PACK AGEYOURPROJECTHow to...using Adobe InDesign
Things to know before you package your project...ENSURE ALL YOUR IMAGES/GRAPHICS ARE LINKEDGO TO ‘FILE’ -> ‘PACKAGE...’SAVE YOUR PROJECT DOCUMENT TO YOUR DESKTOP, CHECK IF EVERYTHING HAS BEEN COLLATED COMPRESS AND SEND YOUR PACKAGED PROJECT VIA WETRANSFER...TAKE IT FROM THERE, WE NOW HAVE FULL ACCESS TO YOUR PROJECT AND WILL OUTPUT YOUR CONTENT AS YOU INVISIONED!CHECKLIST:1. LINKS2. PACKAGE YOUR PROJECT3. SAVE TO DESKTOP4. SEND US YOUR PROJECT5. LET US HERE AT
Generally, when sending your artwork to for printing, a print-ready PDF file is sucient. However, there are situations in which you may need to provide your working files as well. For example, if you need us to make changes to your document or set it up in a specific way, then a PDF file alone won’t be enough.In situations like these, you will need to supply a copy of your original InDesign working folder, including the respective links and fonts. If do not have the typeface/font you have used for your project in our system, the font(s) will automatically be replaced with a default font which will alter your layout and make your text illegible.Adobe software has a feature called ‘Package’ that collects all of the linked graphics (e.g. images, vector graphics, linked documents) and fonts, and saves these in folders along with a copy of the original InDesign files, ready to be shared. Once we have received your full packaged project, we will then have access to all the working files we need, including the original InDesign document, a folder containing all images used as well as a folder containing all fonts used. This now gives us full control of your project so we can alter, re-size, colour adjust, manipulate imagery... Whatever needs addressing. We can fix it our end using OUR expertise and YOUR originally designed content without losing or replacing any quality or style.Why would you need to package your working files?
As always when creating a print-ready document, it is imperative that all imagery used is set to the minimum industry standard of 300dpi. Be mindful of using images taken from the internet as these will, in most cases be 72dpi. It is always good practice to be able to view the resolution of your images in the ‘Links’ pallet. Follow the instructions below to set this function up...Please ensure all of your imported images and modified linked graphics are correctly sized and linked...STEP ONE:PLEASENOTE!■ To check your images are correctly attached to your document, go to ‘Window’ in the top menu bar and select ‘Links’ from the drop menu ■ In this above instance, all the links in our document are present and correct, but this example just shows the list of images. You should also be able to view the resolution of these images, to do this click the ‘Panel Options’ icon in the top right corner of the panel...
If you do have a link missing, you will see this icon next to your missing image.You may in some instances also see this icon This is for ‘Modified’ links. Unlike the Missing links, the Modified items are already linked to the document, however you might have altered them using another software, and therefore you will need to update that image in InDesign.Get access capabilty to view the ‘actual’ and ‘effective’ PPI (dpi) of your images...STEP TWO:PLEASENOTE!■ To enable the view to see the resolution of your images, in the ‘Panel Options’ panel, check on ‘Actual PPI’ and ‘Eective PPI’. PPI is eectively the same as DPI - PPI means ‘pixels per inch’ and DPI means ‘dots per inch’. DPI is the metric related to print and PPI is the metric related to a computer screen.
‘Actual PPI’ is the resolution of an image at 100% of its original size, or the size of the image file. ‘Eective PPI’ is the resolution based on the size of the image as placed in the InDesign document. The size may dier from the original file size, depending on if the frame size has been altered in InDesign.Get access capabilty to view the ‘actual’ and ‘effective’ PPI (dpi) of your images, continued...STEP TWO:PLEASENOTE!■ You can now clearly view the resolution properties of all of your images, which in this instance tells us that the images are 300dpi but the ‘Eective PPI’ is higher. As a rule, you will want the ‘Eective PPI’ to be above 300 for the best results but as long as the ‘Actual PPI’ is 300 it should print perfectly.But, what if you have a missing link?...
If you do come across either a missing link or a link that needs modifying, the first thing to do is search in a ‘Finder’ window by simply typing in the name of the missing file... Search, source and relink your missing images...STEP THREE:PLEASENOTE!■ Links can be broken from your document for a number of reasons, most of the time it could be as simple as having moved your images from one folder to another for the chain to be broken. This doesn’t mean your file is lost forever (Unless you have accidentally put it in the bin and emptied your trash!) For these purposes we will assume that is not the case, so again, click top-right of the pallet and select ‘Relink’ search the name of the file in the finder and click ‘Open’. Your file is now relinked.
Now that your document has all it’s relevant images and fonts correctly linked, you are now ready to ‘Package...’ your Indesign file to your desktop...Package your project to your desktopSTEP FOUR:PLEASENOTE!■ Click ‘File’ in the top menu bar then select ‘Package...’ from near the bottom of the drop menu.■ It will always prompt you to save your project before it will let you package it. Click ‘Save’
Always be mindful that all the relevant tick boxes are checked to ensure you have packaged everything you need to be able to fully collate your files...Nearly there! Be sure you have everything you need...STEP FIVE:PLEASENOTE!■ The ‘Package’ window will appear, you can click through the various setting windows to check all is present and correct, once you are happy click ‘Package’■ The below window will appear, always ensure all tick boxes on the left-hand side are checked on, to know that you will collect everything you will need to package your files. Then click ‘Package’
Once you have your packaged folder ready you will need to use ‘WeTransfer.com’ to send your compressed file through to coloredge. Even though it has been compressed it will still be too big a file size to email directly...Check through your newly packaged folder and once you are happy, compress your folder and send it over to us!...STEP SIX:PLEASENOTE!■ Your packaged file should look as above, with the original ‘indd’ (InDesign) document, an ‘idml’ file which will allow us to open your document if you are running a dierent version of InDesign, as well as folders containing all the fonts and imagery imported into your project.■ Click on your folder, hold down control and select ‘Compress’ from the drop menu■ Your folder has now been compressed into a smaller file size and is ready to be sent to us...
Go to your preered web browser and type in https://wetransfer.com/ there are other large file transfer sites available, but this is the one we here at Coloredge UK like to use...WeTranfer your ZIP file over to us! FINAL STEP:PLEASENOTE!■ You may need to set up a WeTransfer account to send files, it is free and easy. Once set up, simply click ‘I just want to send files’ ■ Then simply fill in the fields, click ‘Upload Files’, find your compressed ‘ZIP’ file and click transfer! We will take it from there.