Flyers · Glossary
What does print ready mean?
Print ready means a file that a printer can send straight to production without correcting anything first: the right finished size, images with enough resolution, fonts embedded, bleed where colour reaches the edge, and colour in the form the press expects. It is usually a PDF, often following a PDF/X standard that locks those rules in.
A file that is not print ready still gets printed, but only after someone fixes it, charges for the time or asks you to resupply, and each round delays the job. Knowing the checklist before you design lets you settle the gaps with the shop at the quote rather than at the deadline.
Nuwan Madhusanka · Co-founder
5 min read · Published
| Item | What printers usually expect | What the flyer export gives |
|---|---|---|
| Finished size | Pages at the exact trim size | A4 pages at A4 proportions; A0 for posters |
| Image resolution | About 300 PPI at print size for photographs | A4 at 2480 x 3508 pixels, which is 300 PPI at A4 |
| Fonts | Embedded or converted to outlines | Text is rendered into the page image, so nothing can substitute |
| Bleed | Artwork extended past the trim, commonly 3 mm or 0.125 in | Not supplied |
| Crop marks | Requested by some shops | Not supplied |
| Colour | CMYK, or RGB with a profile in a colour managed workflow | RGB only |
| File standard | PDF, often PDF/X-1a or PDF/X-4 | Standard PDF, not PDF/X |
| Editable text in the PDF | Not required, useful for last minute fixes | No, each page is an image |
A shared definition between designer and press
Printing presses and the software that feeds them, called a RIP, are unforgiving. A missing font is swapped for another, a low resolution photograph prints soft, a background that stops at the trim leaves a white sliver, and an RGB colour outside the press's range shifts when converted. Print ready is the shorthand for a file that avoids all of those. The IMG.LY guide to print PDFs describes a print ready PDF as a normal PDF with less freedom and more control, one that enforces technical requirements so nothing unpredictable happens once the file reaches a press. Each shop publishes its own version of the checklist, but the items barely change between them.
The items on every checklist
Size comes first: the document should be built at the finished trim size, not at a size the shop has to scale. Resolution follows, judged at the printed size rather than in the file's settings; the IMG.LY checklist gives 300 DPI for photographs and 1200 for line art, while Vistaprint's poster guide accepts 150 to 250 for larger posters seen from further away. Fonts must be embedded so text looks the same on any machine. Bleed is needed wherever colour or an image touches the edge; Vistaprint asks for 0.125 of an inch, and Australian shops commonly ask for 3 millimetres. Colour is the last item, and it is where shops differ most: many want CMYK, while colour managed workflows accept RGB with an embedded profile.
Where PDF/X fits
PDF/X is a family of ISO standards that restrict what a PDF may contain so it prints predictably. The IMG.LY guide summarises the common variants. PDF/X-1a allows only CMYK and spot colours, requires every font to be embedded and flattens transparency, which makes it the most widely compatible. PDF/X-3 also accepts RGB and Lab colour with ICC profiles. PDF/X-4 keeps transparency live and supports device independent colour, producing smaller files, but needs a modern RIP. A shop that asks for PDF/X is really asking for a file that has already passed its checklist, and design software can validate that on export. A shop that does not mention it will usually accept a well made standard PDF.
Common mistakes
The first is assuming print ready is a universal specification, when in practice it means ready for this particular shop, so read its guidelines or ask before you finish the design. The second is supplying a file at screen size, such as 1080 pixels square, and expecting it to print sharply on paper. The third is extending nothing past the edge on a design with a full colour background, which forces the shop either to enlarge the artwork slightly or to trim into it. The fourth is placing phone numbers and web addresses so close to the edge that a normal trim tolerance cuts them. The last is approving a job without checking a proof, which is the one step that catches everything else on this list.
How close the flyer export gets
The flyer builder covers some of the checklist and leaves the rest to the shop, and it helps to say so when ordering. An A4 page exports at 2480 by 3508 pixels, which is A4 at 300 DPI, and an A0 poster at 3312 by 4680. The export is rendered on a server in a headless browser and the text is drawn into the page image, so there is no font for the printer to substitute. What it does not supply is bleed, crop marks, CMYK, a colour profile or a PDF/X file; exports are RGB, and the PDF places each page as an image, so its text cannot be selected or edited. The practical approach is to design with a quiet margin and a light or white edge so no bleed is needed, send the PDF at A4 and ask the shop to convert the colour and supply a proof.
Questions people ask
Is a PDF automatically print ready?
No. PDF is only the container. A PDF can hold low resolution images, missing fonts, the wrong page size or no bleed, and still open perfectly on screen. Print ready describes what is inside the file, which is why shops often ask for PDF/X, a stricter version that cannot carry most of those problems.
Will a printer fix a file that is not print ready?
Many will, for simple issues such as scaling a page to size or converting RGB to CMYK, sometimes free and sometimes as a paid artwork charge. Problems that need design changes, such as missing bleed on a full colour background or text too close to the trim, usually come back to you. Ask how the shop handles it before ordering.
Can a JPG or PNG be print ready?
For a single page with no text that needs editing, yes, if the pixel dimensions match the finished size at around 300 pixels per inch. Many online printers accept high resolution JPG and PNG uploads. PDF is still the safer default because it carries the page size explicitly and can hold several pages in order.
What does preflight mean?
Preflight is an automated check a printer or design program runs on a file before production, looking for missing fonts, low resolution images, wrong colour spaces, missing bleed and similar faults. Some online printers run it on upload and show warnings. Passing preflight does not guarantee the design reads well, only that the file is technically sound.
Do I need to outline fonts?
Only if the shop asks. Converting text to outlines turns letters into shapes, which removes any risk of font substitution but makes the text impossible to edit later. Embedding fonts in the PDF achieves the same safety for most workflows while keeping the text editable, so it is the usual request.
How do I know what a specific printer wants?
Look for a page called file setup, artwork guidelines or print specifications on the shop's website, or ask for its template for the product you are ordering. Templates show the trim, bleed and safe area at the right size. When nothing is published, ask four questions: size, bleed, colour mode and file format.
Make one with flyers
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own.
Create a flyer with OneCraftRelated questions
- What are crop marks?What are crop marks: short lines outside the corners of a print file that show where to cut. How they differ from bleed, registration marks and colour bars.
- What is a print proof?What is a print proof: a preview of a print job you approve before the full run. Soft, hard and press proofs compared on cost, colour accuracy and turnaround.
- Resolution vs DPI vs PPIResolution vs DPI: resolution is an image's pixel count, PPI is how densely those pixels print, DPI is the printer's ink dots. Worked from A5 to A1.
- CMYK vs RGB: why printed colours look differentCMYK vs RGB: RGB mixes light for screens, CMYK mixes ink for paper, and ink cannot reach every screen colour. What shifts in print and how to limit it.
Step by step in the builder: Create a flyer for Instagram and print.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .