I paid money for few InDesign trainings, watched endless youtube videos and asked a number of „experts“ to get this information, but none of those explained how to prepare a document for printing. Finally, I know how to prepare a document to be sent to the printing company… thank you for great free tutorial and for not wasting my time. 😊
For the last couple of days I have been reading so many articles and watching so many videos but couldn't find anything useful what I need to know regarding pdf exporting from INDESIGN. But your video is truly exceptional explaining everything what I need to learn about pdf exporting from INDESIGN. Thanks a ton SIR.
This is INSANELY GREAT!!! I almost can't believe how amazing this is...the way you showed everything and explained everything. I have never seen anything like what you have done here. Thank you so much.
I've read plenty of articles and watched plenty of videos about exporting PDFs for press from Indesign, but this one is HANDS DOWN the best, and I actually learned some things I did not know even after 20 years in the industry! THANK YOU!
Hands down, best explainer on YT. After years, still wasnt sure about using spreads (in some cases), or what actually really preserved numbers means. Thank You|!
During one full night, I was trying to fix "light blacks" problems with my exports (100% black forms converted to an ugly dark grey). And I've found my response in your video, so thank you again !
It's true you never stop learning... I've been in the print "trade" for over 30 years and never found a better explanation of setting up for print than this..EVER! Thank you (I'm not for decimals in fractions but if I had to this would be 27.495/7 :))
Extremely clear and neat, I've been looking for this for ages.. If only I had found this video a few years ago when I started working... Thank you very much sir, you're a GOAT for doing this 😁
So glad I found your tutorial. It's very comprehensive and the "Do's and Don'ts" help to squash second guessing (which I'm very good at). It made sense to me! Thank you! ☺
Yeah, thanks for this. I’ve been trying to find this kind of info for many years. Sending stuff to print is nerve racking. This is going to help a lot 👊
Thanks! Expert advice, patiently, clearly explained. I can tell you've been in litho/pre-press since the "good ol days" of Rubylith, negatives, plates, and X-acto knives. I was trying to explain a Stat camera to a young designer the other day-he was puzzled and never heard of such a thing! 😀
We're in the same boat. I used to run a stat camera among other items that would be museum pieces now. Stripped film on a light table, used halftone screens over film in the camera back to make halftones, and a safe light to bump it, all that stuff no one this century has any clue what it means. It's great to meet another from that era.
This is the best and proffesional explaining about pdf converting. In fact some of the best anyway topic. The diction and the educational way to inform the topic is really good. - Thank You very much.
thank you for this. During the conversion, I think if you convert to destination, it actually looks up the LAB value on the current ICC profile, looks that up in the destination profile, and then sets the CMYK value of whatever the corresponding CMYK value that's mapped to the LAB.
Yes the Color Management Module (CMM) handles this, and in simplest terms yes it does work essentially as you describe. All Adobe products use the same CMM so the results converting color during PDF export are identical to converting images to CMYK in Photoshop.
Thanks Alot see you now from Syria. I have problem in prepress for CMYK pdf We prepare to print schools books which the designer of thes books didn,t know WHAT THE MEANING OF CMYK . In your video today you help me and improve my knowledge more and more. Thanks alot TEACHER. How can i chat with You .
X4 always unless the printer has a 20 year old workflow that doesn't understand transparency. X1a is flattened. Personally I don't use printers that far out of date technologically, so for me, X4 is all I ever output for anything going to press. If all you're doing is output to your own desktop printer, then it doesn't really matter.
Thank you, this is a very helpful video. Would it be correct to think that clients who want KDP printing would also need PDFs made in the exact same way? If not, where could I find the unusual features of PDFs intended for KDP?
Thank you very much. We were asked/ adviced by a profesional printer to switch off all colours in PDF and all print went south - colours were dull. We asked to re-print and we were being blamed it is due OUR fault as we sent a file not in CMYK colours. What function it has and what is the exact use of setting the PDF file to NO COLOURS? Thank you for advice
Thank you ☺️ that was sssuper helpful !!! Question though: my pdf book cover way darker with the PDF/X-4, so I choose High quality print instead. Is that ok ??
If the result is different I would question color management. Is this an image that looks different? What color space is it? High Quality Print uses "No Color Conversion". What is your X4 preset using for color conversion?
@@JaZyLY Why no color conversion? Is it an image that is darker? What is the image color profile? If not CMYK GRACoL then it needs to be converted. In which case, it could look different, and it should. If the result when converted to the color profile of the printing method used does not appear as desired, the image needs color correction. You don't change the print method, you fix the data sent to it.
Hi , How do you add adobe PDF to the drop down list when printing booklet from Indesign? I tried the airprint but I get an error that says " The save as PDF option in the Printer dialog is not supported" I have 8.5x11 pages that I need to export as a booklet, that way when I print 11x17 ; I can cut it in half and put the 2 sides together. cheaper to print on 11x17 vs 8.5x11. I can export regularly by command E , but it doesnt put the pages in booklet order of course. ( booklet will layout the pages in order for a book) . Thank you for your help.
