Prepress Studio: fix or make print files by asking, then proof and approve

Sign in (or create a free account; no credit card and no website needed) and choose Tools in the top navigation. Tools lists every aiKit tool, with Prepress Studio featured first (see the "Tools" guide); Open Prepress Studio goes straight in. For a print shop, the print shop dashboard at /tools/print-shops (the Print shop dashboard link on that card, or Open the print shop dashboard in the Print & prepress category) is your shop's aiKit home, with "← All tools" at the top to go back. On the dashboard, the Prepress Studio card at the top plays a short animation of what it does (a postcard with no bleed, the art carried out past the cut, then the red cut line and blue dashed safe area drawn in), and has a box that opens Prepress Studio plus seven one-tap starts that open it with that card's panel already open: Fix or edit a file I have, Start a new file, Check my file before printing, Make a proof for my customer, Signs, stickers, and die-cuts, Convert a file, and Notepads (from Basic design). It also shows how many free jobs you have left this month, with a link to All jobs. Under it, and under the Customer proofs and approvals card, an Add this to your website line links to the Kit: these tools are also being made into parts of your aiKit website (customers sending their files on your own site with an automatic file check, and the proof page in your site's look). Both are marked Coming next; they are not built yet.

Customer proofs and approvals shows five counts: Need your answer, Ready to send, Waiting on customer, Approved, and Changes requested. Each count is a link that opens All jobs filtered to exactly those jobs. Your website's Open your websites button opens your list of aiKit websites (Start a new website starts one); the card also shows how many websites you have and how many new customer requests are waiting, and links to the Request Service form in the Kit. Site Plan opens the plan for your newest website. Quotes is marked Coming next: it is not built yet.

How it fits together lays out one job from start to finish and marks each step Live or Coming next. Live today: customers send a job through your website's Request Service form (details and up to 4 photos), you fix the file in Prepress Studio, and you send the proof for approval. Coming next: print files on the website form checked automatically when they arrive, and quotes from the same job.

The page opens on one question, "What do you need?", and one big box. Its gray example text rotates through real requests ("add bleed to this business card", "fit this logo to a 2 inch round sticker"). Type the request the way you'd tell a prepress tech: the product, the size if you know it, and anything special ("the printer wants 1/16 bleed", "keep the logo one color"). You can type and start without touching anything else on the page. The box stays a box: picking a card below never changes what you typed.

Add files (or drag files onto the box, or paste a picture into it) attaches up to 5 files: the art, a logo, or a mockup for reference. PDF (and AI files saved with PDF compatibility), PNG, and JPG are read, up to 60 MB each; other formats get a note asking for a PDF, PNG, or JPG. Each file shows as a chip with its size and an X to remove it. Printing with picks where the sizes, bleed, and safe areas come from (our product line, industry standard, or a printer you saved). Start (or Command/Ctrl + Enter) begins the job. Files go straight to the prepress engine, not through a web form, so large PDFs are fine.

Under the box are four tabs. Prepress (get a file print-ready) shows six cards: Fix or edit a file I have, Start a new file, Check my file before printing, Make a proof for my customer, Signs, stickers, and die-cuts, and Make a template. File tech (convert, combine, resize, clean up) shows six: Convert a file, Combine or split pages, Resize or change size, Colors, Reduce file size, and Clean up an imposed or crop-marked file. Basic design shows every product, grouped (Cards, Stationery, Forms, Labels & stickers, Tickets, Marketing, Folders, Signs & banners, Booklets). Templates opens the Template Creator. The tab you pick is part of the page address, so it can be bookmarked.

A card never grows or changes the page. It opens a panel: a window with plain, labeled fields, and Cancel and Start at the bottom. A task card (Fix, Check, Proof, Signs, and the File tech cards) asks What should happen? as a short list to pick one from (for Fix or edit a file I have: Add bleed, Fit inside the safe area, Change the size, Line up the folds, Something else), then What it prints as (optional: pick the product and size so the file is held to its exact numbers, or leave it and the size is measured from the file), Details, the files, and the customer. Start a new file opens the product list first; picking a product opens that product's panel. Presentation folders are one of the products, not a card of their own.

