indesign file for print house

joucads · 01-29-2013, 01:04 PM

Hi,

I was just having a discussion with a fellow graphic designer and wanted to clarify on this matter.

Does print house dislike indesign files?

Hope the rest of you will shed some lights on this topic.

hank_scorpio · 01-29-2013, 01:11 PM

Don't see why they would. Although my experience is that they just want the print ready pdf these days.

From 2001 to 2006 I took in Quark files, with lots of links and fonts etc. for the purpose of preparing for press and it can be a bit of a nightmare. But at that stage there was no standard workflow for pdfs, our RIP wasn't even taking PDFs at that time, it was taking EPSF, which were created using an xTension for Quark specific for our RIP.

But why send potentially Gigabytes of files when a 30mb or 2mb file is all they need?

If you send them the indesign files then the onus falls on them to make the file press ready, and they would be culpable for mistakes.

It depends on the print house, some prefer original files so they can easily fix issues that may arise, others prefer press ready pdfs and would prefer you to make the alterations if there are mistakes and resupply the PDF.

I wouldn't say there is a right or wrong answer, some might prefer the source files, some might prefer press ready pdfs...

The answer really is - check with your printers as to what they want you to supply. If you feel like you have to supply the source indesign files - then it may impact the time and most importantly increase the cost.

Designia · 01-29-2013, 01:20 PM

If the file bleeds, I'd rather the InDesign files because a lot of people don't know how to set up a pdf with bleeds correctly. But the problem is, if they can't do that they probably can't package an InDesign file properly either. But like Hank said, checking with the printer is the best way, every one is different.

PrintDriver · 01-29-2013, 01:58 PM

PrintHouse is also a rip made by Onyx.

I don't think you want to be sending a naked InDesign file through a rip just on general principle.........

Cosmo · 01-29-2013, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrintDriver

PrintHouse is also a rip made by Onyx.

I don't think you want to be sending a naked InDesign file through a rip just on general principle.........

We used to do it all the time with no issues. We were using various Harlequin RiPs and never had a problem.

JeffSC · 01-29-2013, 03:01 PM

I just send what the printer asks for. If they want a pdf, give me the pdf specs and I'll send that. If they want .indd files, I'll package it up and FTP it over. I figure if I provide exactly what they ask for, it's on them to make it print properly.

**Buda** · 01-29-2013, 07:38 PM

I work at a printing company and for straight up print runs, we prefer a print ready pdf file with bleeds and trim marks.

But if we have to fix anything in a file, we prefer a packaged Indesign file with idml, links and fonts.

PrintDriver · 01-29-2013, 11:39 PM

Some of the Onyx rips used to be finicky about fonts. And Quark. We always used to backend the PDFs. Clients send live layered files so we could get the profiles right. I don't do that stuff now... Onward and upward. Or something like that.

Cosmo · 01-30-2013, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrintDriver

Some of the Onyx rips used to be finicky about fonts. And Quark. We always used to backend the PDFs. Clients send live layered files so we could get the profiles right. I don't do that stuff now... Onward and upward. Or something like that.

I think Quark was probably the bigger issue there. We still have issues with Quark files doing weird things when ripped. Luckily there are only a couple people still using it.

PrintDriver · 01-30-2013, 01:55 PM

Yeah, I gotta say, I don't miss Quark. At all. I only have one or two clients that use it. Haven't heard from them in a while. Should give em a call...