InDesign print booklet feature does not make PDFs. It is rather useless really because all it can produce is PostScript which is almost 20 years obsolete and forces all effects to be flattened. Not modern. A better solution to making booklet PDFs is export your document to print-ready PDF in single pages. Then use this script to make it printer spreads: www.marspremedia.com/software/indesign/pdf-printer-spreads That produces a document with pages arranged to make a saddle-stitch booklet (or chop in two after folding). Export another PDF, again print-ready settings, and send that to the printer.
I don't know. InDesign doesn't come with a default preset named "pre-press". If you have a preset that name, someone created it. Can't say if it's good enough because I have no idea of the settings used when the preset was created.
@@xym4979 Doesn't include marks or bleed, downsamples bitmap images, and converts color to SWOP. For web jobs that don't bleed I suppose good enough. But if destined for sheetfed better to use GRACoL or similar profile printer might prefer. Best practice is use profile printer specifies, whatever it may be.
If we don't set the right output, could this cause it to come back looking washed-out and pale? this happened last time, the front cover looked realy washed out, even though it looked perfect onscreen
It's possible a better profile could be selected, but there are other reasons too, that output doesn't match the screen. 1. Is the screen calibrated? If you don't know, probably not. So how can it be trusted to be correct? 2. Is the printer calibrated? Same thing. If not, results are anyone's guess. 3. If the printer is calibrated, what is it calibrated to? That will be the profile to target when making color conversions, either in Photoshop or while exporting a PDF from InDesign if the document is RGB. The proper procedure is to ask the printer what their target profile is, and prep work accordingly. Then ask for a press-match color proof. Quality printing companies will provide a good representation of their expected results. If that doesn't look right, you need to change what you give them. Something at your end is wrong. If the proof does look good but the final printing doesn't, that's the printer to blame.
Indigo can print to match commercial offset. Most printers I use are calibrated to GRACoL. SWOP works too, mostly the same just mainly less total ink. Talk to the printer and ask them for recommendations, and ensure they are well calibrated. To match printing both their and your workflows needs to be calibrated. For monitors I use an X-rite i1 profiler. For better match to printed results I recommend target luminance 110 instead of the default 120. Work in Photoshop either Adobe98 or sRGB. I place images in InDesign RGB and export PDF to GRACoL or SWOP depending on printer. My work matches sheetfed, web, and digital (Indigo) perfectly.
If I export for digital laser printer lile konica minolta 3070 I have to convert to cmyk too? Or can i leave no conversion in pdf/x-4 an leave the printer do the conversion?
If you were to select "Do Not Downsample" for every output setting, what would be the negatives with this method, aside from a larger file size? And with the same PDF export options available in Photoshop, is there any difference in exporting a document from InDesign rather than Photoshop, if bleed marks etc. are of no consequence? Thank you kindly.
Larger file size is the only downside (only a downside if it matters in your situation). Obviously more pixels is always better quality. But depending on what happens to the PDF downstream (at the printer, for example) those extra pixels are likely downsampled anyway. There are too many different use cases to say for sure the ultimate result, but you can safely "Do Not Downsample" if you choose, and there are no other negative effects beyond the larger file size. As for the difference InDesign to Photoshop, it depends on the overall content, as with InDesign vector elements take little data to describe, as opposed to raster elements which require more data to describe. In Photoshop it's all raster, so in most cases (again, depending on the overall content) the result is likely a larger file. If vector elements are involved (text, lines, shapes, etc.) it's not only a matter of file size: raster elements pixelate as the scale increases; no so for vector elements that may scale to any size and remain sharp.
@@wc7 Thank you so much Mr Campbell, this has put my mind to rest! I can export on both programs but feel more at home in Photoshop as this is where I do the bulk of my work (for better or worse!) and have always wondered if it really mattered, if there was some special ingredient InDesign may offer in the conversion process. As a failsafe I tend to convert text to vector shapes and/or create outlines before exporting as a PDF in Photoshop. ...One last question, and I am aware I am very much taking up your precious time here and going off on a slight tangent, but is it best practice to flatten a PSD file before converting to PDF on Photoshop or leave it as is before conversion? Thank you so much again, your knowledge is invaluable and you absolutely have a new subscriber, fantastic and in-depth content, a real gem of a channel!
@@MorbidLyre From Photoshop, flatten vs not, it might, or might not make a difference. I don't have PS open in front o me at the moment, but I think there is the option "Acrobat layers" (or similar) when saving PDF. I am not positive, but if disabled the image is probably flattened anyway. And when enabled maybe? (again not positive) layer are perhaps preserved? I haven't tested this. You could. Do both ways and look at the result in Acrobat. On the left sidebar is a section for layers. See what you get. Also note any difference in file size, of course. That's a clue too. If not flattened, anything from Photoshop is always larger compared to when it's flattened to a single layer.
@@wc7 Perfect, I will duly check it out. Thank you so much once more, I shall be recommending your channel to everyone and anyone, I REALLY appreciate your assistance and I hope you have a great day!
Total ink coverage is a product of the ICC profile color separation parameters. InDesign has no control over this beyond which profile is selected. GRACoL produces close to 325% max. SWOP limits TIC to 300% per the spec. Custom total ink requires profiling software to generate your own ICC profile and provide the desired separation parameters. Then select the custom profile in InDesign during export. Keep in mind, this only applies to items not already CMYK. TIC of any items already CMYK was determined when the item was separated to CMYK. If not re-separating all, existing CMYK TIC values remain unchanged.