Make a proof for my customer explains everything a proof can do before you start: put several jobs or versions on one proof (tick the jobs you want from the list in the panel, or add a file for each item), both sides on one page (the Front and back on one page choice), an approval link your customer opens on any phone with no account, and your own branding (your logo and company details from your Shop profile, with a link to set it up or edit it). Check my file before printing says what the report holds: every check, what was measured, the rule it has to meet, the result, where on the page, and how to fix it.

Along the bottom of the page: how many free jobs are left this month (with Ask for more jobs when they run low), and See everything aiKit does for your shop, which opens the print shop dashboard (/tools/print-shops). About, at the top right, opens what Prepress Studio is for, ideal for and not for, what you get, and its limits, including the AI's; every product panel has About this product and every kind of work has About this, with the same kind of panel. The Help Center guide About Prepress Studio has all of it in one place.

Every product comes from our product line's list, with its own standard sizes and options, and each size has its own bleed and safe area. A product panel shows, top to bottom: Change product (a small list under the title, to switch products without closing the panel), What do you have? (My logo and words builds a clean layout from your logo and words; Finished art to set up places your art at the size with bleed and safe area, then checks it; products that are only set up from art say so), Size, The words to put on it (or Notes), Your logo (or Your art), the product's own options, and Customer (optional).

Simple or more creative? is the first choice on showcase products that offer it (presentation folders, brochures, catalog and booklet covers, door hangers, rack cards, postcards, flyers, table tents, signs and banners, and certificates; notepads and NCR forms stay simple). Simple builds clean, professional layouts from your logo, words, shapes, and type, and offers Style (Classic, Modern, Bold, or all three). More creative opens a short direction step: Mood (Bold, Elegant, Playful, Warm, Modern, Natural, Luxury, Minimal, Vintage, Energetic, as many as fit), Describe the look (a few words), Colors (from my logo, or pick up to four), A reference image (a design you like, for the feel; it is never copied), and Your photos (up to 4). The right side shows Your direction as you pick. Use this direction brings you back to the panel with the same summary and Change the direction. More creative adds an art layer under your words and logo, which stay sharp on top; the art is checked for print resolution and bleed before the file is print-ready, and the assistant says which creative layout it is showing.

Size is a list of the product's standard sizes. Where the product allows it, Other size opens Width, Height, and Units (inches or millimeters; feet for signs and banners). A custom size uses the product's own bleed and safe area.

Options depend on the product. Business cards: Style, Printed sides, How will this print?, and Corners (square, or rounded 1/8 in or 1/4 in, drawn so you can see them). Notepads: sizes from 4.25 x 5.5 to 8.5 x 11, lined or blank, ink, and sheets per pad. NCR / carbonless forms: parts (2, 3, or 4, with the paper colors), the form, Numbered on or off, the number position (top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left), starting number, digits, number color (red is standard), and the ink. Letterhead: Printing to the edge? (Recommend for me, full bleed, or no bleed, with why: 1 and 2 color letterhead is usually printed with a white margin). Envelopes: #10, #9, 6 x 9, A7, A6, A2, and A9, a window, and, for full color, Print to the edge? (no, keep a margin, is recommended, because digital envelopes print on finished envelopes). Labels & stickers: shape (circle, rectangle, square, rounded corners with the corner radius, oval, or a custom die cut traced around the art), each drawn. Tickets & raffle tickets: Numbered, the number positions (our tickets are numbered in nine fixed spots, each drawn on a small ticket so you pick one on the ticket and one on the stub), first and last number, number color, and Show sample numbers on the proof. Brochures: the fold (half, tri-fold, z-fold, gate, roll, accordion, double parallel), each a tile with a small fold drawing and its short name; the full description of the fold you pick shows under the tiles. Signs and banners: sides, stakes, grommets, hems, pole pockets, and wind slits. Catalogs & booklets: pages, saddle stitch or perfect bound, and self cover or a separate cover. Door hangers: the hanger die and a tear-off card. Presentation folders: pockets and card slits. Products built from your logo and words also have Style: Show me all 3 styles, or Classic, Modern, or Bold.

