Preflight Overview
I a. What is Preflighting?
Preflighting is the process used to check digital files for potential problems prior to output (exporting to PDF or printing). This can be a process best done on native or source file types, such as preflighting Adobe InDesign, Illustrator or QuarkXPress, every time before saving or sending the job onto another party. FlightCheck, preflight software from Markzware, provides thorough yet simple print quality assurance, before you print.
FlightCheck preflight software scans documents during prepress for problems with images, colors, fonts, and other issues detrimental to print reproduction. It then creates a report that itemizes the problems and suggests how to correct them for print quality assurance. To preflight, one must understand problems that can arise during film output and digital printing.
Whether you use preflight software like FlightCheck or check digital files manually, the goal is to get great print results from source digital documents. Preflight InDesign and other file types for print quality assurance.
Preflighting during Prepress with Markzware FlightCheck
FlightCheck, software by Markzware for preflighting Adobe InDesign and many more file types in
prepress, thoroughly scans files for print quality assurance
I b. Why do we Preflight?
When a digital document is output, there is usually an expense involved. Be it the cost of time, plates, paper, or an actual press run, these costs can be substantial. Preflighting helps minimize the risk of wasted money and time by catching printing errors in digital documents before they ruin a print job. When we check digital files while still in the application, we can fix printing errors in prepress, before spending time and money on output. Another advantage of preflighting is that it can identify printing problems that often go unnoticed until proofs or even press sheets are made.
By getting in the habit of preflighting for print quality assurance, many of the headaches involved with digital prepress and creating PDFs are neutralized. Preflighting files before sending them to a printing service, repro house or printer can greatly improve efficiency in the digital workflow.
I c. Who should Preflight?
Anyone involved with creating or outputting digital documents really should be preflighting. If you are responsible for creating documents, you’ll save time and avoid frustration by preflighting them before they reach a printing service. Using preflight software will also improve the way you build documents by teaching you how these printing problems arise.
If you are responsible for the output of digital documents such as the print-shop or print-provider, preflighting will help ensure that the documents and all their collected elements are ready for final output, whether you are preflighting Adobe InDesign, CorelDraw or QuarkXPress print-job (native or PDF), preflighting will be well worth the relatively small effort. Catching printing mistakes and problems to ensure print quality assurance, before sending a document on to the next step, benefits everyone involved. (Please note that many term the process of preflighting PDF files as more of a postflight process.)
For further information on preflighting, see the FlightCheck Manual. Try the free FlightCheck demo and get FlightCheck at the FlightCheck page to ensure quality print output. More printing solutions are available on the Markzware Products page.
In Part II, we will go over “Common Problems.” So, stay tuned!
Preflighting to Check Digital Printing Files in Adobe InDesign and more with FlightCheck
