15 Print File Problems We Fix Most Often (and How to Avoid Them)

The short answer: most print files that need work have one of the same fifteen problems. The top five are missing bleed, RGB color, rich black on small type, fonts that aren't outlined or embedded, and foil lines thinner than 0.6 mm. Every one is quick to catch before you upload, and every one is on this page with the fix.

Our prepress team checks every file against the same house spec before it's proofed. This is the list they work from, written for the person building the file. If you catch these first, your proof comes back clean and the job moves faster. If you miss one, we fix it and show you exactly what changed on the proof.

Color and image problems

1. The logo is RGB

Screens mix light; paper reflects it. RGB colors, especially bright blues, greens and oranges, fall outside what ink can reach and print duller after conversion. For full-color print, convert to CMYK and check the result by eye. For a brand color that must match, use a named Pantone swatch, from the Uncoated (U) book for uncoated and cotton stock. For foil, color doesn't matter at all: the element goes on one `FOIL-<COLOR>` swatch. Check placed images too; an RGB photo inside a CMYK layout is still RGB. More in spot color and Pantone.

2. The logo is a low-resolution JPEG or PNG

A logo saved from a website is usually 72 ppi and a few hundred pixels wide. Check effective resolution at the printed size: 300 ppi for photos, 1200 ppi for bitmap line art. Enlarging doesn't add detail. For anything that becomes foil, letterpress, emboss or a die, the logo has to be vector, and an auto-trace isn't a substitute for a clean redraw. If you have the original AI, EPS, SVG or PDF from whoever designed the logo, send that.

3. An AI render is supplied as the final art

A ChatGPT, Midjourney or Canva image is a picture of a card. Its text is drawn, not set, so spelling and digits drift; foil and letterpress are painted-on effects; its QR code doesn't scan. It's a good brief. It gets rebuilt as vector with real fonts, finish layers and a real QR code, and every word is set from text you type out. Full guide: from AI mockup to print file.

4. Small text is set in rich black

Rich black (C60 M40 Y40 K100) is four plates, and four plates never register perfectly. On a large area the slip is invisible. On 8 pt type it's a colored fringe nearly as wide as the stroke. Set body copy, contact details and fine lines in K100 only. Keep rich black for areas at least 5 mm across, and keep total ink at 300% or less.

Type and stroke problems

5. Strokes aren't outlined

A live stroke can change weight when an object is scaled or a file is exported with a different setting, and a die maker works from filled shapes. On every finish layer, outline strokes (Illustrator: Object > Path > Outline Stroke), then measure the result again. The exceptions are the cut and crease lines, which stay as 0.25 pt strokes on `CUT` and `CREASE`.

6. Fonts are missing

If a font isn't embedded, the PDF falls back to a substitute: spacing changes, lines break differently, and some characters vanish. Outline type on finish layers, and outline or fully embed it everywhere else. If we can't find the exact font, we'll ask you for it rather than swap it quietly, and any substitute is called out on the proof.

Foil problems

7. Foil is built from CMYK, a gradient or rich black

A foil die is one flat shape, and the press reads it from one swatch. Foil built as a gold CMYK mix, a gradient or a rich black scatters across the ink plates and leaves no foil plate at all. Rebuild it as vector, 100% of one `FOIL-<COLOR>` swatch, on its own layer, set to overprint. A gradient becomes one solid tone in foil. If the gradient was the point of the design, it needs a different finish.

8. Foil lines are under 0.6 mm

The 0.6 mm rule: no foil line, rule, outline or gap inside foil thinner than 0.6 mm (1.7 pt). Thinner lines break up and thinner gaps fill in. Measure at the printed size, not on screen. For a rule or ornament, thicken it to 0.6 mm. For type, move to a heavier weight or a larger size: 7 pt minimum, 8 pt recommended, 10 pt reversed out of solid foil, 12 pt for high-contrast serif faces. For a gap or counter, open it to 0.6 mm. Why it happens: foil artwork preparation.

9. The QR code is in foil

Scanners need flat, high-contrast modules. Foil is reflective, so a foil QR code scans badly or not at all, depending on the light. Set it in ink, keep any foil at least 1 mm away, and scan it from the proof with your own phone.

Layout problems

10. There's no bleed

Any color, image or foil that touches the edge must extend 3 mm (0.125 in) past the trim on every side; metal cards take 1 mm. The cut can move up to 0.8 mm across a stack, and without bleed that movement shows as a white sliver. If a border would be cut off by the extension, don't stretch the art to fill; move the border in or talk to us about it.

11. The artboard is the bleed size

A 3.5 × 2 in card built on a 3.75 × 2.25 in artboard makes every margin measure from the wrong edge, and the art ends up off-center after trimming. Set the artboard to the trim size, center the art, and add 3 mm bleed in document setup. Copy stays 3 mm inside the trim.

12. The die line is a fill, or sits in the art layer

A die maker traces the cut line exactly as drawn, so it has to be unambiguous: one closed path, a 0.25 pt stroke with no fill, on a swatch named `CUT` (100% magenta), set to overprint, on its own layer. Inside corners need a 1.3 mm radius or more, cuts stay 3 mm from each other and from the trim, and closed letters need bridges or their centers fall out. Details in die-cut file setup.

13. One color has two spot names

`PANTONE 2955 U` and `PMS 2955` look like the same blue to you and like two plates to the press. Keep one name per ink and merge the others in the Swatches panel. Before you export, open Separations Preview and check the plates match the inks you ordered. Confirm U or C against the paper: U for uncoated and cotton, C for coated.

Material problems

14. White ink on uncoated cotton

White ink on dark uncoated cotton soaks in and reads as a faint gray, so we don't offer it. For white on a dark cotton card, use white pigment foil, which sits on the surface and stays opaque, or a blind deboss, which reads by shadow. Both work from the same vector shape.

15. Spot UV on cotton

Spot UV is a clear coating that needs a sealed surface to sit on. On cotton it soaks into the fibers and doesn't cure into a gloss. Spot UV is for coated or laminated stock. On cotton, foil or a blind deboss gives the same shape a finish that works with the paper. More combinations that do and don't work: combining print finishes.

The two-minute check before you upload

• Artboard is the trim size; 3 mm bleed on every edge that has color; copy 3 mm inside trim
• Color is CMYK or named Pantone swatches, one name per ink; no RGB images
• Small type and fine lines are K100; rich black only on areas 5 mm or wider
• Fonts outlined or embedded; strokes outlined on finish layers
• Each finish is vector, 100% of one reserved swatch, on its own layer, set to overprint
• Every foil line and gap is 0.6 mm or more; foil type 7 pt or more
• QR codes in ink, not foil, and they scan
• Die lines on CUT, one closed 0.25 pt path; 1.3 mm inside radius
• Every finish suits the paper: no spot UV or white ink on cotton
• Every name, number, email and URL checked letter by letter

The full rules, section by section, are in print-ready files. Questions answered short are on our FAQ.