Thank you, great information! Question: if I'm preparing a PDF for a fiction book for Amazon or IngramSpark to print and the inner pages are black and white on cream paper what is the best color profile (CMYK, sGray, or something else)? I do see that Amazon requires PDF/X and PDF/X-1a is preferred, but they don't indicate the color destination for the inner pages. For covers it's CMYK. (I hope this makes sense as I have never done this before.)
Yes Ingram Spark and other print-on-demand want PDF/X-1a (flattened PDF). These projects are produced on digital presses. Give them the X-1a format they ask for. For profile use U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 for both text pages and cover PDF. Text is just black so it doesn't actually matter (no color separation involved) but to be consistent use the same profile for both PDFs.
Great tutorial! What about the bleeds in the gutter? I'm assuming they aren't needed since the printer is taking the individual pages and imposing them together into printer spreads?
Spine bleed is normally not a concern unless the job is perfect bound, in which case pages should be checkerboarded so none interact with any other. For saddle stitch, when a facing pages document that has bleed is exported to PDF as pages, this includes some of the facing page in the bleed of each page exported. Then yes, at most printers the pages are flowed into an imposition program that arranges the pages as needed depending on the size of press used to produce the project. For example a 40" press doing letter sized pages they are typically in 16-page signatures that once folded, folded again, and again, become the right order. That's what imposition software is all about. Or a small printer, or printing digital, pages might only be arranged in 4-page printer spreads. In either case, as long as PDFs are exported as pages and with bleed enabled, all is well.
@@wc7 Thank you! So there is no way to export a pdf with bleeds in the gutter without checkerboarding the pages inside InDesign. That makes sense because if you added bleed in the gutter it would extend onto the other page if the doc was set up in spreads (non checkerboarded). Thanks again!
@@JohnVieceli That is correct. Turn off allow pages to shuffle and manually checkerboard the pages. It's been the solution even before InDesign came along. Had to do the same in Quark XPress back in the day.
Hello, I have a question, I am in the process of sending my book for printing. The inside should be black and white. They mentioned me that I needed to change it. They tried to change the pdf but it brought errors specially on my images. In that case, since I have InDesign, what settings should I use to export the file for black and white and not colors. Thanks.
When exporting PDF, in the Output section, select Color Conversion: "Convert to Destination". (NOT preserve numbers). Destination: "Dot Gain 20%." Profile inclusion: "Don't include profiles". The result is black ink only.
Great video. One thing that confuses me when saving out to PDF/X-4:2010 is that when I open the PDF in Acrobat Pro and use the object inspector it just shows the ColorSpace as 'DeviceCMYK', (the include destination profile is already greyed out in InDesign with this preset) but if I change the Compatibility to Acrobat 8/9 (PDF 1.7) when exporting from InDesign it isn't greyed out and then the colour profile it used is shown in Acrobat Pro when I use the same object inspector. This makes me think the colour profile I use in InDesign is not being included with the Print PDF which I thought was the purpose of selecting a profile in the first place?
1.6 does not assign a profile to images (even though the profile was used to convert each image). Changing to 1.7 does assign the profile used to convert each image. If you now run preflight, the result is "Uses device independent color (however many times on however many pages)". This is undesired as it can trigger re-separation in prepress workflows downstream. In either case the images are the correct CMYK separation using the profile intended, and image appearance is identical. 1.7 simply "sticks" the profile to each image, and doing that is not a good idea. The purpose of the convert color option in InDesign is NOT to include ICC profiles in the PDF. The purpose is to convert images that are RGB to the profile's flavor of CMYK. I strongly recommend you keep with the choices shown in the video and use PDF1.6 for output destined to a commercial printer traditional or digital. This results in PDFs without profiles embedded, the better choice.
@@wc7 thanks very much for taking the time to explain that in great detail. So am I right to assume it will also use the same profile to convert any RGB content created in InDesign itself (making sure to select Preserve Numbers to leave any CMYK content from going to RGB first and then CMYK)? So basically it has converted everything on the page that needs to be converted to that profile, not just placed images?
@@andyrausse3446 When Convert to destination (preserve numbers) is selected, everything that is not already CMYK is separated to CMYK using the selected ICC profile. Everything including all images. Everything including any vector graphics that may have been inadvertently colored an RGB swatch. Anything that is not already CMYK. Nothing remains RGB in the PDF (the entire point). Using this step you have created a PDF ready for commercial printing, offset, web, or digital -- any production method equivalent to ink on paper, rather than projected light like a TV, etc.
Hi! If I am using InDesign and want the file flattened, can I save the file as PDF/X-1a without flattening it in InDesign? If so, would I leave the other PDF information that you recommend for PDF/X-4 the same? THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Yes there is no need to flatten the actual InDesign elements. I would highly recommend that you don't anyway. That makes later edits a nightmare, if even possible. You are correct to simply use the PDF-X/1a preset and use high quality for the flatten settings. Or don't use any standard and turn on flatten. Either way the flattening is handled during export. Result is PDF is flattened, InDesign doc is not, and remains editable. That's the way to go. Thanks for watching.
