PDFTools

Preparing a PDF a print shop will actually accept

A PDF that looks perfect on screen can come back from a print shop blurry, cropped or stripped of its fonts. Print has different physics, and a ten-minute check avoids a reprint fee.

Last updated October 2026

Practical how-to · 6 min read

Screen PDFs and print PDFs are different animals

On screen, a page is whatever pixels your display offers, and readers compensate for low resolution. On paper, every weakness becomes physical: soft images print soft, missing fonts print substituted, and page sizes that do not match the press sheet get cropped or scaled in ways you did not choose.

The good news is that the requirements are finite. A short checklist covers almost every print job that is not a magazine or a poster.

The pre-print checklist

  • Images at 300 DPI at final print size. A 96 DPI screenshot blown up to A4 is the single most common cause of blurry output.
  • Fonts embedded at export time. If the print shop's system lacks your font, substitution will shift every line.
  • Colour: home and office printing is fine in RGB, but commercial printers usually want CMYK. Ask them — most accept RGB and convert, but saturated colours can shift.
  • Margins and bleed: keep meaningful content at least 10 mm from the trim edge. Full-bleed designs need 3–5 mm extra on every side, which only your design tool can supply.
  • No transparent overlays or layered effects left unflattened — flatten before export if your software offers it.

Page size and orientation

Set the actual page size in the document, not by choosing 'fit to page' at print time. An A5 booklet imposed from A4 pages will be scaled by someone else's software unless your page size matches the final trim.

Rotated pages are a legitimate choice, but confirm they are rotated the way you intend after export. Landscape pages saved inside a portrait frame are the classic surprise.

Compressing for print — usually a mistake

Every common compression technique works by throwing away image detail. That is invisible on a laptop screen and obvious on paper, especially in photographs and coloured areas. For print, compress only to meet a transfer limit, use the gentlest setting that fits, and keep the uncompressed original as your master.

If the file is too large because of page count, remove the pages you do not need instead of degrading every page you do.

Before you send it

  • Open the PDF in a different reader from the one you designed in — anything missing there will be missing at the printer.
  • Print one page at home at 100% scale as a proof.
  • Confirm total page count and ordering one last time.
  • Ask the print shop which format they prefer; most publish a specification that overrides everything above.

Tools mentioned in this guide

Keep reading

All guides