InDesign — How to set up a Christmas or greeting card file for a commercial printing company

Digital printing services,postcard,business cards,poster,flyers,letterhead,fridge magnet,docket book > Product information > Information — greeting and Christmas card printing > InDesign — How to set up a Christmas or greeting card file

This page provides some help on how to create a greeting card or Christmas card file in the Adobe InDesign program. Whilst the images are from an Apple-Mac, the procedure is much the same for PC users.

 

• How to set up a new greeting card or Christmas card file in Adobe InDesign.
• How to outline text on a greeting card or Christmas card file in Adobe InDesign.
• How to convert an Adobe InDesign greeting card or Christmas card file into a press-ready PDF.

 

How to set up a new greeting card or Christmas card file in Adobe InDesign

Adobe Indesign can be a very good program to use if you want a professional-looking greeting or Christmas card. However, like almost all of the programs that are available, the best result is gained if the file is correctly set-up.

Choose: File > New > Document.

If your screen looks like the below image — the "More Options" button is shown — then click on that "More Options" button.

 

You should now have a screen that looks like the below image (but without any of the read numbers).

1. Place the number "2" in the Number of Pages box, and make sure the Facing Pages box is NOT ticked.
2. The Width and Height boxes must be entered. The sizes of the greeting cards and Christmas cards that TheOnlinePrinter prints are:
   • A7 — Width 148mm and Height 105mm — the A7 mini greeting card will become 74mm wide x 105mm high (or one-eighth the size of a standard business letter) when it is folded.
   • A6 — Width 210mm and Height 148mm — the A6 standard greeting card will become 105mm wide x 148mm high (or one-quarter the size of a standard business letter) when it is folded.
   • A5 — Width 297mm and Height 210mm — the A5 large greeting card will become 148mm wide x 210mm high (or one-half the size of a standard business letter) when it is folded.
   • DL — Width 198mm and Height 210mm — the DL slim greeting card will become 99mm wide x 210mm high (or one-third the size of a standard business letter) when it is folded.
3. Place the number "2" in the Number box, and place the number "10" in the Gutter box.
4. Make sure each of the Margins boxes are set at 5mm.
5. Make sure each of the Bleed boxes are set at 5mm.

When the details are correctly entered, click the "OK" button.

 

You should now have a file with two pages. Your greeting card file should look a bit like the screen below. If you only have one page on the screen, then either:

• With an Apple-Mac, hold done the Apple key, and then press the minus ("-") key; and, repeat that proceedure until both pages are visible.
• With a PC, hold done the Control or Windows key, and then press the minus ("-") key; and, repeat that proceedure until both pages are visible.

If you do NOT have two pages, the TheOnlinePrinter suggests that you start the set-up proceedure again.

If you DO have two pages, then you can start designing your greeting or Christmas card using your Adobe InDesign software. However, TheOnlinePrinter suggests that you should consider the following when you are creating your design. In fact, TheOnlinePrinter suggests that you MUST consider the following when you are creating your greeting card or Christmas card file.

• The black arrows on the below image point to a black line. This black line is the Trim line, and this is were your greeting card or Christmas card will be cut when it is trimmed down to size.
• The red arrows on the below image point to a red line. This red line is the Bleed line. If you are going to have a background colour or an image that you want to be printed right to the very edge of the page, then you must continue that background colour or that image right out to the Bleed line.
• The magenta arrows (the purple arrows for you blokes) on the below image point to an outer magenta line. This outer magenta line is the Safety Margin line. The Safety Margin line is important for two reasons:
  1. All text MUST be kept within the Safety Margin line. If your text is outside the Safety Margin line, then your card might look a little unbalanced if we are 1mm 'out' with our printing plates, or paper alignment, or with our guillotine.
  2. If you ant a white or coloured border around your card, then the border MUST start on the Safety Margin line. Again, if your border is outside the Safety Margin line, then your card might look a little unbalanced if we are 1mm 'out' with our printing plates, or paper alignment, or with our guillotine.
• The two blue arrows on the below image point to an inner magenta line. This inner magenta line is the Gutter. The Gutter is another Safety Margin line, but it relates to just one half of the file. So, the left-hand Gutter is the Safety Margin line for the left-hand page, and the right-hand Gutter is the Safety Margin line for the right-hand page.

You can now start designing your greeting card or Christmas card on your Adobe Indesign software.

 

Below is an image of the cover of a Chrsitmas card that has been created using Adobe InDesign. The right-hand side is the front cover, and the left-hand side is the back cover, of the Christmas card. You will notice that:

• The yellow background colour goes all the way out to the red Bleed line (the outer red box).
• The text is most inside the magenta Safety Margin line, and it is well inside the Safety Margin line.
• The card has a yellow border on each side of the front cover (the right-hand side of the file), and the border stops right on both the the right-hand Gutter (see the left-hand magenta arrow) and the right-hand Safety Margin line (see the right-hand magenta arrow).

