Tips for sending electronic files
It is our sincere intent to make electronic file submission an easy task for all concerned. To help make the pre-press phase of your projects trouble free, we have assembled these electronic file and pre-press guidelines. Don't be intimidated if you find terms that are foreign to you. Our Customer Service Representatives are always available to help you sort out the important details and produce the best quality print for your job.
Supported Media
- We accept files from both Windows® and Macintosh®.
- You may submit files by Zip disk (100MB or 250MB), CD, E-mail (utcopy@uts.cc.utexas.edu), or our FTP server.
Please provide hard copy dummy or mock up at the time you submit your files so we may compare it to our proofs. This will help avoid problems and save time.
If you have any problems or questions please call Irene at 471-1615.
Supported Software
We support the following in their native format:
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe PageMaker
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe PDF
- when submitting PDFs to UT Copy Centers, please export files using High-Quality Print preset
- when submitting PDFs for offset (press) printing, please use a press-quality preset
- Microsoft Publisher
- Quark XPress
Camera-ready copy and artwork is also accepted.
Submission Guidelines
Documents
- Only send the documents that you want us to output. If possible, delete all other files from the disk you supply to us.
- Make sure the document is the actual size being printed. If not, please specify enlargement or reduction for imaging.
- Gather all output documents, fonts, and images and place them into three individual folders (Quark, InDesign, and Publisher can do this for you).
- Always supply laser prints with your job. We need these to compare to the proofs. Write your name, address and phone number on all disks, art or proofs that are sent to us.
Fonts
- Supply all fonts used, including screen and printer fonts, Truetype, and/or OpenType.
- Avoid assigning type attributes (bold, italic, bold italic) in your layout software. Instead, use the correct typeface from the type family. This will avoid using a type style that has no actual screen and printer font. For example, use Adobe Garamond Bold instead of Adobe Garamond with boldface applied.
- Avoid Multiple Master fonts if possible. Some will work, but problems are common.
Graphics
- Bleeds (elements of your layout that run off of the edge of the page) must extend at least 1⁄8th (.125").
- Live area (graphics and type that cannot bleed) will be trimmed during finishing in the bindery. All type and graphics not intended to bleed, must be a minimum of 3/16th (.1875") clear and free from the head, foot, face, gutter or trim area.
- Photographic images should be at least 300 dpi. Line art or bitmap (1-bit) images should be 1200 dpi.
- Include all fonts and placed images linked from your document (Quark, InDesign, and Publisher can do this for you).
- When creating silhouettes use the path tool. (Remember to turn clipping path on and flatness setting of 3 when saving your EPS.)
- Rotating and resizing your images before importing into your layout will print faster.
- Do not embed graphics. If graphics are already embedded please supply the original graphics with the job.
- In Quark, when placing TIFF images in boxes, make sure the background is set to white. If the background needs to remain at none, then create a clipping path if a silo is needed.
- To reduce banding in gradations, use a broad range (e.g. 5% – 95% as opposed to 40% – 60%).
- Avoid JPEGS. Images should be saved as EPS or TIFF.
- Remove extra channels from Photoshop files.
- All images should be in CMYK mode or grayscale.
- Some Pantone® colors are outside of the CMYK color space and appear different when printed as process color. Please view your screen after conversion for a rough idea of how that color will appear.
If you have any questions at any stage of producing your printed product, please feel free to contact your Copy Center for assistance at 471-1615.