@@wc7 Hi! Sorry to bother you! I saved my business card file as a PDF/X-1A and there is one white line (image border) that shows up and doesn't disappear like the others when previewing the print job (Vistaprint). I was told it would show up on the business card once printed. It seems to only appear when the file is saved as a PDF/X-1A. I just wondered if you had seen this before. Thank you so much!
@@saintbernards303 Why X-1A? Why not X-4? The lines are because of flattening. When transparency is used, for example a drop shadow, X-1A requires the art is flattened, so any transparency is combined into an image that replaces the native elements. Most times it prints OK if done on a high-resolution imaging device, say at least 1600 dpi or even better to plate @2400 dpi, then the white lines don't show in the final result. Screens are nowhere near that resolution, even zoomed in, so the white line artifacts almost always show. Flattening anything is 20+ years old and a horrible way to do things these days. Why not export to X-4? Is there a specific reason not to?
@@wc7 Hi! Thank you for your reply! I am probably wrong, but I thought that was the only PDF version that flattened the design without having to flatten the design in InDesign. I had transparent logos and pictures. Thank you!
Hi! I am new to designing for prints. Is that the best option when exporting pdf files, does it print accurate to the one designed in Indesign? And what if we outsource our designs to a printing company and don't know what their print settings are does the US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 work well? Thanks for this video
@@wc7 Thank you for replying, badly needed this as i'm currently working on my first magazine project. Straight to the point turorial, appreciate this!
I'm trying to export a file and it consists png. For some reason the printout is showing the box of png images that I dont want in actual print. How to fix this issue? I've search it every where. Problem still persists. The icons i'm using does not have any background but while printing the document it is howing variation and feeling like the image consists background.
Do you want images with transparent backgrounds? For a PDF going to conventional offset printing I would suggest use PSD with transparency instead of PNG. Not required but results are more reliable if color conversion is involved.
@@wc7 it is resolved. I directly inserted psd files into indesign and it was more of a printer issue. Had done my final print from outside and it worked perfectly!
@@VINAYAKSONI007 changing from one color space to another. For example, converting RGB color to CMYK color, necessary to put ink on paper rather than pixels on screen. Do some web searching to learn more. There are volumes on the subject, far more to know than would fit in a YT comment.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 76 | คู่เอก "ผึ้งหลวง vs สมิงดำ"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9SBshmGQOIM/mqdefault.jpg)
I paid money for few InDesign trainings, watched endless youtube videos and asked a number of „experts“ to get this information, but none of those explained how to prepare a document for printing. Finally, I know how to prepare a document to be sent to the printing company… thank you for great free tutorial and for not wasting my time. 😊
For the last couple of days I have been reading so many articles and watching so many videos but couldn't find anything useful what I need to know regarding pdf exporting from INDESIGN. But your video is truly exceptional explaining everything what I need to learn about pdf exporting from INDESIGN. Thanks a ton SIR.
This is INSANELY GREAT!!! I almost can't believe how amazing this is...the way you showed everything and explained everything. I have never seen anything like what you have done here. Thank you so much.
This is hands down the best video I have ever seen explaining step by step of getting quality PDF files for production printing.
brilliant. I have been using indesign for 15 years and still learned a bunch of new things here. thank you
I am amazed by the excellent information he lays out! This corrected my errors.
I've read plenty of articles and watched plenty of videos about exporting PDFs for press from Indesign, but this one is HANDS DOWN the best, and I actually learned some things I did not know even after 20 years in the industry! THANK YOU!
Very nice of you to say. Thanks for watching.
Same here. :D
This video was straight-forward and helped me with what I needed to accomplish. Thank you!
I freaking love this video. I have come back to it multiple times. Thank you for being so clear, concise, and thorough
Sir your way of explaining is so calm and perfect that you give off AI generated vibe :D Thank you!
William, THANK YOU for this expert, straightforward and clear free tutorial. Outstanding job, one of the best tutorials I've seen on the internet!🏆
Thank you for the kind words.
After stressing for days over sending my first print-ready yearbook PDF to the printing company, this video has relieved all my worries - thank you!
Great! I'm glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
Hands down, best explainer on YT. After years, still wasnt sure about using spreads (in some cases), or what actually really preserved numbers means. Thank You|!
This is the best video on the internet, thank you William!!
Muy buenos videos!. Gran canal. Muchisimas Gracias, Daniel de Argentina
During one full night, I was trying to fix "light blacks" problems with my exports (100% black forms converted to an ugly dark grey). And I've found my response in your video, so thank you again !
It's true you never stop learning... I've been in the print "trade" for over 30 years and never found a better explanation of setting up for print than this..EVER! Thank you (I'm not for decimals in fractions but if I had to this would be 27.495/7 :))
Thanks.
Outstanding! So helpful. Very clear instructions. Thank you!
accurate and funny, I had a great time and feel more confident moving forward. Thank You!
What a very helpful lot of information that I have been trying to find. Thankyou for taking the time.
This video is amazing and super helpful. Thanks for explaining 😊
Thorough but concise description of how to make a PDF. I will recommend this to a customer who is having difficulty creating a print-ready PDF.
Thank you. I'm glad it helps. And thanks for watching.
