu click the Save as Adobe PDF.
This will open a new window of your documents to choose where the file will save to. You can also choose what the file name will be. Make sure the Save as type selection is PDF Files (should be automatically selected).
There will be a small loading screen and when it is finished it will open a pdf version of your word document.
A note about Colour: Microsoft office uses RGB and HEX colour profiles. These colour profiles do not print and will be converted by the printer to CMYK so some colours (especially reds and any fluorescent colours) will not look the same once printed. For more information, read our article on Colour in Printing.
Exporting Power Point to PDF
Exporting to PDF from Microsoft Power Points follows the exact same Process as exporting from Microsoft word. To save a word document as a PDF, go to the File tab in the top menu.
In that menu click the Save as Adobe PDF.
This will open a new window of your documents to choose where the file will save to. You can also choose what the file name will be. Make sure the Save as type selection is PDF Files (should be automatically selected).
There will be a small loading screen and when it is finished it will open a pdf version of your word document.