Creating Press-ready PDFs
for advertising being designed for, or submitted to, AGL magazine.
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AGL accepts digital ads exclusively
What does “press-optimized” mean?
AGL’s preferred format for ad file submissions
is the PDF/X-1a format
Setting Acrobat Distiller 6.0 job options manually
for Windows 2000/XP or Mac OSX
AGL accepts digital ads exclusively
AGL ad insertions are exclusively digital advertising
prepared as press-optimized PDFs (Adobe Portable
Document Format files). AGL is produced entirely computer-to-plate (CTP) with a digital-prepress workflow.
If non-PDF files or film are submitted, the Publisher’s
Advertising Policy is to bill the advertiser all internal
and printer’s service bureau charges for ad building or
format conversion. This charge is separate and added
to the negotiated rate for the advertising space
reservation and/or color charges. Such charges are not
subject to discounts. Therefore, it is in the advertiser’s
interest to have its own art department, agency or
service provider convert the advertising to a pressoptimized PDF before submitting it.
What does “press-optimized” mean?
Not all PDFs are alike. Many people who use a
computer think they know how to make a PDF because
it is a familiar output feature residing in many client
programs. Nevertheless, about 88 percent of printers
sur veyed by the GATF (Graphic Ar ts Technical
Foundation) reported they still receive improperly
formatted PDF files. PDFs created for the Web and email
usually cannot be used for printing.
For print publishing, PDF files must be pressoptimized (press-ready; suitable for web-offset printing).
Depending on the default settings in your design
application, just clicking “Export to PDF” may produce
a PDF file that would be fine for website viewing or
emailing, but is not properly saved for print publishing.
It might not embed the typefaces used, have sufficient
resolution or include necessary color management
information. It also might not be resizable to the
mechanical specifications of the advertising space size.
Correct settings—the PDF distiller options—must be
selected and used to produce a press-optimized PDF.
AGL’s preferred format for ad file
submissions is the PDF/X-1a format
This is the current printing industry standard for
graphic-arts data exchange. PDF/X-1a is a PDF file
specifically customized for printing. A PDF/X-1a file is
about half the size of an equivalent file in TIFF/IT or
PostScript format. PDF files such as PDF/X-1a are
visual file formats that display exactly what was created,
regardless of fonts, software or operating system. Fonts
and images are embedded, eliminating the possibility
of font substitution or missing elements. Color is
CREATING PRESS-READY PDFS 2006
™
restricted to CMYK (the four colors used in process
printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black), as opposed
to RGB color (red, green and blue) used to display an
image on a monitor. Mechanical specifications (media,
trim, etc.), trapping and print conditions such as SWOP
(Specifications for Web Offset Publications aka
Standards for Web Offset Printing) must be defined to
create the file, so there is less margin for error.
PDF/X-1a files are also vectorized, which means,
among other things, that they can be resized slightly to
fit different ad widths and trim sizes used among different
publications (for example, repurposing the size of a
½-page-island ad created for a tabloid-sized magazine
as a full page in a standard-sized magazine.) Most newer
versions of graphic-arts page-building applications
provide for outputting files in PDF/X-1a format.
Alternatively, Adobe Distiller options for creating pressoptimized PDF files acceptable to our printer can be set
manually using the information in the next section.
If the PDF/X-1a format is not used, native files should
first be converted to PostScript format before being
distilled into PDF format, using Adobe Distiller options,
to avoid file errors. Use available preflight checklist plugins prior to creating PDF files.
ADVERTISING-RELATED INFORMATION
AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOADING (PDF) AT
www.agl-mag.com:
For general information on advertising content
requirements and restrictions specific to AGL magazine,
see Publisher’s Policies, Provisions
and Protective Clauses.
For available AGL advertising shapes and dimensions,
see Ad Sizes and Mechanical Specifications
For advertising file-creation and design information,
see Ad Preparation Recommendations
For AGL advertising materials delivery instructions
and deadlines,
see Sending Your Ad to AGL
For AGL news- and product-release submission
information, specific-issue content and editorial policies,
see Editorial Guidelines, Calendar and Policies
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Setting Acrobat Distiller 6.0 job options
manually for PCs using Windows 2000, XP
After launching "Export to Adobe PDF" in your design application, click the "Edit Job Options" button in the "PDF Options"
Window and select or deselect items in the tabbed options pages as shown below. (You can save these options as "AGL ads.")
These two settings must
be checked if your pages
contain OPI (Open Press
Interface) information,
such as low-res link files
from a service provider or
an in-house server.
If these settings are not
selected, there will be no
OPI information sent, and
the hi-res file will not
replace the link file.
If you are not using OPI
in your workflow, then
these settings can be left
unchecked.
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CREATING PRESS-READY PDFS 2006
Configuring Acrobat Distiller 6.0 job options
manually Macintosh systems using Mac OSX
After launching "Export to Adobe PDF" in your design application,
click the "Edit Job Options" button in the "PDF Options" Window and
select or deselect items in the tabbed options pages as shown below.
(You can save these
options as "AGL ads.")
These two settings must be checked if your pages contain
OPI (Open Press Interface) information, such as low-res link
files from a service provider or an in-house server. If these
settings are not selected, there will be no OPI information
sent, and the hi-res file will not replace the link file.
If you are not using OPI in your workflow, then these
settings can be left unchecked.
CREATING PRESS-READY PDFS 2006
Rev. 6/06
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