Printer’s Helper: make, fix, or resize files by asking, then proof and approve

Sign in (or create a free account; no credit card and no website needed) and open the Tool library in the sidebar. Printer’s Helper is the first card under Ready now (see the "Tool library" guide); open it from its card, or pin it to the dock. For a print shop, the print shop dashboard at /tools/print-shops is your shop's aiKit home, with "← Tool library" at the top to go back. On the dashboard, the Printer’s Helper 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 Printer’s Helper 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 Uses your tokens with how many tokens your account has left, a Get more link, and 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. Under Printer’s Helper it is live: customers send their files on your own site (Send us your file), and each print file is checked the moment it arrives, with the result and Fix it in Printer’s Helper on the request (see "The Requests tab"). Under Customer proofs, the proof page in your site's look is marked Coming soon; it is not built yet. The "How a job flows" steps on the dashboard mark the file check Live too.

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 Live and its Open Quote Studio button opens Quote Studio (see the "Quote Studio" guide).

How it fits together lays out one job from start to finish, and every step is live: customers send a job through your website's Send us your file page (up to 3 print files) or Request Service form (details and up to 4 photos), each print file is checked automatically as it arrives, you fix the file in Printer’s Helper, and you send the proof for approval. Quotes from the same request come from Quote Studio.

Your very first visit, before you have any jobs, opens with the heading Make, fix, or resize a print file and the same box, with no jobs column beside it. The More button under the choices also holds Or start from an example: real requests such as "Make this print-ready with bleed", "Check this flyer before it goes to press", "Resize this postcard to 5 x 7 and keep the design", "Fit this logo on a 2 inch round sticker", "Turn these photos into one print PDF", and "Set up a 3-part NCR invoice from this sample". Tap one to put it in the box, add your file, and press Start. Once you have a job, the page opens the usual way, described next.

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), EPS, SVG, Word (.docx, .doc), PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt), Publisher (.pub), CorelDRAW (.cdr), OpenDocument (.odt, .odg, .odp), TIFF, flattened PSD, PNG, JPG, iPhone HEIC, AVIF, WebP, GIF, and BMP are read, up to 60 MB each. Everything except PDF, PNG, and JPG becomes a PDF when it arrives: an EPS or SVG stays vector (an SVG that runs code, links to files outside itself, or declares outside XML entities is turned away for safety); a TIFF or PSD keeps its CMYK colors, a PSD comes in as its flattened picture, and a TIFF with several pages uses page 1; a moving GIF or WebP uses its first frame; Word, PowerPoint, Publisher, CorelDRAW, and OpenDocument files are converted, and their file check says "Converted from (type). Fonts and layout can shift — check the proof carefully." A converted file that comes out blank (some newer CorelDRAW files do) is turned away with a note to save a PDF instead. Files only their own app opens get a note with the exact menu path for a PDF instead, before anything uploads: InDesign (File → Export → Adobe PDF (Print)), Affinity (File → Export → PDF), Sketch and Figma (export as PDF), Canva (Share → Download → PDF Print), Pages and Keynote (File → Export To → PDF), spreadsheets (save as PDF), camera RAW photos (export a JPG or TIFF), and ZIP folders (add the files inside). Other formats get a note asking for one of the formats above. Each file shows as a chip with its size and an X to remove it. When you start, each file uploads on its own and its chip shows Uploading with a percent, then Added. A file that can't be used turns red on its chip with what to do: password-protected (save a copy without a password), damaged (export it again), an Illustrator file saved without PDF content (in Illustrator, Save As with Create PDF Compatible File checked), or too many pages (ask to split it or pull out the pages you need). If none of the files can be used, the job doesn't start, nothing goes to the assistant, and it doesn't use one of your jobs: fix or remove the marked files and press Start again. If some can be used, the job starts with those, and a note under the conversation lists the files left out. 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. Add a file and press Start without writing anything (or with only a few words that don't say what to do, like "fix this" or "make it work"), and the assistant only looks first: it says what the file seems to be and what it plans to do (the size and printer spec it would use), then asks, with Yes, go ahead first and other choices such as Only check it; nothing is built and no version is made until you answer. Files go straight to the prepress engine, not through a web form, so large PDFs are fine.