Extremely clear and neat, I've been looking for this for ages..
If only I had found this video a few years ago when I started working...
Thank you very much sir, you're a GOAT for doing this 😁
Very kind of you. Glad it helps. Thanks for watching.
This is by far the best printing preparation tutorial I have found on internet (and I have seen tons of videos). Thank you for this
Very nice compliment. Thank you. And thanks for watching. Any other topics you'd like to see videos about let me know.
So glad I found your tutorial. It's very comprehensive and the "Do's and Don'ts" help to squash second guessing (which I'm very good at). It made sense to me! Thank you! ☺
Awesome! Precise and calmly explained! You are a great teacher, Sir! Thank you!
OMG, I thought the Presenter was an AI rendered Avatar, the quality is impeccable. Thank you for this Tutorial.😅
Yeah, thanks for this. I’ve been trying to find this kind of info for many years. Sending stuff to print is nerve racking. This is going to help a lot 👊
Great to hear. Glad it was helpful. Thanks for watching.
Thanks! Expert advice, patiently, clearly explained. I can tell you've been in litho/pre-press since the "good ol days" of Rubylith, negatives, plates, and X-acto knives. I was trying to explain a Stat camera to a young designer the other day-he was puzzled and never heard of such a thing! 😀
We're in the same boat. I used to run a stat camera among other items that would be museum pieces now. Stripped film on a light table, used halftone screens over film in the camera back to make halftones, and a safe light to bump it, all that stuff no one this century has any clue what it means. It's great to meet another from that era.
Thak you for taking the time to provide us with all this information. I was really confused in what to do and your information cleared my mind.
wooow, you are the best teacher
Thanks for your guide. Very helpful
This is the best and proffesional explaining about pdf converting. In fact some of the best anyway topic. The diction and the educational way to inform the topic is really good. - Thank You very much.
Excellent presentation, thank you.
Nice lecture! Thanks.
Wow. Heroes don't always wear capes! Thanks so much.
Goodness gracious! Thank you so much for a great video. Your explanations and demonstrations were easy to understand. 👍🏼
Very good video. Gave me a perfect and comprehensive overview on the export process for printing. Thank you.
I'm happy to hear you liked it. Thanks for watching.
Thank you so much for information
Glad it helps.
very important; thank you so much
Great! Glad you like it.
This has helped A LOT thank you!!!!
There are some precious informations here. Thank you so much! 😃
You're welcome. I'm glad it helps. Thanks for watching.
Absolutely fabulous!
Excellent, thank you.
Such clear explanations and visuals! Thank you so much!
Very useful video, thanks!
William very well put, no irrelevant chatter
Excellent, thank you !
Glad you liked it!
Thank you for this tutorial!
I'm glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
You are the king! Thanks
thank you for this. During the conversion, I think if you convert to destination, it actually looks up the LAB value on the current ICC profile, looks that up in the destination profile, and then sets the CMYK value of whatever the corresponding CMYK value that's mapped to the LAB.
Yes the Color Management Module (CMM) handles this, and in simplest terms yes it does work essentially as you describe. All Adobe products use the same CMM so the results converting color during PDF export are identical to converting images to CMYK in Photoshop.
@@wc7 woah cool thanks for sharing that. I'll research more into out the CMM works to nerd out.
This was very helpful.
Thanks Alot see you now from Syria.
I have problem in prepress for CMYK pdf
We prepare to print schools books which the designer of thes books didn,t know WHAT THE MEANING OF CMYK .
In your video today you help me and improve my knowledge more and more.
Thanks alot TEACHER.
How can i chat with You .
Thank you maestro.
Great Video !
Thank You...
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
I like that video, William. I subscribed and will be back for more. Thanks
Thank you for very detail explaination, it seem Adobe fix Preserver Number, we still get 100% text black even using "Convert to Destination"
Learned a lot.. Thanks man!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
This's fantastic. Really appreciate this info. Thank you.
Thank you so much Sir🙏🙏🙏
great info
thanks
You're welcome. Thanks for watching.
Thanks!
Sheer Genius. Thank you for sharing your fountain of knowledge!
Thanks. Glad it helps.
Thank You So Much IDOL.....
your the best!!! thx!!!
Thanks for this video
thank you!
Thank you!!!!
Super sir your all tutorial is super sir
Thank you
@@wc7 well come🙏
This helped me a lot. Thank you.
Very helpful and clear, thank you
Just perfect :-)
Thank you.
Glad you like it. Thanks for watching.
Very clear and easy to understand. Thank you.
You're welcome. Thank you for watching.
Thank you for this one! Can you tell me when you would use High Quality Print vs PDF/X-4:2010 please.
X4 always unless the printer has a 20 year old workflow that doesn't understand transparency. X1a is flattened. Personally I don't use printers that far out of date technologically, so for me, X4 is all I ever output for anything going to press. If all you're doing is output to your own desktop printer, then it doesn't really matter.
Thank you
Glad you like it. Thanks for watching.
Thank you, this is a very helpful video. Would it be correct to think that clients who want KDP printing would also need PDFs made in the exact same way? If not, where could I find the unusual features of PDFs intended for KDP?
The same steps should work for KDP only adjust the settings if needed to match the specifications for that platform.
