Exporting PDFs for booklet printing: "File>Export" vs "Print>Save as PDF"

[lineweight]

Most of the time when I'm using Publisher it's for stuff that I'll print myself or which will only exist in digital format.

I now need to make a booklet that I can prepare as a PDF to send to a commercial printer, and am trying to get my head around how best to do this. It appears there are two routes to creating a "print ready" PDF:

 

Option 1: The "Export" function in the "File" menu

- This will export a PDF laid out as a series of spreads, that is page 1 will sit next to page 2 just like it will in the finished booklet. (Alternatively as a series of pages where each page appears as its own individual sheet)

- I can choose to include bleeds but I can't include crop marks

- So the PDF is something like this:

 

Option 2: The "save as PDF" function in the "Print" dialogue

- Here I can choose "booklet" as an option for the "model" and then it will export a PDF laid out as the sheets will actually be printed at the printers - which from my limited knowledge is known as "imposition". So page 1 will no longer sit alongside page 2 in the exported PDF.

- I can choose to include bleeds and I can also include crop marks

- I think this is only available because I have a mac (it's actually done via the OS not Affinity?)

- So the PDF is something like this:

 

My questions:

- Are there any pitfalls to worry about, using one route rather than the other? For example, is using the "save as PDF" approach more likely to add issues with things like colour management because the OS is getting involved with the output as well as Affinity?

- Am I right that there's no way to add crop marks if I want to use the File>Export approach? Therefore, if the printer requests that the PDF I send them includes crop marks, I must use the "save as PDF" method?

- Am I right that the "dimensions" under "spread setup" is where the size of the finished printed document (that is after the printer has trimmed to size) is set, and the only place I ever specify the overall size of the print-ready PDF document (that is, including any bleed, crop marks etc) is when I get to the print dialogue?

- As a follow-on to the above, if I simply use file>export to export a PDF to the printer (and include the bleed), then the overall size of the PDF they receive is the "spread setup" dimensions plus the bleed along each edge? Therefore, for them to know what the intended finished size is, I need to tell them the bleed size and then they need to subtract this from the overall size of the PDF I have sent them (because there are no crop marks on the document itself)?

 

Thanks if anyone can clarify any of this!

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, lineweight said:

Most of the time when I'm using Publisher it's for stuff that I'll print myself or which will only exist in digital format.

I now need to make a booklet that I can prepare as a PDF to send to a commercial printer, and am trying to get my head around how best to do this.

Talk to the print provider. I never experienced one who would prefer spreads over single pages or a pre-press workflow without included correct page imposition.

 

1 hour ago, lineweight said:

issues with things like colour management because the OS is getting involved

On mac, print to PDF has no PDF options you can choose from, for instance it is impossible to export a PDF/X.

 

2 hours ago, lineweight said:

Therefore, if the printer requests that the PDF I send them includes crop marks, I must use the "save as PDF" method?

If I would not want or be able to use the export option that includes crop-/printmarks then I would prefer to increase the document page dimensions (without scaling objects) and add crop marks manually on a master page to avoid the workaround via print to PDF.

[lineweight]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

Talk to the print provider. I never experienced one who would prefer spreads over single pages or a pre-press workflow without included correct page imposition.

Yes, I will ask them. But even if I send them as single pages most of my questions remain.

 

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

On mac, print to PDF has no PDF options you can choose from, for instance it is impossible to export a PDF/X.

Ok, thanks.

 

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

If I would not want or be able to use the export option that includes crop-/printmarks then I would prefer to increase the document page dimensions (without scaling objects) and add crop marks manually on a master page to avoid the workaround via print to PDF.

Ok. It seems surprising that what seems like quite basic functionality is missing from Publisher.

[lineweight]

Actually I have just discovered that I can, after all, include crop marks etc via the "Export" dialogue. Just have to press the "more" button at the bottom to access these options.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, lineweight said:

Actually I have just discovered that I can, after all, include crop marks etc via the "Export" dialogue.

Great! Sorry if I was unclear with my "If I would not want or be able to use the export option that includes crop-/printmarks".

Also this may sound unclear: "I never experienced one who would prefer spreads over single pages or a pre-press workflow without included correct page imposition." It was meant to say that I never experienced a print service that would demand imposed 2-page spreads or that would not be able to do the imposition from a single pages PDF in its layout page order 1, 2, 3, etc.

With other words: None of your concerns should matter with a professional print provider and you should keep your document & PDF pages in their 'natural' order without moving them around as shown in your second screenshot of imposed pages.