 

 

To save your Adobe InDesign greeting or Christmas card, cho0se: File > Save As. You will be asked to name your file, and ALL printing companies would be extremely thankful if you considered the following when naming your file: Commercial printing companies, including TheOnlinePrinter, use the file's name to: Track the job along the production process; and Easliy determine the tupe of job that is being produced. So, your file's name should include: The person the job is for (e.g.: The Book Grocer); and The type of job being printed (e.g.: Ds). The combined name, therefore, might be The Book Grocer DL Christmas card

Your Adobe InDesign greeting or Christmas card file can now be sent to your commercial printing company, and we hope that you will choose TheOnlinePrinter.

Having written the above, if you want to increase the chance of your job proceeding with out a single hitch, then TheOnlinePrinter suggests that you should outline the text, and convert your Adobe InDesign greeting card into a PDF. The reasons to undertake these simple tasksare several:

1. Your commercial printing company might not have the fonts that you used, or might not be licensed to use those fonts. However, if you outline the text on your Adobe InDesign greeting card or Christmas card file, then any problems with the  fonts will be 100% solved.
2. Adobe InDesign files normally travel very well across the Internet. However, sometimes some parts of the file can become damaged. In contrast, PDFs travel across the Internet with an almost 100% success rate. So, converting your Adobe InDesign greeting card or Christmas card file into a PDF will improve the chances of having your order proceed with out any problems.
3. Adobe InDesign files can become very large, and this sometimes makes them hard (or impossible) to E-mail or slow to upload. PDFs, however, are almost always much smaller than any Adobe InDesign. So, converting your Adobe InDesign greeting card or Christmas card file into a PDF will make your file easier to E-mail or upload.

 

How to outline text on a greeting card or Christmas card file in Adobe InDesign

Outlining text on Adobe InDesign greeting card and Christmas card files is increadibly easy.

Get the first page on your Adobe InDesign greeting card and Christmas card file up on your screen. Then choose: Edit > Select All.

Everything on the page should now be highlighted by light blue boxes, and there should be small white boxes in lots of the various corners of the various item (see an enlarged image of this below).

Now choose: Type > Create Outlines

All the text should now have a light blue 'tracing' around the text. The text on the page has been outlined.

Now go and do the same upon the second page:

• Get the second page on your Adobe InDesign greeting card and Christmas card file up on your screen. Then choose: Edit > Select All.
• Everything on the second page should now be highlighted by light blue boxes, and there should be small white boxes in lots of the various corners of the various item.
• Now choose: Type > Create Outlines.

All the text on both pages has now been outlines, and you should save your file.

• Choose: File > Save As.
• Give the file a new name (e.g.: The Book Grocer DL Christmas card OUTLINED). The new name means that if you want to use the original file again then you will still have all the text in it (e.g.: Season's Greetings for 2009 can be latered next year to Season's Greetings for 2010).

 

How to convert an Adobe InDesign greeting card or Christmas card file into a press-ready PDF

Choose File > Export.

 

Your screen will change to the Export dialogue box (see below).

• Make sure that the Format drop-down menu is set to Adobe PDF (or just PDF).
• Make sure that the file is going to be saved in the place where you want it to be saved.
• Click on the Save button.

 

You will now be taken to the Export Adobe PDF dialogue box, and the General tab should be highlighted in light blue (see below).

1. Make sure that the Adobe PDF Preset menu at the top is set at Press Quality.
2. Ensure that the Pages radio button is set al All.
3. Click the Compression tab once (it is right under the General tab).

 

The Export Adobe PDF dialogue box will change, and the Compression tab should be highlighted in light blue (see below).

1. The Color Images drop-down menu should be set at "Bicubic Downsampling to", and 300 pixels per inch for images above 450 pixels per inch.
2. The Greyscale Images drop-down menu should be set at "Bicubic Downsampling to", and 300 pixels per inch for images above 450 pixels per inch.
3. The Monochrome Images drop-down menu should be set at "Bicubic Downsampling to", and 1200 pixels per inch for images above 1800 pixels per inch.
4. Click the Marks and Bleeds tab once (it is right under the Compression tab)

 

The Export Adobe PDF dialogue box will change, and the Marks and Bleeds tab should be highlighted in light blue (see below).

1. Only Crop Marks tick-box should be ticked in the Marks section of the Export Adobe PDF dialogue box. If the other tick-boxes are ticked, then un-tick them.
2. Each any every box in the Bleed and Slug section of the Export Adobe PDF dialogue box MUST be set at 3mm.
3. Click the Export button.

You now have a press-ready PDF, with all the text outlined, so you can send your greeting card or Christmas card file to your commercial printing company, and you can be confident that your job will proceed through the production process without any problems.