The right side of the panel shows the product's short animation, You get (the files this product comes with: proof, print-ready PDF, FPO file, file check report, and its cut, fold, or perforation file when it has one), Printing with, and Print settings. Print settings is closed until you open it; it lists the exact size, bleed, safe area, printer, and where the numbers came from (for example "Our NCR template 8.5 x 11 in: glued edge and the 4 numbering areas measured"), plus notes such as the NCR glue edge. When no template of ours is behind a number, it says so and asks you to confirm with your printer.

Use your printer's template instead is on every product panel: add the template from the printer you send the job to (PDF, AI saved as PDF, PNG, or JPG), and its bleed, cut, safe, and fold lines are measured and used instead of ours. If the template doesn't measure cleanly, the assistant asks you for the numbers.

Start makes the job and sends one plain message with every choice (you see it in the conversation), and the same choices travel with it as data, so the assistant asks only what the panel didn't answer. If a panel doesn't start (for example, every free job this month is used), it says why right in the panel.

Products built from your logo and words ask How will this print?: Full color (CMYK) or PMS spot colors. For PMS, a PMS colors box takes up to four, like 286 C, Black. Forms and notepads ask for the Ink instead (black, or one PMS color). The Colors card in File tech has the fuller color control: How many colors? (1 to 4), a box for each, Suggest from my logo, and a line showing the plate names exactly as they go to the press ("Goes to press as: PANTONE 286 C, Black").

When the answer changes the file and nothing was picked, the assistant asks "Full color (CMYK) or PMS spot colors?", then how many, then which ones; the last question shows the same boxes and Suggest from my logo. Screen colors are only a preview; the plate name is what the press uses.

Spot-color plates are made from vector art (shapes and type), not from photos. For a job that prints in PMS colors, Print settings shows Prints with ("2 plates: PANTONE 286 C, Black"), the result has a Plates tab, described below, and the file check lists the plates and flags any stray CMYK or RGB color.

Your message appears on the right with its files. The assistant's steps appear in plain words as it does them ("Checking the file", "Extending the navy background into the bleed", "Making the proof"), with a check mark on each finished step and a spinner on the one running. When it's done the steps fold into one line, "6 steps done", that you can open. It may also say what it sees in a sentence or two.

It asks at most one question at a time, and only when the answer changes the file (for example, "What size is the sticker?"). Tap an answer button, or type your own answer in the box under the conversation. The question then shows the answer you picked.

If something fails, the conversation says so in a red note and that nothing was changed; send the message again. Closing the tab doesn't lose the result: whatever the assistant finishes is saved to the job.

Each finished change is a numbered version. The result card's top line says how the file check came out: Ready to print, Ready with things worth a look, or Ready with a must-fix (a file that was made is never shown as failed; the must-fix is explained in the file check). Then comes Version 1, 2, 3 with a one-line summary, the product, and the printer. When there are several versions, V1, V2, V3 buttons switch the card between them; a green dot marks the version sent to your customer. Earlier versions also appear in the conversation as a line you can tap to view. The assistant's longer note after a new version shows its first paragraph, with Read the full note for the rest.

Pick a style: when a build was made in several layouts (Show me all 3 styles), the card shows them side by side, Classic, Modern, and Bold, each with its picture, a line about it, and a Use button. The one you pick becomes the next version; the others stay in the job. When the assistant asks which style you want as a question with pictures, the same side-by-side choice appears in the conversation.

On the left, the picture starts on What I did when the file changed: the finished file with the change played over it (for bleed, the art running out past the cut), with Play again. The Proof sheet tab shows the proof itself: the bleed shaded, the red cut line, the blue dashed safe area, and the sizes. Tap it (or Zoom in) to see it full screen. When there is no picture of the change itself, a How it works tab shows that kind of job's short animation, marked as an example. A blank template shows the template itself, on a Template tab. For a PMS job, a Plates tab shows each separation as its own grayscale picture next to Combined; tap any of them to see it large, with Previous and Next.