Under the box, Or pick what you're doing shows four choices: Fix or edit a file I have, Make a proof for my customer, Check my file before printing, and Start a new file. The More button under them (More: signs and die-cuts, templates, converting files, simple design) opens the rest: Signs, stickers, and die-cuts, Make a template, Convert or clean up a file, and Design something simple; Fewer choices folds them away again. Convert or clean up a file shows six more: Convert a file, Combine or split pages, Resize or change size, Colors, Reduce file size, and Clean up an imposed or crop-marked file. Design something simple (Basic design) shows every product, grouped (Cards, Stationery, Forms, Labels & stickers, Tickets, Marketing, Folders, Signs & banners, Booklets). Make a template opens the Template Creator. Each of these three opens in place with All choices at the top to go back, and is part of the page address, so it can be bookmarked.

A task card (Fix or edit a file I have, Make a proof for my customer, Check my file before printing, Signs, stickers, and die-cuts, Presentation folders, and the six Convert or clean up a file cards) opens its own page, with All choices at the top to go back. The page is part of the address (?task=fix, ?task=proof, and so on), so the browser's Back button works and the page can be bookmarked. It leads with a prompt, not a form. Fix or edit a file opens on one big box, What should happen to the file?, with the microphone in its corner. The file goes right in the same box: drop it on the box, paste a picture into it, or press Add files (a line in the box says so until a file is added). Under the box, suggestions start the request for you, such as Add 1/8 in bleed, Fit inside the safe area, Resize to 3.5 x 2 in, Make it a notepad, Check for low-res images, Line up the folds, and Remove crop marks. Tapping one fills the box with the words ("Add 1/8 in bleed to this file."), or adds them to what you already typed; change the words however you like before you start. Nothing else is required: left empty, Fix the file asks the assistant to check the file and fix what it needs to print (bleed, safe area, and size). Every File tech card works the same way, with its own suggestions; those need a few words or a tapped suggestion, since there is no safe default for a conversion.

Make a proof for my customer and Check my file before printing lead with the file instead, since the file is the job: a large drop area, Add the customer's file (or Add the file to check), takes a drop or a click, and several files make one proof. Under it, Anything to know? (optional) takes a note in words, with suggestions such as Front and back on one page and Also a small copy for email. Make the proof stays an outline button until a file is added. A proof request asks the assistant to use the usual defaults and to ask only if something it needs is missing, so most proofs start without a single question.

Under the box on every task page: Customer (optional) searches your Clients as you type (name, company, email, or phone); pick one, or Add a customer to save a new one right there (name, email, phone, company). It is saved to Clients, the job is filed under that client, and the proof's To line fills with their email when you send. Customers you typed on earlier jobs are listed too; picking one saves it as a client. A client's page lists their Print jobs & proofs, each a link to it, and its New job opens Printer’s Helper with that customer picked (a For line above the box says so, with Not for them to clear it). Then come closed sections, each with a one-line summary of what it is set to, so they never stand between you and the box. Print settings ("Size read from the file · Our product line" until you change it) holds What it prints as (pick the product and its size so the file is held to its exact numbers, or leave it and the assistant reads the size from the file), Printing with, the exact print settings for the product you picked, and Use your printer's template instead. The Colors card also has Ink colors, open from the start. What you need to know explains, in plain words, the print basics that kind of job touches: Bleed (with the animation of art running out past the cut), Safe area, Image sharpness, Color, and Fonts for fixing and checking a file; What your customer gets, Reading a proof, and Color for a proof; Cut lines for signs and die-cuts; Folds for presentation folders. Start a new file opens the product list first; picking a product opens that product's own page with its guide (see Product pages below). Presentation folders are also one of the products.

