Creating PDF Files:
The Adobe PDF format is the industry standard for transmitting
files for print production. J.S. McCarthy Printers has created a thorough
set of documentation explaining the steps necessary to produce clean,
press-ready PDF files. You can download the appropriate instructions and
tools for the operating system and programs you use below. If you have
any questions about preparing press-ready PDFs to our specifications,
feel free to
email the JSM technical support staff.
PDF Workflow Movie
NEW View a recording of a webinar covers all aspects of a press-ready PDF workflow. Highlights include: the advantages and disadvantages of PDFs in a print production workflow; how to install the correct settings in publishing programs; how to preflight your PDFs to look out for common production errors; and finally how to upload and process PDFs through our remote proofing server.
(60min, 147MB, flash format)
"Faster, Safer, Less Expensive: Making a PDF Workflow Work for You".
Adobe Programs
Includes instructions for InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, and PageMaker.
Instructions for Adobe Programs
Quark XPress
Instructions for various versions of Quark XPress.
Instructions for Quark XPress 4 - 5
Instructions for Quark XPress 6
Instructions for Quark XPress 7 - 8.0
Instructions for Quark XPress 8.1
Other Programs
Includes instructions for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Publisher, and how to set up a PDF print driver using Cute PDF.
PDF instructions for other programs
JSM PDF Preflight Profiles
Acrobat Professional includes built-in preflight features that can find common production problems in your PDFs. Download and install these profiles to double check your PDFs before sending them for output. Profiles are inlcuded for jobs that use Spot colors only, CMYK only, or both Spot and CMYK colors.
Mac/PC Download
Video Tutorial - This movie takes you through the process of installing our preflight settings into Acrobat Professional and shows you how to check your PDFs to make sure they are print-ready.
(7min, 21MB, Flash format)
Preflighting a PDF in Adobe 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
Adobe PDF ppd
This is the generic printer description file from Adobe for use with Acrobat Distiller. It is normally installed with Acrobat, so download it here only if it is missing from your installation.
Mac/PC Download