How to Save Your PDF

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There are many ways to create and save a PDF file, but not all of them work well for professional online printing. How you create it can dramatically alter the quality of your printing. To ensure the best possible print quality at Onestopdp, here’s how to create and save your PDF on your Mac or PC in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

PDF Guidelines

Follow these guidelines when creating your PDF:

Create your PDF using Adobe InDesign or Illustrator. If you have Acrobat Standard or Acrobat Professional, you can also create high-quality PDFs using the Adobe PDF printer driver from almost any program.
You can use the built-in PDF-making functionality of Microsoft Office 2007 for Windows or Adobe PDF printer driver.
For Mac, use the Adobe PDF printer driver in any product other than Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or InDesign. If you do not have that:

PDFs from InDesign

1- Be sure that you’ve updated Adobe InDesign to the most current version. (We do not recommend versions prior to CS2.)
2- Ensure your document contains the appropriate bleed on your print project, and set your document size to the same width and height as your final printed piece. When creating or editing document settings, set bleed to 0.125″ on all sides. (For large format items like signs, posters and canvas prints, you should set bleed to 0.25″.)

3-Next, check that you’re working with the correct color settings:

4- Then create your PDF:

Choose File > Adobe PDF Presets
From Adobe PDF Preset, choose [PDF/X-4:2008]
Browse and select a location and name for your file
Click Save

5- In the export window, review and modify these settings:

From Compression, in both the Color Images and Grayscale Images sections, choose:

6- From Marks and Bleeds, choose Use Document Bleed Settings, and ensure your document bleed now shows 0.125” on all sides.
7- From Output, convert RGB and spot colors to CMYK by choosing:

Color Conversion: Convert to Destination (Preserve Numbers)
Destination: Coated GRACoL 2006 (ISO 12647-2:2004)
Profile Inclusion Policy: Include Destination Profile
Output Intent Profile Name: Coated GRACoL 2006 (ISO 12647-2:2004)

8- Before you export your PDF, select Save Preset to save these settings for future Onestopdp print projects.
9- Click Export

PDFs From Illustrator

1- Ensure your document contains the appropriate bleed on your print project, and set your document size to the same width and height as your final printed piece. When creating or editing document settings, set bleed to 0.125″ on all sides. (For large format items like signs, posters and canvas prints, you should set bleed to 0.25″.)

2- Then create your PDF:

Choose File > Save As (note that for easy uploading, you’ll want to save your file to your computer, not the Adobe Creative Cloud).
Change the format to Adobe PDF, name your file and click Save.

3- In the save window, review and modify these settings:

From Adobe PDF Preset, choose [PDF/X-4:2008]
From Compression, in both the Color Images and Grayscale Images sections, choose

From Output, choose:

Before you save your PDF, select Save Preset to save these settings for future Onestopdp print projects.
Click Save PDF

4- Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to verify that it exported properly.

PDFs from Photoshop

1- Ensure your document contains the appropriate bleed on your print project. Since Photoshop doesn’t support bleed settings like InDesign and Illustrator, you will have to add bleed to the final width and height of your document:

Choose Image > Canvas Size
In New Size, choose Relative and keep the Anchor centered
Set the Width and Height values to 0.25 and choose Inches for both. This will add 0.125” of bleed on all sides.
For large format items like signs, posters and canvas prints, you should increase Width and Height by 0.5, which
will add 0.25” of bleed on all sides.
Click Okay

2- Then create your PDF:

Choose File > Save a Copy
Choose Photoshop PDF (we highly recommend having the Layers box checked)
Click Save

3- In the save window, review and modify these settings:

From Adobe PDF Preset, choose [PDF/X-4:2008]
From Compression, choose:

From Output, choose:

Before you save your PDF, select Save Preset to save these settings for future Smartpress print projects.
Click Save PDF

4- Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader to verify that it exported properly.

PDFs from Word

The example below shows how to make a PDF with Microsoft Word.