Make a proof for my customer has a Proof options section, closed with a summary such as "Front only · Proof · screen picture". Open it for three groups of choices you can combine (at least one stays picked in each). The first fits the piece: Sides on the proof (Front, Back; both put the front and back side by side on one proof page; Front is picked to start, or both when the file has two pages) for flat pieces and banners, Panels on the proof (Outside, Inside, with the folds marked) for brochures, menus, and folders, and a plain note instead of a choice when there is nothing to pick (an NCR form shows every part side by side; a file of three or more pages, or several files, shows every page; a one-page, one-sided piece shows as it prints). The page count is read from your file as soon as you add it. Then What your customer gets (Proof to approve, a PDF with the cut and safe lines; Print-ready file, the PDF with bleed; Email-size copy, a small PDF not for printing; File check report), and Proof picture (Screen picture, which opens fast on any phone; 300 dpi picture, sharp when zoomed in close; or both). They are kept with the job: Send proof attaches the files you picked, and the customer's page shows the picture you picked. The same section lists your recent jobs to tick, to put several jobs or versions on one proof, and links to your Shop profile, whose logo and company details go on every proof.

Along the bottom of the page: Uses your tokens, with how many tokens your account has left and a Get more link (to Tokens & usage), and See everything aiKit does for your shop, which opens the print shop dashboard (/tools/print-shops). About, at the top right, opens what Printer’s Helper is for, ideal for and not for, what you get, and its limits, including the AI's; every product page has About this and every kind of work has About this, with the same kind of panel. The Help Center guide About Printer’s Helper covers all of it.

The Printing with button sits next to the box (and under Print settings on product pages). It decides where every size, bleed, safe area, and print rule comes from, and every proof and Print settings says which one was used. It opens a window with three choices, each with a one-line summary. Our product line uses the sizes, bleed, and safe areas measured from the product templates we keep on file. Industry standard uses the rules most printers share. My printers lists the printers you saved. Your pick is remembered on this device; a printer marked Default is picked for you when you haven't chosen.

See all the rules, explained, inside the Industry standard choice, opens the rules explained, grouped by product family: edges (bleed, safe area, trim tolerance, PDF boxes), pictures (300 ppi for commercial print, 600 ppi or vector for 1 color line art, 100 to 150 ppi for large format), color and ink (CMYK, rich black for big areas and 100% black for text, a total ink limit around 300%, spot and white inks), lines and type (0.25 pt lines, 6 pt text), 1 and 2 color offset work (the gripper margin, the padding glue edge, numbering and perforation, NCR part colors), folding and finishing (the short panel on a trifold, creep in booklets, scoring heavy stock, paper grain), die cuts (1 pt die lines in their own file, the printer's template for custom shapes, kiss cut vs die cut), large format (bleed, hems, grommets, pole pockets, overlap when tiled), and paper (text weight, cover, coated, synthetic). Each rule shows its number, what it means in plain words, Why it matters, and What aiKit applies: the exact number the assistant uses today, or a plain note when it is a step your printer does. A blue Varies by shop tag marks ranges where printers differ. A search box finds a rule by word (gripper, creep, ppi). Set up my printer from these, at the bottom, starts a new printer.

Add printer opens a short setup with four steps you can move between at any time: Start, Products, Rules, and Templates. Save printer works from every step, so the quick path is: name it, keep Industry standard, pick the products, save. Start asks for the printer's name and where to begin: Industry standard (every number filled in; change only what differs), Blank (empty fields use the industry standard), or a copy of a printer you already have. Notes are for you (who to call, how they want files). Products lists the kinds of work you send this printer, each with its own rules: Notepads & forms (1 to 2 color offset: pads, NCR, invoices), Envelopes, Labels & stickers, Booklets, Signs, Large format, Cardstock / cover, and Text weight. Add your own class with a name and the words that mean it (Wine labels: wine, bottle). A product is matched to a class by its words; anything unmatched uses the printer's defaults, and pieces 18 in or bigger count as Large format.

Rules has a tab for the printer's defaults and one for each class (a number on a tab counts the rules that class changes). In a class, an empty field shows the default it inherits, so you type only the differences. Edges: bleed (0 means exact size, no bleed), safe area, and the gripper edge and size: the strip where the press holds the sheet, often 1/4 to 3/8 in on the top of 1 and 2 color notepads and forms. Pictures and color: the lowest picture resolution, CMYK, spot inks (with how many), or black only, your rich black recipe, and the total ink limit. Lines, type and file: thinnest line, smallest text, file type (PDF/X-4, PDF/X-1a, or press PDF), crop marks, and how pages are arranged. Stock, finishing and house rules: the stocks, finishing notes, house rules the assistant must follow in its own words, and Your own rules (any name and value, like Spine: 0.25 in).

