Preflight files before handoff

Before printing or handing off the document to a service provider, you can perform a quality check on the document. Preflight is the industry-standard term for this process. While you edit your document, the Preflight panel warns of problems that can prevent a document or book from printing or outputting as desired. These problems include missing files or fonts, low-resolution images, overset text, and a number of other conditions.

You can configure preflight settings to define which conditions are detected. These preflight settings are stored in preflight profiles for easy reuse. You can create your own preflight profiles or import them from your printer or another source.

To take advantage of live preflighting, create or specify a preflight profile in the early stages of creating a document. If Preflight is turned on, a red circle icon appears in the status bar when InDesign detects any problems. You can open the Preflight panel and view the Info section to get basic guidance for fixing the problems.

Open the Preflight panel

• Choose Window > Output > Preflight.

• Double-click the Preflight icon at the bottom of a document window. The Preflight icon is green if no errors are detected or red if errors are detected.

Define preflight profiles

By default, the [Basic] profile is applied to new and converted documents. This profile flags missing or modified links, overset text, and missing fonts. Although you cannot edit or delete the [Basic] profile, you can create and use multiple profiles. For example, you can switch between profiles when working on different documents, when using different print service providers, or when running a single document through different production phases.

Consult with your prepress provider to obtain a profile or to learn what the preflight profile settings are. 

Define a preflight profile

Embed and unembed profiles

When you embed a profile, you make the profile part of the document. Embedding profiles is especially useful when you’re sending the file to someone else. Just because a profile is embedded, it does not imply necessary use. For example, if you send a document with an embedded profile to a print service, the printer can select a different profile to use with the document.

You can embed only one profile. The [Basic] profile cannot be embedded.

Export and load profiles

You can export a profile to make it available to others. Exported profiles are saved with a .idpp extension.

You can also load a profile that someone else has made available to you. You can load a *.idpp file, or you can load the embedded profile in the document you specify.

• To export a profile, choose Define Profiles from the Preflight menu. Choose Export Profile from the Preflight Profile Menu, specify the name and location, and click Save.
• To load (import) a profile, choose Define Profiles from the Preflight menu. Choose Load Profile from the Preflight Profile Menu, select the *.idpp file or document containing an embedded profile you want to use, and click Open.

Delete a profile

View and resolve preflight errors

In the error list, only the categories with errors are listed. You can click the arrow next to each item to expand or collapse it.

When viewing the list of errors, note the following issues:

• In some cases, a design element such as a swatch or a paragraph style is causing the problem. The design element itself is not reported as an error. Instead, any page item to which the design element is applied appears in the error list. In such cases, make sure that you resolve the issue in the design element.

• Errors that occur in overset text, hidden conditions, or notes are not listed. Deleted text that is still available in tracked changes is also ignored.

• A parent page item with a problem is not listed if the parent is unapplied, or if no page it is applied to is in the current scope. If a parent page item has an error, the Preflight panel lists it only once, even though the error is repeated on every page to which the parent is applied.

• Errors that occur in non-printing page items, in page items on the pasteboard, or in hidden or non-printing layers appear in the error list only if the appropriate options are specified in the Preflight Options dialog box.

• To output only certain pages, you can limit preflight checking to a page range. Specify a page range at the bottom of the Preflight panel.

Turn on or off live preflighting

By default, preflighting is turned on for all documents.

Resolve errors

Select a different profile

Using different profiles is useful in many workflows. For example, you can select different profiles for documents you’re editing at the same time, or you can select a new profile to begin a new production phase. When you select a different profile, the document is reexamined.

If you want to use this profile whenever you work on this document, embed the profile. Otherwise, the document opens using the default working profile.

Specify a page range for preflighting

The rules for specifying page ranges are the same as in the Print dialog box. Errors that appear on pages outside this page range are omitted from the error list.

Set Preflight options

Limit the number of rows per error

You can keep your error lists more manageable by limiting the number of rows per error. For example, in a document that uses TrueType fonts, a single TrueType font used throughout the document can generate hundreds of errors. If you limited the number of rows per error to 25, only the first 25 errors appear in the list, and (25+) appears next to the error.

Save error report

You can generate a text-only or PDF file that lists the errors displayed in the Preflight panel. The report also includes other statistics such as time, document name, and profile name.

Preflight books

Choosing Preflight Book from the Book panel menu causes all documents (or all selected documents) to be examined for errors. You can use the profile embedded in each document, or you can specify a profile to use. A green, red, or question mark icon indicates the preflight status of each document. Green indicates that the document has no reported errors. Red indicates errors. A question mark indicates an unknown status. For example, the document may be closed, preflighting may be turned off, or the preflight profile was changed.

Set preflight options in a book

Resolve preflight errors in a book

When a red dot appears to the right of a document name in the book panel, the document contains preflight errors.

Design elements such as styles or swatches may cause errors. In such cases, make sure that you resolve the errors in the styles or swatches of the style source document, and then synchronize the book.

If you specified a profile for a book preflight that is not the embedded document profile, keep in mind that a different profile may be selected when you open the document again. The different profile may result in different preflight errors.

Package files

You can gather the files you’ve used, including fonts and linked graphics, for easy handoff to a service provider. When you package a file, you create a folder that contains the InDesign document (or documents in a book file), any necessary fonts, linked graphics, text files, and a customized report. This report, which is saved as a text file, includes the information in the Printing Instructions dialog box; a list of all used fonts, links, and inks required to print the document; and print settings.

InDesign performs an up-to-date preflight check. The Package Inventory dialog box indicates any detected problem areas. You can also give your service provider a composite PDF file made from your document or a PostScript file.

Correct font errors

The Fonts area of the Package Inventory dialog box lists all fonts used in the document—including fonts applied to overset text or text on the pasteboard, and fonts embedded in EPS files, native Adobe Illustrator files, and placed PDF pages—and determines whether the font is installed on your computer and available. Selecting Show Problems Only shows fonts that fit into the following categories:

Lists fonts that are used in the document but are not installed on the current computer or available as document installed fonts.

Lists fonts that have a screen font on the current computer but not a corresponding printer font.

Lists fonts that cannot be embedded in PDF or EPS files or used as document installed fonts due to license restrictions.

Make sure that the fonts used in the document are licensed, installed, and activated either on your computer or on the output device.

Repair links and images

The Links And Images area of the Package Inventory dialog box lists all links, embedded images, and placed InDesign files used in the document, including DCS and OPI links from linked EPS graphics. Images embedded in EPS graphics and placed InDesign files are not included as links in the preflight report. The preflight utility indicates missing or out-of-date links, and any RGB images (which may not separate properly unless color management is on and setup correctly).