Respect!
Thank you very much. We were asked/ adviced by a profesional printer to switch off all colours in PDF and all print went south - colours were dull. We asked to re-print and we were being blamed it is due OUR fault as we sent a file not in CMYK colours. What function it has and what is the exact use of setting the PDF file to NO COLOURS? Thank you for advice
I don't know the answer. Never seen an option "NO COLORS". Don't know what that means. Monochrome?
Thank you ☺️ that was sssuper helpful !!! Question though: my pdf book cover way darker with the PDF/X-4, so I choose High quality print instead. Is that ok ??
If the result is different I would question color management. Is this an image that looks different? What color space is it? High Quality Print uses "No Color Conversion". What is your X4 preset using for color conversion?
@@wc7 I choose High quality print, PDF/X4, no color conversion, coated gracol 2006 (as you suggested in the video)
@@JaZyLY Why no color conversion? Is it an image that is darker? What is the image color profile? If not CMYK GRACoL then it needs to be converted. In which case, it could look different, and it should. If the result when converted to the color profile of the printing method used does not appear as desired, the image needs color correction. You don't change the print method, you fix the data sent to it.
Hi , How do you add adobe PDF to the drop down list when printing booklet from Indesign? I tried the airprint but I get an error that says " The save as PDF option in the Printer dialog is not supported" I have 8.5x11 pages that I need to export as a booklet, that way when I print 11x17 ; I can cut it in half and put the 2 sides together. cheaper to print on 11x17 vs 8.5x11. I can export regularly by command E , but it doesnt put the pages in booklet order of course. ( booklet will layout the pages in order for a book) . Thank you for your help.
InDesign print booklet feature does not make PDFs. It is rather useless really because all it can produce is PostScript which is almost 20 years obsolete and forces all effects to be flattened. Not modern. A better solution to making booklet PDFs is export your document to print-ready PDF in single pages. Then use this script to make it printer spreads: www.marspremedia.com/software/indesign/pdf-printer-spreads
That produces a document with pages arranged to make a saddle-stitch booklet (or chop in two after folding). Export another PDF, again print-ready settings, and send that to the printer.
The preset "pre-press" isn't good enough? If so can u explain why?
I don't know. InDesign doesn't come with a default preset named "pre-press". If you have a preset that name, someone created it. Can't say if it's good enough because I have no idea of the settings used when the preset was created.
Sorry my bad. I meant to say "press quality"
@@xym4979 Doesn't include marks or bleed, downsamples bitmap images, and converts color to SWOP. For web jobs that don't bleed I suppose good enough. But if destined for sheetfed better to use GRACoL or similar profile printer might prefer. Best practice is use profile printer specifies, whatever it may be.
Thank you. Much appreciated
If we don't set the right output, could this cause it to come back looking washed-out and pale? this happened last time, the front cover looked realy washed out, even though it looked perfect onscreen
It's possible a better profile could be selected, but there are other reasons too, that output doesn't match the screen. 1. Is the screen calibrated? If you don't know, probably not. So how can it be trusted to be correct? 2. Is the printer calibrated? Same thing. If not, results are anyone's guess. 3. If the printer is calibrated, what is it calibrated to? That will be the profile to target when making color conversions, either in Photoshop or while exporting a PDF from InDesign if the document is RGB. The proper procedure is to ask the printer what their target profile is, and prep work accordingly. Then ask for a press-match color proof. Quality printing companies will provide a good representation of their expected results. If that doesn't look right, you need to change what you give them. Something at your end is wrong. If the proof does look good but the final printing doesn't, that's the printer to blame.
i do wedding wedding photobooks in InDesign but my colors don't come out good after print on indigo machine
Indigo can print to match commercial offset. Most printers I use are calibrated to GRACoL. SWOP works too, mostly the same just mainly less total ink. Talk to the printer and ask them for recommendations, and ensure they are well calibrated. To match printing both their and your workflows needs to be calibrated. For monitors I use an X-rite i1 profiler. For better match to printed results I recommend target luminance 110 instead of the default 120. Work in Photoshop either Adobe98 or sRGB. I place images in InDesign RGB and export PDF to GRACoL or SWOP depending on printer. My work matches sheetfed, web, and digital (Indigo) perfectly.
If I export for digital laser printer lile konica minolta 3070 I have to convert to cmyk too? Or can i leave no conversion in pdf/x-4 an leave the printer do the conversion?
Convert from whatever is the current color space, to the color space of the device that will produce the job.
If you were to select "Do Not Downsample" for every output setting, what would be the negatives with this method, aside from a larger file size? And with the same PDF export options available in Photoshop, is there any difference in exporting a document from InDesign rather than Photoshop, if bleed marks etc. are of no consequence? Thank you kindly.
Larger file size is the only downside (only a downside if it matters in your situation). Obviously more pixels is always better quality. But depending on what happens to the PDF downstream (at the printer, for example) those extra pixels are likely downsampled anyway. There are too many different use cases to say for sure the ultimate result, but you can safely "Do Not Downsample" if you choose, and there are no other negative effects beyond the larger file size. As for the difference InDesign to Photoshop, it depends on the overall content, as with InDesign vector elements take little data to describe, as opposed to raster elements which require more data to describe. In Photoshop it's all raster, so in most cases (again, depending on the overall content) the result is likely a larger file. If vector elements are involved (text, lines, shapes, etc.) it's not only a matter of file size: raster elements pixelate as the scale increases; no so for vector elements that may scale to any size and remain sharp.