Notepads can print in two inks (for example the logo in a PMS color and the words and lines in black); NCR forms print in one. What the assistant enforces from a printer: bleed, safe area, and the gripper are built into the file (notepads and NCR forms keep the gripper strip empty) and checked: the file check fails any art in the gripper, with where it is and how to move it. The lowest picture resolution sets the resolution check. Black only keeps the piece on one plate. A total ink limit and a smallest text size are measured and warned about. The file type is shown with the version; PDF/X-4 downloads from All download formats, and PDF/X-1a is coming soon. House rules and your own rules go to the assistant word for word. Every version made with a printer shows Made to (printer, class) with the rules it used, and the proof lists them under the legend, with the gripper shaded and labeled GRIPPER: NO ART and the safe line starting past it.

Templates (optional) holds your printer's templates per class: a die line or a layout as PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, PNG, or JPG, up to 4 MB each (DXF is coming soon), with an optional product name. Each shows Download and Remove. When you ask for a piece with a special shape, the assistant offers that template by name. In My printers, each printer shows a summary (its main numbers, how many classes and templates), an Edit button, and a ⋯ menu with Make default (or Stop using as default), Duplicate (templates stay with the original), Export (.json), and Remove (asks once more, and removes its templates too). Import, next to Add printer, adds a printer someone exported as .json. With more than four printers, a search box filters them. Printers belong to your team's workspace.

Special shapes: when you ask for a custom die cut, a shaped sticker or label, a kiss cut sheet, a pocket folder, a box or packaging, a door hanger with a custom slot, a window envelope, an unusual fold, or a printer's template, the assistant asks before building, at no cost: When your printer has a template for that product, Use (template) from (printer) comes first, marked Recommended. Upload your template or die line (recommended when there is no saved one; Upload a different template otherwise) opens a drop zone inside that choice (PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, PNG, JPG; DXF coming soon; the cut line in red or magenta), with Save this template to (your printer) for next time when you're printing with a saved printer. Use a standard shape builds a clean standard shape and marks the version and proof Shape assumed until you confirm. I'll describe the shape lets you type it. A template you add is measured (a custom shape's size is its cut line's outline), the die line is made from its red cut line as its own 1 pt file, and the version and proof say Built on your template. Products you pick from a panel already have our measured die and don't ask.

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. Picking a product (from Start a new file, from Design something simple, or from a product door on the print shop dashboard) opens that product's own page, with the product in the page address (for example /tools/printers-helper?make=ncr), so Back, a refresh, and a shared link all land on it. All choices (or All products) at the top goes back. The page shows, top to bottom: the product's name with one line on what it is for and About this; Product (a list to switch to another product without leaving the page); What do you have? (My logo and words builds the piece 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 skip this); then the box.

The box leads, and it works on its own. Its label says Describe the (product); type or say what you need in plain words, add your logo (or art) with Add your logo, drop or paste it in, or pick it with From Vectorize Kit (your saved brand kits) or From Graphics (search your Graphics Library; the original file is used, never redrawn). The Make the (product) button sits in the box. Under it, a row of example requests for that product, written the way people order printing (for NCR forms: 3-part HVAC work order, 2-part auto repair order, 3-part invoice from 1001, Receipt books with 50 sets, Landscaping service ticket, Delivery receipt; for notepads: Logo pad in black and lined, Logo only with 50 sheets, PMS 282 C letter pad, Showing notes pad, Full color photo header). Tapping one fills the box with its words, which you can change, and sets the matching choices below.