Under the picture: Changes in this version and File check. On the right, in this order: Files, Send to customer, Print settings, and Is this version right?. For every piece made for printing, Files shows three downloads together: Proof (for your customer, cut and safe lines marked), Print-ready (for the printer: exact size, bleed, print boxes), and FPO (for position only, for your printer: shows numbering, cuts, and folds; never printed). Blank templates and file work have no print file or FPO, so those tiles don't show. Under them, smaller links download what else the version made (a cut line, fold lines, a perforation line, a template, the file a File tech job made, an email-size copy, each page or picture), and All download formats (which also has the 300 dpi proof picture) lists every format with what it's for.

All download formats lists the files the version already has, then the formats that can be made correctly for this version, such as PDF/X-4, JPG or PNG (at 150, 300, or 600 dpi), TIFF (CMYK at 300 dpi; for a PMS job the plates are flattened to CMYK), SVG (the vector layout of a file built here), and a ZIP of everything. Make it builds that file on the spot, with a spinner, and the download starts when it's ready.

Changes in this version lists the changes in words ("Extended the navy edge 1/8 in past the cut on all four sides"), plus anything worth knowing that isn't a check. File check is one line ("6 of 7 checks look good; 1 needs a look") with the checks that need a look under it, each with Fix this when it can be fixed here; pressing it sends that fix as your next message and makes a new version.

View full report opens the detailed report: the counts, what the file was held to (size, bleed, safe area, and where those numbers came from), then every check, most important first. Checks that need a look are open; checks that look good fold to one line (tap one for its numbers). Each has Looks good, Worth a look, or Must fix, the finding in words, Measured (what was found), Rule (what it must be), Where (the page and spot, in inches from the top left), and How to fix. Download report (PDF) saves the report as a PDF; for a version without that PDF, Print or save as PDF prints the same report from your browser.

Print settings, closed until you open it, lists the product, finished size, bleed, safe area, print boxes, Prints with, Printing with, and where the numbers came from. Is version 2 right? has Looks right and Something's wrong (with a box for a few words); your answer helps Prepress Studio learn. See the guide What aiKit remembers and learns.

A job started from words alone first shows your message as its name; with the first version, the assistant gives it a short name instead, like "Riverstone Supply Co. business card". A job started with a file keeps the file's name, except in Basic design, where it is named from your words. You can rename any job yourself.

When you tell the assistant something that holds for later jobs, like "my printer wants 1/8 in bleed" or a customer's PMS colors, it uses it on this job and a card appears in the conversation: Remember this for your next jobs?, with Remember it and Not now. What aiKit remembers, at the top right of Prepress Studio, lists everything it keeps. See the guide What aiKit remembers and learns.

Under the conversation, the box takes a follow-up in words: "make the logo a little bigger", "use 1/16 in bleed instead", "give me a 2 in version too". Enter sends it (Shift + Enter for a new line). Up to four quick buttons under the box send a reply in one tap: the fixes the latest version still has open ("Fix: fonts"), then common changes; when the assistant has just asked something in words, they become Yes, go ahead and No, thanks. Each change makes a new version; earlier versions stay in the job and can still be downloaded or sent. Changes to a job don't use another job from your monthly allowance.

More files join the same job at any time: Add files in the box, drag files anywhere onto the conversation (it shows "Drop to add these files to this job"), or paste a picture into the box. On a phone, Take a photo opens the camera, and Add files opens your photos and files. The files show as chips in the box before you send, and on your message after. You can send files with no words; the assistant takes them into the job.

Send to customer, on any version, makes a private link with Send version 1. When your Shop profile has your company name or logo, the card says "Sent from" your shop (with Edit); otherwise it asks for your shop name, shown to your customer, and offers Set up your shop profile. Copy copies the link, Email it opens your email app with a short message and the link, and See what they see opens the customer's page.

Your customer opens the link on any phone or computer with no account and sees your logo, shop name, and company details (from your Shop profile), the product and version number, the proof (with zoom), the proof PDF to download, and a short checklist: spelling, phone numbers and web addresses, dates and prices, nothing important outside the blue dashed line, and screen colors differing a little from ink. They choose Approve or Request changes (with a note) and send their answer once. The print-ready file is never offered on the customer page, and customer pages are hidden from search engines.