@@wc7 Thank you so much Mr Campbell, this has put my mind to rest! I can export on both programs but feel more at home in Photoshop as this is where I do the bulk of my work (for better or worse!) and have always wondered if it really mattered, if there was some special ingredient InDesign may offer in the conversion process. As a failsafe I tend to convert text to vector shapes and/or create outlines before exporting as a PDF in Photoshop. ...One last question, and I am aware I am very much taking up your precious time here and going off on a slight tangent, but is it best practice to flatten a PSD file before converting to PDF on Photoshop or leave it as is before conversion? Thank you so much again, your knowledge is invaluable and you absolutely have a new subscriber, fantastic and in-depth content, a real gem of a channel!
@@MorbidLyre From Photoshop, flatten vs not, it might, or might not make a difference. I don't have PS open in front o me at the moment, but I think there is the option "Acrobat layers" (or similar) when saving PDF. I am not positive, but if disabled the image is probably flattened anyway. And when enabled maybe? (again not positive) layer are perhaps preserved? I haven't tested this. You could. Do both ways and look at the result in Acrobat. On the left sidebar is a section for layers. See what you get. Also note any difference in file size, of course. That's a clue too. If not flattened, anything from Photoshop is always larger compared to when it's flattened to a single layer.
@@wc7 Perfect, I will duly check it out. Thank you so much once more, I shall be recommending your channel to everyone and anyone, I REALLY appreciate your assistance and I hope you have a great day!
How to control ink density up to 325% in indesign. The file have pdf inserted pages.
Total ink coverage is a product of the ICC profile color separation parameters. InDesign has no control over this beyond which profile is selected. GRACoL produces close to 325% max. SWOP limits TIC to 300% per the spec. Custom total ink requires profiling software to generate your own ICC profile and provide the desired separation parameters. Then select the custom profile in InDesign during export. Keep in mind, this only applies to items not already CMYK. TIC of any items already CMYK was determined when the item was separated to CMYK. If not re-separating all, existing CMYK TIC values remain unchanged.
Thank you, great information! Question: if I'm preparing a PDF for a fiction book for Amazon or IngramSpark to print and the inner pages are black and white on cream paper what is the best color profile (CMYK, sGray, or something else)? I do see that Amazon requires PDF/X and PDF/X-1a is preferred, but they don't indicate the color destination for the inner pages. For covers it's CMYK. (I hope this makes sense as I have never done this before.)
Yes Ingram Spark and other print-on-demand want PDF/X-1a (flattened PDF). These projects are produced on digital presses. Give them the X-1a format they ask for. For profile use U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2 for both text pages and cover PDF. Text is just black so it doesn't actually matter (no color separation involved) but to be consistent use the same profile for both PDFs.
Great tutorial! What about the bleeds in the gutter? I'm assuming they aren't needed since the printer is taking the individual pages and imposing them together into printer spreads?
Spine bleed is normally not a concern unless the job is perfect bound, in which case pages should be checkerboarded so none interact with any other. For saddle stitch, when a facing pages document that has bleed is exported to PDF as pages, this includes some of the facing page in the bleed of each page exported. Then yes, at most printers the pages are flowed into an imposition program that arranges the pages as needed depending on the size of press used to produce the project. For example a 40" press doing letter sized pages they are typically in 16-page signatures that once folded, folded again, and again, become the right order. That's what imposition software is all about. Or a small printer, or printing digital, pages might only be arranged in 4-page printer spreads. In either case, as long as PDFs are exported as pages and with bleed enabled, all is well.
@@wc7 Thank you! So there is no way to export a pdf with bleeds in the gutter without checkerboarding the pages inside InDesign. That makes sense because if you added bleed in the gutter it would extend onto the other page if the doc was set up in spreads (non checkerboarded). Thanks again!
@@JohnVieceli That is correct. Turn off allow pages to shuffle and manually checkerboard the pages. It's been the solution even before InDesign came along. Had to do the same in Quark XPress back in the day.
Hello, I have a question, I am in the process of sending my book for printing. The inside should be black and white. They mentioned me that I needed to change it. They tried to change the pdf but it brought errors specially on my images. In that case, since I have InDesign, what settings should I use to export the file for black and white and not colors. Thanks.
When exporting PDF, in the Output section, select Color Conversion: "Convert to Destination". (NOT preserve numbers). Destination: "Dot Gain 20%." Profile inclusion: "Don't include profiles". The result is black ink only.
Thank you so much!! Also thank you for your video. It is the best video I found. Straight to the point.
can you help ??? my pdf is exporting as blank page..
I have no idea why.
Great video. One thing that confuses me when saving out to PDF/X-4:2010 is that when I open the PDF in Acrobat Pro and use the object inspector it just shows the ColorSpace as 'DeviceCMYK', (the include destination profile is already greyed out in InDesign with this preset) but if I change the Compatibility to Acrobat 8/9 (PDF 1.7) when exporting from InDesign it isn't greyed out and then the colour profile it used is shown in Acrobat Pro when I use the same object inspector. This makes me think the colour profile I use in InDesign is not being included with the Print PDF which I thought was the purpose of selecting a profile in the first place?