Your choices is the guide: the product's real choices as tappable chips, each already set to the usual answer. Every product has Size (its standard sizes, plus Other size with width and height in inches where the product allows it) and Ink where it has a choice: 1 color: black, 1 color: PMS, 2 colors, or Full color (CMYK), with a PMS color(s) box for 1 and 2 color jobs. NCR / carbonless forms print in one ink (black or one PMS). Then each product's own: NCR forms: Kind of form (invoice, work order, service ticket, receipt, estimate or proposal, delivery receipt, purchase order), Parts (2, 3, or 4), Paper colors top to bottom with color swatches (2-part white and canary or white and pink; 3-part white, canary, pink; 4-part adds goldenrod), Numbering (red, black, or none), First number, Number position, How the sets come (padded sets glued at the top, books with wrap-around covers with 25 or 50 sets per book, or loose sets), Perforation (none, or a tear-off stub at the top), and Quantity. Notepads ask only Size and Ink up front; Writing lines (lined or blank), Sheets per pad (25, 50, 100), Bottom of the page (contact details, one line, or nothing), Paper, and Quantity in pads are already set to the usual and sit folded under More choices, which shows what each one is set to. Letterhead: Print to the edge? (decide for me, white margin, or full bleed), Folds into a #10 window envelope?, Matching set, Paper, and Quantity. Envelopes: Window, Return address (upper left on the front, or the back flap), Matching set, and Quantity. Business cards: Sides, Corners (square, rounded 1/8 in or 1/4 in), Paper, and Quantity. Door hangers: Hanger cut (hole and slit, or hole only), Tear-off card, Sides, Paper, and Quantity. Rack cards: Sides, Paper, Quantity. Postcards: Mailing back (keeps the USPS address and postage areas clear), Paper, Quantity. Every other product has Size, Ink, and Quantity, and its own options (folds, shapes, numbering spots, grommets, pockets, pages, Style) under More options.

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, business cards, square and rectangle labels and stickers, table tents, signs and banners, and certificates; notepads, NCR forms, and round or oval labels stay simple). Simple builds clean, professional layouts from your logo, words, shapes, and type, and offers Style (Classic, Modern, Bold, or all three) under More options. 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), Your photos (up to 4), and Art quality (Standard or Better, each showing about how many tokens the whole job uses before anything runs; Better draws the art with a finer-detail model for richer textures and cleaner edges and uses about twice the tokens, and Why pay more? shows the same brief drawn at each level). Use this direction brings you back to the page 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 pictures are drafts at the size the model drew them. When you have chosen a layout, press Upscale to print size (it shows its tokens first): only that picture is enlarged to print size, the print check runs again, and the next version shows the tokens the upscale used. A draft is never labeled print-ready. The result says which quality drew the art and the tokens it actually used, and each step shows the tokens it used in all. Business cards and labels use art-led layouts: the picture fills the card and your live words sit on it. If the AI picture fails, Printer's Helper still finishes the piece with simple built-in shapes in your colors, and the result says so at the top: Used simple shapes because the AI picture failed. Nothing is charged for that art. Press Try again to ask for new art.

Job details is an expandable section under the job's name, closed until you open it. It holds Client name, Client company, Job number or PO, Due date, Quantity, Notes, and Other fields (press Add a field for a name and a value, like Paper and 100 lb gloss; Remove takes one away). Save details keeps them with the job. Tick Print a small job line at the bottom of the proof to put the job number, client, due date, and quantity in the proof's footer (it shows on proofs made after you save; Remake the proof adds it to an older one). The Jobs list shows the job number and due date, searches every detail, and has a Job number filter next to the Customer filter. With a job number or client, downloads are named like JOB123_ClientName_5x3_print.pdf and JOB123_ClientName_5x3_proof.pdf (a later version adds _v02).

What to put on it holds the words for the piece, each in its own field: Business name, Phone, Address, Website, Email, License # (on forms, cards, and door hangers), and a product line such as Lines or columns to add (NCR), Header line (notepads), Name and title and Back of the card (business cards), Cover, Inside panels (put ; between panels) and Back panel (brochures), or Headline and offer. Brochures start with Fold (Tri-fold, Half-fold, Z-fold, Gate fold, Roll fold, Accordion, Double parallel, each with a one-line note on how it folds) and then Flat size; the panel fields are optional, and left empty the assistant lays out your words across the panels. Add another line adds a field for more words to print, such as a second address, opening hours, or a slogan (up to six). Only these words are used, exactly as written, and anything left empty stays off the piece. What to put on it comes first, right under the box, then the choices. A notepad uses only the logo you add for that job; with no logo the business name becomes the header, and your Shop profile logo is never put on the piece (it stays on the proof sheet). Then Customer (optional, the same Clients search and Add a customer as the task pages), More options when the product has any the guide doesn't cover, and Print settings.