Bleed Requirements

Please make sure that your document contains a bleed. For more information on bleeds, visit Bleed & Borders.

Bleeds of 1/8″ are required on anything small like business cards, flyers, brochures, sell sheets, newsletters or custom booklets. For larger format items, such as signs, posters and trade show graphics, a 1/4″ bleed is required.

Once you determine which type of product you are printing, make sure you account for the correct bleed when setting up your file.

Creating Your PDF

To save the file as a PDF:

Click File, then Save As
Select PDF from the “Save as type” list

Click Options

Click Print background colors and images

Click OK and Save

Print with a Bleed in Word

Open Word and create a new document
Go to File and choose Page Setup
Click Paper Size, then Manage Custom Sizes
Click the plus (+) icon to add a new Custom Page Size
Set the name and paper size to 8.75” x 11.25”
Change all Non-printable Area values to 0 then click OK

This will bring you back to the Page Setup window and you will see Page Size now shows the custom page size you just created (8.75” x 11.25”). Click OK to confirm and you are now ready to create your design.

Once your design is completed you will need to create a PDF:

Go to File > Print and select your Adobe PDF printer
Open the Options, choose High-Quality Print and click Print

You now have a high-resolution PDF from Word that includes bleed. If you open the PDF in Acrobat, you will see the document size is 8.75” x 11.25” (along the bottom of the window). This means the final trim will take 1/8″ off each side to make 8.5” x 11”, which meets the requirements of your commercial printer.

Open your PDF and review it. Adobe Acrobat Reader is recommended for previewing. If you need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free here. It’s always a good idea to give it a final proof for spelling, layout, etc.

PDFs from Publisher

The example below shows how to make a PDF with Microsoft Publisher.

Bleed Requirements

Please make sure that your document contains a bleed. For more information on bleeds, visit Bleed & Borders.

Once you determine which type of product you are printing, make sure you account for the correct bleed when setting up your file.

Creating Your PDF

To save the file as a PDF:

Click File, then Save As
Select PDF from the “Save as type” list

Click Options

Make sure High quality printing is highlighted

Choose Print Options
Choose One page per sheet
Change the Paper Size to something large enough to account for your bleed and crop marks (e.g., for an 8.5” x 11″ document, try 8.75” x 11.25”)
Under Printer’s Marks check the boxes for Crop Marks, Allow Bleeds and Bleed Marks
Click OK to exit out of Print Options
Click OK to exit out of Publish Options
Save your PDF file to a location on your computer

PDFs from LibreOffice

The example below shows how to make a PDF with LibreOffice.

Bleed Requirements

Please make sure that your document contains a bleed. For more information on bleeds, visit Bleed & Borders.

Once you determine which type of product you are printing, make sure you account for the correct bleed when setting up your file.

Creating Your PDF

To save your file as a PDF:

Click File, then Export as PDF
Select PDF from the “Save as type” list

Under the General tab make sure JPEG Compression is set to 100% and image resolution is at 300 PPI
Check Embed OpenDocument file (this makes the PDF easily editable in LibreOffice)
Check PDF/A-1a
Check Export automatically inserted blank pages

Click the Initial View tab and select Page only under Panes
Under Magnification, choose Default
Under Page layout, choose Simple page

Click the User Interface tab and select Display document title under Window options
Under Bookmarks, choose All bookmark level

Click the Link tab and select Default mode under Cross-document links

Other PDF Software

If you wish to attempt to create your PDF in some other product, please follow these guidelines as closely as possible:

Set your images to 300 DPI for anything small like business cards, flyers, brochures, sell sheets, newsletters or booklets.
For larger items, such as signs, posters, trade show graphics, set your images to 200 PPI.
Use high-quality images with JPEG compression.
Embed all fonts.
If you’re including RGB images, please embed the RGB profiles. This is sometimes referred to as “tagging.” If your RGB images are not tagged with a specific profile, they will be treated as sRGB.