Software
J.S. McCarthy Printers supports all of the popular design software including: Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Framemaker, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Freehand, and Quark XPress.
We can also work with many other applications like AppleWorks, Apple Pages, CorelDraw, Corel WordPerfect, Microsoft Publisher, and Microsoft Word. If your project is designed in one of the applications, contact JSM Tech Support for tips on preparing your files for commerical printing.
Microsoft Publisher File Preparation
JSM TechNotes Issue 2:Rating the Desktop Publishing Applications
Preflight and Packaging
JSM strongly encourages all customers to use the Preflight and Package functions in their design programs when preparing files for submission. Preflighting (or checking your files for problems) can help to avoid many of the pre-press related problems that could delay your job. The Package or Collect for Output function will gather all the necessary links and fonts used in your file and save them in a folder that you can then send to us for printing.
Using Collect for Output in Quark Xpress
Preflighting PDFs in Acrobat Professional
Acrobat Overprint Preview
Video Tutorial - The default settings for Adobe Acrobat don't work well for proofing in a prepress environment. To accurately see how your job will print you need to adjust the overprint preview settings in Acrobat. This movie shows you what your file will look like if they are not set correctly and how to change those settings so Acrobat can be used to preview files.
(3min, 5.7MB, Flash format)
Changing Acrobat Overprint Settings
InDesign CS4 Preflight
This page contains J.S. McCarthy's preflight profiles for InDesign CS4. For best results load these into InDesign and use them to check your files for problems before sending them out for printing. Separate profiles are included for jobs printing with CMYK; Spot Color; CMYK and Spot Color; and Gray only.
InDesign CS4 Preflight Profiles
Flightcheck
Another option is Markzware's Flightcheck, which is a popular third-party preflight and collection utility that works with many design programs.
Markzware Flightcheck
Technical Help
For information on what you should send when submitting your files and information on the most common prepress problems check out our JSM Technotes or contact JSM Tech Support
JSM TechNotes Issue 1:
Sending Files to Your Service Provider
JSM TechNotes Issue 5:
Top Eleven Prepress Problems