Notepads: the first version comes in nine layouts, shown as pictures of the pad. It leads with the most popular arrangement, the logo centered at the top and the contact details centered at the foot, in five versions: Centered (with ruled lines), Centered, no lines, Soft footer (the contact line sits on a soft band of your color at the foot), Thin frame (a light frame with rounded corners and the logo set into its top edge, with lines), and Thin frame, no lines. Then Watermark (a large, very light logo on a blank page), Left aligned (logo on the left, all the contact details on the right, a hairline under them), Minimal corner (a small logo at the top left, the contact right-aligned at the top right, no lines), and From the desk of (the logo centered with From the desk of and the name printed under it; it shows when your words name the person, as in From the desk of Dana Whitfield, otherwise Wide margins takes its place: ten roomy lines in the lower part of the page). Frames and lines are fine and light. On a black pad the logo prints solid black; on full color and PMS pads the words, frames and the soft band are in your logo's color. If you already chose Lined or Blank, the two no-lines pictures are left out. The first six show at once; Show 3 more layouts opens the rest. Press Use under the one you want and it becomes the next version. If you already asked for changes (a new phone number, a smaller logo, no lines), the layout you pick keeps every one of them. For a layout that isn't pictured, press Describe your own layout and say it in your own words, such as logo top right with our phone under it, a thin frame, dots instead of lines; the next version is drawn from your description. Under the result, Font switches the type (Serif, Sans, or Condensed), Layout switches the arrangement, and Writing lines switches between Lined and Blank, each keeping your words; Request a change takes anything else in plain words, such as make the name bigger or add a second address.

NCR forms: pick a form template as a picture, each set up for one kind of business: General invoice, HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical work orders, Estimate / quote, Delivery receipt / bill of lading, Auto repair order, Lawn and landscaping, Cleaning service, Restaurant guest check, Rental agreement, Inspection checklist, and Sales receipt. Each has that trade's fields, a checklist of the work (the services an HVAC tech or a lawn crew does), the item table, totals, standard terms with blanks for your numbers, and signature and date lines; your business name, address, phone, and logo go in the header. The first version shows the form in three layouts, Solid bars, Clean lines, and Shaded boxes. Pick one, then ask for any change in plain words: add a Permit # field, change the columns, use my own terms, or remove the checklist. Forms print in one ink with no bleed, the glued edge at the top kept clear, the numbering spot left empty for the press, and one page per part with its copy label.

Beside the guide on a computer (above it on a phone) is a live sketch of your choices, drawn right in the page as you pick, with no AI and no cost: NCR forms show every part fanned out in its paper color, the form title, header lines and item table, the red or black number where the press prints it, the glued edge at the top (and the wrap-around cover on books), and the copy label; notepads show the logo, lines, footer, a stack for the sheet count, and either the 5/16 in glued edge at the top (1 and 2 color pads) or the 1/16 in bleed in red dashes (full color pads, which print to the edge on the full color pad template; a legend under the sketch names each dashed line); cards, envelopes, door hangers, and postcards show the cut line, the bleed in red dashes and the safe area in green dashes, both sides when there are two, rounded corners, the window and mailing areas, and the hanger hole and tear-off line. Your logo shows in the sketch when it is a PNG, JPG, or SVG; a PDF or EPS logo shows as a box with its name. The sketch is a picture of your choices; the proof and print-ready file are built to the printer's exact numbers.

What you picked, under the sketch, lists every choice in a line each (each one a link back to that choice), the logo file, and the print rule your choices bring (for example "NCR form: keep the 5/16 in gripper (glued) edge at the top clear of art; one ink"), with a second Make the (product) button. Your choices are kept on this device while the page is open, so a refresh doesn't lose them.

Print settings is closed until you open it. It holds Printing with, 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 glued 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 here on every product: add the template from the printer you send the job to (PDF, AI saved as PDF, EPS, SVG, TIFF, 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.