[bici]

On 5/10/2023 at 2:52 PM, lineweight said:

Actually I have just discovered that I can, after all, include crop marks etc via the "Export" dialogue. Just have to press the "more" button at the bottom to access these options.

Every time i export my publisher Newsletter to sent to the printer in for press ready formats  i have to remember to go to the MORE tab and set > include bleeds and printer marks and output in pages rather than spreads. >  Can we not set a profile  so that all these settings are saved! I hope so. I often forget and i have to redo the export

[R C-R]

9 minutes ago, bici said:

Can we not set a profile  so that all these settings are saved!

Please refer to the Export Settings help topic & scroll down to the subtopic where it says "To create a custom preset."

Does that explain how to do what you want?

[bici]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

Please refer to the Export Settings help topic & scroll down to the subtopic where it says "To create a custom preset."

Does that explain how to do what you want?

i did it in V1 where  i created a preset. But odd that it does not show up in the area where it should.

NOTICE in the Dialog BOX PRESET in the default window that is displayed when one exports, Why is my CUSTOM present not showing up? (second pasted graphic)

 

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, bici said:

i did it in V1 where  i created a preset. But odd that it does not show up in the area where it should.

First, I need to correct the link I posted to the V2 help topic. It should be the oddly titled Export as Graphic topic at https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Publishing/export.html. It should show this:

Quote

 

To create a custom preset:

1. From the File menu, select Export.
2. At the top of the Export dialog, select a file format.
3. (Optional) Select a Preset as the starting point for your custom preset.
4. Adjust settings in the dialog's Advanced section.
5. From the Advanced section's options menu, select Create preset.
6. Enter a name for your custom preset, then click OK.

Consequently, when the corresponding file format is selected on the dialog, the custom preset is available from the Presetpop-up menu.

 

 

So assuming you are using V2 of APub, you should see an "Advanced" section with a 3 line 'hamburger' icon to the right of where you see "Advanced" that if clicked opens the menu mentioned in step 5 above with the first item being Create preset...

Set up your custom preset (it must be different from any existing one or that option will be greyed out), click on the menu, choose the create option, name the preset & click OK.

Does this not work for you?

[bici]

21 hours ago, R C-R said:

First, I need to correct the link I posted to the V2 help topic. It should be the oddly titled Export as Graphic topic at https://affinity.help/publisher2/en-US.lproj/pages/Publishing/export.html. It should show this:

 

So assuming you are using V2 of APub, you should see an "Advanced" section with a 3 line 'hamburger' icon to the right of where you see "Advanced" that if clicked opens the menu mentioned in step 5 above with the first item being Create preset...

Set up your custom preset (it must be different from any existing one or that option will be greyed out), click on the menu, choose the create option, name the preset & click OK.

Does this not work for you?

I am NOT using V2, I am using V1 of APub and it does not show ny saved PRESET

perhaps i am not doing it right, but i have not found the help file for V! that corresponds to your link for the V2 version.

[R C-R]

43 minutes ago, bici said:

I am NOT using V2, I am using V1 of APub and it does not show ny saved PRESET

So in the "More" screen, if you click on the Preset: popup menu at the top (where in your screenshot it shows PRESS_ PRINTER) it does not show your custom preset listed? 

Also, did you create the preset named "PRESS_ PRINTER"? AFAIK, there is no builtin preset by that name so I wonder where it came from.   

[bici]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

So in the "More" screen, if you click on the Preset: popup menu at the top (where in your screenshot it shows PRESS_ PRINTER) it does not show your custom preset listed? 

Also, did you create the preset named "PRESS_ PRINTER"? AFAIK, there is no builtin preset by that name so I wonder where it came from.   

So i have made headway. it now shows the PRESETT that i created.... but DAMM no matter what i do it insists on defaulting to SPREADs rather than PAGES which is what my printer wants.  Oh well soon i should be getting a new computer and then ill be using the new  V2. 

[Catshill]

14 minutes ago, bici said:

So i have made headway. it now shows the PRESETT that i created.... but DAMM no matter what i do it insists on defaulting to SPREADs rather than PAGES which is what my printer wants.  Oh well soon i should be getting a new computer and then ill be using the new  V2. 

This annoyance sadly persists in V2. I don’t know if will ever be fixed.

[bici]

oh dear/ What could be so difficult? is it not simply toggling a setting?  Perhaps Affinity should make PAGES the default and NOT Spreads. 

[thomaso]

16 minutes ago, bici said:

Perhaps Affinity should make PAGES the default and NOT Spreads. 

For "Area" it should just remember the last used settings – instead of resetting some specific ones (why those exactly?) to some default.
Or add "Area" to the preset options.