How To

Guide to Better Prepress
At O&V Printing we strive to give our customers the best results in the least amount of time.
This page provides general guidelines to help you get your printed materials through our shop as quickly and efficiently as possible.

File Types
In most cases, a good way to send us files is as a pdf. With this file type you don’t need to send the fonts and graphics for the file. Please note that files will be printed as sent by you. Also, please make sure your Acrobat Distiller settings are set to “Press Settings”. We can accept numerous file types such as: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Publisher & Word. Publisher & Word files are not recommended for quality print jobs and extra charges could incur due to possible noncompliance with printing standards.

If you have problems printing the file to your printer, it will most likely cause problems or won’t print at all for us either.

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

Document Sizes
We can handle a document up to 19”x25” on the press. We can do small quantity posters on our plotter up to 3′ x 10′. Please don’t put text right to the edge of the page as it may get cut off when trimming jobs. No matter what the document size is; please leave appropriate margins.

Standard brochures layouts are trifold – sizes 8.5×11 & 9×12. You can download examples of these for pdf below. These samples will help so that the brochure is laid out correctly according to where it will fold.

PDF Trifold Brochure (9×12)
PDF Trifold Brochure (8.5×11)

Bleeds
If your document has images which run to the edge of the page, these images must bleed off the edge of the page when doing your computer setup.  At O&V Printing, we prefer a bleed of .125” on all sides of the document which contains bleeds. Remember when exporting to a pdf you must select the option to have the bleeds included.

Images
In order for images to look their best, they should be scanned at 240 dpi or higher at 100% size. If images are to be enlarged a lot – image quality will be lost. Most graphics downloaded from the internet are 72 dpi, so the image quality will be poor. An important thing to remember is that some images may print and look good on your inkjet printer but that does not guarantee that it will look that way off the press.

In order to be printed all images must be in CMYK format. If files are brought to us as RGB, please recognize that the files will have to be converted to CMYK which could change the appearance of the images.

Photos from Digital Cameras/Smartphones/Tablets
These pictures need to taken at high resolution and when sending to us always choose the highest quality option available.

Preparing to Save Your Files
If sending us the native files, please remember to package all the fonts, and all links/graphics used in the file. Programs like InDesign will gather all this together for you into a folder that can then be brought to us. They are named different in each program, but they accomplish the same final output; example: InDesign “Package”.

Sending Your File to Us
There are several different methods to get your digital files to us: CD, flash drive, zip drive, email info@oandvprinting.com. Please label your disks as to what job it is and who it is for and only include the files that we need. IMPORTANT: Please don’t send us your only copy of the files on the disk, disks can get lost or damaged.

Need to send us large files by internet?
Click here for FTP site instructions

It is very important that you print out a set of color or black & white proofs for us to use as a guide for outputting your files. Please be sure to check your proofs carefully to ensure accuracy.

 

We look forward to working with you to ensure the successful completion of your very important project!