PDF Upload with Preflight

• Last updated on December 29, 2023
• •
• 4 minutes to read

The PDF Upload with Preflight workflow allows for placing print orders for the PDF print files prepared by the users in their favorite graphic design software like Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, CorelDraw, etc. The uploaded PDF can be validated to check if its size, color space, resolution, etc., match the rules you configure.

Attributes of this workflow are divided into two parts:

1. Product specification, such as size, number of pages, output resolution, and color settings
2. Preflight rules

Now let's look at these attributes.

Selecting a workflow

To start creating a product specification, go to the Product specifications section in your BackOffice panel and click Create new.

In Basic settings, type in the name and click the Personalization workflow. When the Select workflow window opens, you can see standard and custom workflows available in your BackOffice tenant. Click Preflight Tool and then click Select.

Once a workflow is selected, you will see the required attributes. You can follow the prompts to fill in the attributes.

Product attributes

Document size and bleed

The first group of attributes defines the product size in inches. You can click the Width, Height, and Bleed fields to change the default values.

To remove the bleed zone and render print files of the same size as the design, set Bleed to 0.

Number of product pages

When configuring the workflow, you can either strictly define the number of pages or allow the user to add or remove pages after they upload their files.

First, click Number of pages and define a new value or leave the default value of 1.

To allow your customers to change the specified number of pages, set Variable number of pages to Yes. If No, the product will have a fixed number of pages.

Image resolution

You can specify the product resolution, in DPI, in the Resolution box. The typical resolution for commercial printing is 300 dpi, but you may want to use smaller values for larger products to improve processing time.

Color space and color profiles

You can define a target color space in which your uploaded documents will be processed – in CMYK or RGB.

For these color spaces, you can select a color profile to be applied to convert graphics from one color space to another. By default, the documents are processed in the CMYK color space with the SWOP (Coated), 20%, GCR, Medium profile. For conversion to RGB, the sRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile is applied.

You may add your own color profiles by uploading them to the Color profiles of the Assets section.

Preflight rules

The attributes of this group allow you to verify which preflight problems are contained in the uploaded documents. The values specified in the attributes above will be checked. For each rule, you can define its severity – Warning or Error. The difference between these levels is that the user can proceed with an order if they encounter a warning, while errors prevent this.

To disable a rule, select Off.

It is also possible to configure whether to allow users to fix some of these issues within a Preflight Tool. To do so, use the Enable an ability to fix problems using the Preflight Tool checkbox at the end of the list of attributes.

Note

If problems are fixed inside the Preflight Tool, you won't receive the original file uploaded by the user. It will be processed by the Preflight Tool, which may imply some side effects. For example, all text will be curved, and the color space will be converted in accordance with the defined values. If you prefer working with the original file, you need to turn off the ability to fix problems.

Now, let's overview the available rules.

Rule 1. Color space

Validates that the color space of the document matches the defined value. If the ability to fix problems is turned on, the Preflight Tool will convert the user's PDF according to the color settings specified above. The default value is Error.

Rule 2. Resolution

Validates that the resolution of graphics in the uploaded file is equal to or greater than the target value. The default value is Warning.

Rule 3. Inside bleed box

Validates that no portion of the content appears in the bleed zone. The default value is Warning.

Rule 4. No margins

Validates that the content fills the entire trim box. The default value is Warning.

Rule 5. Page orientation

Validates that all pages in the document have the same orientation. If enabled, a PDF violating this rule can be fixed. The tool uses the orientation of the majority of pages to determine the correct orientation. When the uploaded file has the same number of landscape and portrait pages, the orientation of the front page will be applied to all pages. The default value is Warning.

Rule 6. Text as curves

Validates that text represents vector shapes in the uploaded PDF files. By default, this rule is turned off.

Rule 7. Embedded fonts

Validates that the uploaded PDF file contains all the necessary fonts along with the text. The default value is Error.