Preparing Documents for Professional Print

InDesign is a print publishing powerhouse offering myriad print management features and customizable controls. This allows you to set up your print document with a high degree of quality assurance. You are warned of potential issues that could occur on output. InDesign also enables you to manage important factors such as inks and separations, imposition, step and repeat, ISO-aligned PDF/X exports, and soft proofing to get the quality print results your clients need and demand. It’s worth noting that setting up documents for professional commercial print has to factor in a number of variables. These range from stock (paper/substrate) requirements, standards used in your country/region, press-specific requisites, ink considerations, and color settings for your specific printing environments, among a slew of other requirements.

In this chapter, the essential tenets of preparing documents for print will be discussed. We’ll apply...