Their answer shows on the result card ("Version 2 approved", or "Changes asked for on version 2" with their note), on the job in Your jobs and All jobs, and in the counts on the print shop dashboard. If you make a new version afterward, Send version 3 on the same link points the link they already have at the new version and opens a new round for their answer; the earlier answer is kept on the job.

Shop profile (Add your logo until you've set it up), at the top right of Prepress Studio, is where you enter your shop's details once. Logo: Add your logo takes a PNG or JPG up to 2 MB (a wide logo on a white or clear background looks best); Replace the logo and Remove change it. Then Company name, Address, Phone, Email, and Website, and I am a (Print shop, Agency, Designer, or Business owner), which sets the example requests and the printer picked to start with and never hides anything.

Your customer sees shows how the top of the customer's proof page will look, updating as you type. Save profile keeps it on your account. From then on your logo and details are on every customer proof page you send, and each new job carries them, so its proof sheets, reports, and FPO files can show them too. The company name is also used as your shop name on proofs.

Templates, the fourth tab (or Make a template in Prepress), opens the Template Creator. On the left, Make a template: Start from (optional; pick one of our products to fill in its size and numbers, or keep A custom size), Size (width, height, and inches, millimeters, or feet), Bleed, Safe area, Folds (none, half, tri-fold, z-fold, gate, roll, or accordion, each drawn), Die shape (rectangle, rounded corners with the corner radius, circle, or oval), Holes, Numbering areas, Grommets or pole pockets, Pockets, and Notes. Make the template opens a job where the printing-expert assistant checks your specs, asks for anything missing one question at a time, and makes a labeled template PDF, with the die line as its own file when the piece is cut to a shape.

On the right, Ready-made templates lists every product in our line with its bleed and safe area. Find a product filters the list; pick a size and Make it makes that product's labeled template (trim, bleed, safe area, and every fold, pocket, or cut marked). Any template can be changed afterward in words, like "make the safe area 1/4 in"; each change is a new version.

Use as a starting point (in any job's menu: More at the top of an open job, or the three dots in your jobs) turns one job into a new product, for example a notepad or order form into a matching #10 envelope. Pick the new product from the list (envelopes #10, #9, 6 x 9, and A7, letterhead, business card, notepads, 2- and 3-part NCR forms, return address label, round sticker, raffle tickets, 6 x 4 and 6 x 9 postcards, door hanger, rack card, gift certificate, 9 x 12 presentation folder, table tent) or type one under Something else. When a job has several versions, choose which version to carry from. The new job carries the brand kit from the old one (the logo files, the words and company details, the ink or PMS choices, and the printer), opens right away, and sends its first message for you, so the assistant builds the new product and asks only what's missing. It shows "Made from" the old job, as a link back.

Duplicate as is (in the same window) and Duplicate (in a job's menu) make a copy for the same product, named "(copy)": the version you picked comes along as version 1 of the copy, with nothing in the file changed, ready to download, send, or change. Either way, the new job counts as one of the month's jobs once it has a version (a duplicate has one right away), and it keeps the old job's customer and folder.

On a computer, Your jobs runs down the left side of Prepress Studio. The panel button at its top right folds it to a thin strip (with buttons to open it again, start a new job, and go to All jobs), and the page remembers your choice on this device. On a phone or narrow window, Your jobs is a button at the top of the page that opens the same list as a sheet from the bottom.

At the top: New job, a search box (job names, customers, file names, products, job types, and customer notes), and Filters, sort, and group, which opens the counts (All, Needs answer, Ready to send, Waiting, Changes, Approved, Pinned, Archived), Group by, then Kind of work (Prepress, File tech, Basic design), Product, Where it stands, Customer's answer, Customer (including No customer), Folder (including No folder), Started (today, last 7, 30, or 90 days), and Sort by (Last worked on, Newest first, Oldest first, Name A to Z). A number on Filters, sort, and group says how many are set. Group by switches the list between Recent (Today, Yesterday, This week, This month, Earlier), Customer, and Folder.

