Search the Community

I'm going to add some tips to the next version of my Publisher manual to help those exporting to PDF for a print-on-demand service because the sites don't provide Affinity-specific instructions. I've distilled their PDF requirements into a general list, along with a warning to always check the provider's specific requirements of course. If you've used one of these services, could you review the export settings below and suggest any tips that might help others avoid issues? For now I'm just looking at export settings and not document setup which is more specific to the service, but please share your document setup tips for specific services, too. Even if somebody doesn't read the manual it would be nice to have a concise list of settings in one forum thread so users don't have to sort through the many long troubleshooting threads. I bolded the export settings that seem to be the cause of frequent errors. Please let me know of anything that isn't correct or that you would add a caveat to. File format: PDF Preset: PDF/X-1a:2003 (unless otherwise directed to use PDF/X-3:2003 or another PDF standard) Raster DPI: no change (300) unless otherwise directed Include bleed: select if the document includes bleed Area: select All Pages Rasterize: no change (Unsupported Properties) unless otherwise directed Downsample images: no change (selected) Above: no change (375) Resample: no change (Bilinear) Use Document Resolution vs. Use DPI: no change (Use DPI, 300) unless otherwise directed Allow JPEG Compression: no change (98) Compatibility: PDF/X-1a:2003 (unless otherwise directed to use PDF/X-3:2003 or another PDF standard) Colour Space: no change (As document) Profile: no change (Use document profile) Honour spot colours: deselect Overprint black: no change (selected) Include bookmarks: no change (deselected) Include printers marks: no change (deselected) Embed fonts: no change (selected) Subset fonts: no change (selected) Allow advanced features: no change (selected) Tagged PDF: no change (unselected) Password Protection: no change (unselected)

Hello, I’m trying to prepare a file on Publisher for Ingram Spark and something bizarre is happening with the color space. I create a document in Grayscale (text colour set to Gray 0), yet when I try to export, the Preflight checker objects and says that the “document color profile is not suitable for PDF/X”. Now, Ingram absolutely requires their book text in Grayscale, and exported as PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002 (apparently PDF/X-1a:2003 or PDF/X-3:2003 should also work), so I forge ahead and export it as a PDF/X anyway. However, when I reopen the PDF as Grayscale in Affinity, the book text is now Gray 5. When I reopen it without specifying to open as Grayscale, it opens as CMYK, and the black of the body text is all over the shop! C72, M67,Y67, K86. So what is going on? Please note I’ve had to learn this software rather swiftly and haphazardly, with no prior knowledge of anything digital/graphics related. I work in ink and dip pen, usually, so pardon any obvious idiocy I’m committing here. On Ingram’s very helpful File Creation Guide, they note: “SPOT COLORS/ICC PROFILES: Please do not include Spot colors or ICC profiles in your file as these can produce unexpected results during processing. ICC profiles applied to 100% black text often convert to a shade or percentage of gray (less than 100% black). This will result in text in your proof that is not solid black. If text is intended to appear as solid black, including Spot colors or ICC profiles can cause delays in receiving a correct proof.” So this could be the problem. But in the export settings, the option to set the colour space or ICC profile is blank, and the box for “Embed ICC profile” is already ticked and grayed out, so I can’t alter it. I bodged up a quick file to show as an example, here: My text very much needs to be 100% solid black, so any advice would be greatly appreciated! I've searched the forum for anything Ingram Spark related, and have found some very helpful threads, but nothing dealing with this issue, yet. It might be a bug? I also have a related question about this bit of their specifications: “Resolution: 600 ppi for 1-bit black & white line art / 300 ppi for 8-bit grayscale continuous tone images” Color Space: Grayscale LPI (lines per inch): 175 visual (Where do I set this?) Preferred file format: PDF (.pdf) PDF producer: PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002” I presume by ppi they mean DPI also, so for a book containing both text AND black ink drawings, do I set the document up at 600 DPI?? And then untick the “Downsample images” box during export? Sorry for so much floundering! Cheers for any help! Valliard

IngramSpark requires print-ready PDFs be exported at 300 PPI. But IngramSpark's guide also says images of 72 PPI are acceptable! To me, this is confusing. If the export is at 300 PPI, shouldn't all images be 300 PPI too?

I am preparing a print book with color images for IngramSpark using Affinity Publisher. I must be absolutely certain that images in the PDF I submit to IngramSpark are CMYK. How can I confirm this for sure? If I open the PDF in AP using "DPI: Estimate" and "Color space: Estimate" and then check image properties with the Resource Manager, does this show the color space of the image in the PDF correctly? My concern is that opening the PDF in AP may change the image color space to a default preference.