1.6 does not assign a profile to images (even though the profile was used to convert each image). Changing to 1.7 does assign the profile used to convert each image. If you now run preflight, the result is "Uses device independent color (however many times on however many pages)". This is undesired as it can trigger re-separation in prepress workflows downstream. In either case the images are the correct CMYK separation using the profile intended, and image appearance is identical. 1.7 simply "sticks" the profile to each image, and doing that is not a good idea. The purpose of the convert color option in InDesign is NOT to include ICC profiles in the PDF. The purpose is to convert images that are RGB to the profile's flavor of CMYK. I strongly recommend you keep with the choices shown in the video and use PDF1.6 for output destined to a commercial printer traditional or digital. This results in PDFs without profiles embedded, the better choice.
@@wc7 thanks very much for taking the time to explain that in great detail. So am I right to assume it will also use the same profile to convert any RGB content created in InDesign itself (making sure to select Preserve Numbers to leave any CMYK content from going to RGB first and then CMYK)? So basically it has converted everything on the page that needs to be converted to that profile, not just placed images?
@@andyrausse3446 When Convert to destination (preserve numbers) is selected, everything that is not already CMYK is separated to CMYK using the selected ICC profile. Everything including all images. Everything including any vector graphics that may have been inadvertently colored an RGB swatch. Anything that is not already CMYK. Nothing remains RGB in the PDF (the entire point). Using this step you have created a PDF ready for commercial printing, offset, web, or digital -- any production method equivalent to ink on paper, rather than projected light like a TV, etc.
@@wc7 All understood, thanks again
Hi! If I am using InDesign and want the file flattened, can I save the file as PDF/X-1a without flattening it in InDesign? If so, would I leave the other PDF information that you recommend for PDF/X-4 the same? THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Yes there is no need to flatten the actual InDesign elements. I would highly recommend that you don't anyway. That makes later edits a nightmare, if even possible. You are correct to simply use the PDF-X/1a preset and use high quality for the flatten settings. Or don't use any standard and turn on flatten. Either way the flattening is handled during export. Result is PDF is flattened, InDesign doc is not, and remains editable. That's the way to go. Thanks for watching.
@@wc7 Thank you so much for your help and the quick response! This helps a lot!! :)
@@wc7 Hi! Sorry to bother you! I saved my business card file as a PDF/X-1A and there is one white line (image border) that shows up and doesn't disappear like the others when previewing the print job (Vistaprint). I was told it would show up on the business card once printed. It seems to only appear when the file is saved as a PDF/X-1A. I just wondered if you had seen this before. Thank you so much!
@@saintbernards303 Why X-1A? Why not X-4? The lines are because of flattening. When transparency is used, for example a drop shadow, X-1A requires the art is flattened, so any transparency is combined into an image that replaces the native elements. Most times it prints OK if done on a high-resolution imaging device, say at least 1600 dpi or even better to plate @2400 dpi, then the white lines don't show in the final result. Screens are nowhere near that resolution, even zoomed in, so the white line artifacts almost always show. Flattening anything is 20+ years old and a horrible way to do things these days. Why not export to X-4? Is there a specific reason not to?
@@wc7 Hi! Thank you for your reply! I am probably wrong, but I thought that was the only PDF version that flattened the design without having to flatten the design in InDesign. I had transparent logos and pictures. Thank you!
Hi! I am new to designing for prints. Is that the best option when exporting pdf files, does it print accurate to the one designed in Indesign? And what if we outsource our designs to a printing company and don't know what their print settings are does the US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 work well? Thanks for this video
Yes and yes, just as explained in the video.
@@wc7 Thank you for replying, badly needed this as i'm currently working on my first magazine project. Straight to the point turorial, appreciate this!
@@frnc2461 Most magazines print on web presses so SWOP is likely the correct profile to use anyway (SWOP = "Specifications for Web Offset Printing")
I'm trying to export a file and it consists png. For some reason the printout is showing the box of png images that I dont want in actual print. How to fix this issue? I've search it every where. Problem still persists. The icons i'm using does not have any background but while printing the document it is howing variation and feeling like the image consists background.
Do you want images with transparent backgrounds? For a PDF going to conventional offset printing I would suggest use PSD with transparency instead of PNG. Not required but results are more reliable if color conversion is involved.
@@wc7 it is resolved. I directly inserted psd files into indesign and it was more of a printer issue. Had done my final print from outside and it worked perfectly!
@@wc7 what is colour conversion? Can you elaborate more on this??
@@VINAYAKSONI007 changing from one color space to another. For example, converting RGB color to CMYK color, necessary to put ink on paper rather than pixels on screen. Do some web searching to learn more. There are volumes on the subject, far more to know than would fit in a YT comment.
OK great work... a question If I export the ID document in PDF how proflie I can Use? TNX... ps: I am Italian... EUROPE!
Not sure I understand. Use what? The PDF? Give it to the printer. The profile part is done, color has been converted.
Brilliant! Thank you
Thanks!
You are awesome. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.