Every count is a filter: tap one to see just those jobs. The two that need you, Needs answer and Changes, also stay in view under the search box whenever they have jobs. A Showing bar says what's filtered, with Show all to clear it. Each job shows its name, where it stands (with a colored dot and words, never color alone), and its customer; the job you have open is highlighted. The list loads 40 jobs at a time; Show more adds the next 40.

Every job has a menu (the three dots): Rename, Add a customer (or Change customer; names you've used are offered as you type, and Remove the customer clears it), Move to a folder (pick one, No folder, or make a new folder right there), Pin to the top (pinned jobs lead the list), Use as a starting point, Duplicate, Archive (archived jobs leave the list and the counts; the Archived count shows them, and Take out of the archive brings one back), and Delete, which asks first and removes the job and all its files for good (if the customer was sent a proof, their link stops working; deleting doesn't give back a job already counted this month). With Group by Folder, Folders: make, rename, delete opens the folder list (All jobs has it as Manage); deleting a folder never deletes its jobs, they move to No folder.

Every job has its own address (?job= in the page address), and every filter is part of the address too, so any job or filtered view can be bookmarked or shared with a teammate who has the same account. An open job's customer and Made from lines at the top are links: the customer opens All jobs filtered to that customer.

All jobs (/tools/print-proof/jobs) is the same workspace at full width. On the left: New job, Customers (each with its number of jobs; tap one to see only their jobs), and Folders (each with its count, plus Manage). On a phone these are behind Customers and folders at the top.

The counts across the top (All jobs, Needs your answer, Ready to send, Waiting on customer, Changes requested, Approved, Pinned, Archived) are filters too; on a phone they are one row of chips you swipe, and the other filters are behind Filters, sort, and group. Under them: search, every filter from the rail as a menu, Group by, and the Showing bar. Each row has a picture of the latest version, the kind of work, job type, product, and printer, when it started, how many versions it has, when it was sent or answered, tags for its customer, folder, and the job it was made from (the customer and folder tags are filters), the customer's note if they asked for changes, one label for where it stands, and the job menu.

Each row's name opens the job. ?job=<id> on this page highlights that row. Proofs made with the earlier Print Proof form are listed at the bottom under Proofs made with the earlier form, and still open with their customer link.

Every account gets 5 free AI prepress jobs each calendar month (an account aiKit has set up with its own allowance shows that number, or Unlimited, instead). A job counts once, when its first version is ready, and the changes you ask for on it are part of the same job, within the rules under What counts as a job below. A job that never produces a version gives its use back after sitting idle for 30 minutes. The meter on the print shop dashboard and on All jobs shows what's left and when free jobs reset, and turns amber when about a fifth is left.

When jobs run low, Ask for more jobs (on the meter, at the bottom of Prepress Studio, and in All jobs) opens a short request: say about how many jobs you need and send it. There is no card and no charge; the jobs are added to your account by hand, show in your meter as soon as they are added, and never expire. Sending again while a request is open updates it. Your logo on every proof is live for every account: see Shop profile above.

A job is one piece of print work for one product, with the changes you ask for on it.

New artwork is a new job. If you add a file to a job that isn't a new version of its art (a different file, or a different page size), Prepress Studio asks: This looks like a new job. Start it as a new job? It uses 1 of your jobs. Start new job (the default) opens it as a job of its own with your file and message; It's a revision of this one keeps it in this job, and that answer is noted on the job.

A different product or size is a new job, and you're asked the same way.

Each job includes a fair amount of AI work. When a job has used it, you're told before the next change runs (This job has used its included work), and that change uses 1 more job. Choose Not now to leave the job as it is.

A job closes 30 days after its first version. A change after that reopens it as a new job, and you're told first.

If the assistant sees a request is for a different piece (another business, different wording, or a different product), it asks in the job: Start new job counts it as a new job; It's a revision of this one keeps it, and the answer is noted. When a job uses another job for any of these reasons, a short line in the conversation says so.

Files live on aiKit's prepress engine and are kept for one year; the job's history, notes, and your customers' answers stay with the job. The customer's original upload is removed once the first version exists (logos are kept so a notepad or form can be rebuilt). Downloads and pictures open only for your signed-in account, through short-lived links. aiKit never contacts, markets to, or quotes your customers.