Make the (product) starts the job. Your words go first, then a short order list made from your choices (Order details, then Put these on it with your words and the logo, ending with "If my words above say something different from these picks, follow my words"), so you can see exactly what was asked in the conversation. The choices the engine knows (size, parts, numbering, ink, sheets, lines, sides, corners, window, hanger cut, and the rest) also travel with it as data, and the ink answers the color question up front, so the assistant asks only what the page didn't answer. The proof and print-ready file are drawn by the same fixed builders every time; the AI reads your words and picks, fills the builder's fields, and asks a question only when something that changes the file is missing. If the job doesn't start (for example, every free job this month is used), the page says why under the box.

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. On product pages, the guide's Ink choice answers this up front: 1 color black, 1 color PMS, 2 colors, or full color where the product can print it (NCR forms print in 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 lists Colors in this file (a swatch and the plate name for each ink, read back from the print file itself, and "closest PMS, please confirm" when the assistant matched a PMS number from your art), the proof sheet carries the same colors in a legend under the lines, 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. When none of them fits, tap Other… (always the last button): it turns into a box right in the question, with a mic, where you type or say your own answer; press Enter or Send to answer, or Esc or Cancel to close it. You can also type in the box under the conversation. The question then shows the answer you gave. Every assistant that offers answer buttons (Printer’s Helper, its template question, the project planner, and the website interview) ends them with Other… the same way.

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.

A turn has a few minutes to work. When a big job (for example, splitting a long PDF into one file per page) runs past that, the conversation says "This took longer than 3 minutes, so I paused. Everything made so far is saved." with a Continue where it stopped button under it. Pressing it sends continue, and the assistant finishes the pages that were left; a split's pages are gathered into one version, not one version per page. Typing continue in Ask for a change does the same. The button shows only on the latest pause, until you send something else.

While the assistant works, a card shows four stages, each ticked off in turn: Reading your request, Looking at the file, Making the changes, and Making the proof and print file. Under them, a line names the exact step it is on ("Looking up the product spec"), a clock shows the time so far, and Steps done lists what has finished. Each finished step is saved as it goes, so a dropped connection never loses finished work. When a job makes many files at once (each page of a long PDF made into its own print file), a counter with a bar shows how many are done ("7 of 26 files done"), then Making one proof for the whole set. Pressing Start (or Make the change) stops the microphone right away, even while files are still uploading; the message and files go out when the uploads finish, and nothing said after the press reaches the box.

Once a job has a version, it opens on the result, proof first. The conversation folds into Conversation and earlier versions under the result (with how many messages and versions it holds); it opens by itself when the assistant asks you something or something went wrong, and every version is a line in it: tap one to show it and open it in the large viewer described below. The result card's top line is Version 1, 2, 3 with how the file check came out: Ready to print, Ready with things worth a look, or Needs 1 fix (a file that was made is never shown as failed, and a must-fix is yellow everywhere, here and in the File check); when something must be fixed, a yellow line right under the summary names it in plain words with its fix button (for example Improve the resolution), so it is seen before anything is downloaded, then a one-line summary. If any part of what you asked for isn't done (the assistant looks at the proof after every change and compares it with your words), the version says Not done yet instead of Ready, and a red box at the top lists each part that is missing and why, before anything else. Say how you'd like it done in Ask for a change, or add a better file. You can ask for any change in your own words, such as removing a small shape from a logo or moving the phone number up; the quick changes and chips are only shortcuts. The top line reads Version 3 of 3 when a job has several versions. Showing, beside it, is a menu of every version (newest first, the latest marked latest and the one sent to your customer marked sent): pick one to show it in the card, and Back to the latest returns. The version on screen is in the page address, so the browser's Back button steps back one version at a time (and closes the large viewer) before it leaves the job. Compare all versions opens a list of all the versions under the card's top line: each row has the version number (the one showing is highlighted), its check result and summary, Sent when it went to your customer, and three actions: View (opens that version in the large viewer described below), Print-ready PDF (Print files (ZIP) for a version that made many files), and Proof (PNG). The proof PNG is a smaller picture of the art to send or keep as the proof: 1,600 pixels on its long side, drawn from the print-ready PDF itself, with no cut or safe lines, labels, or shop logo, named name-v01-proof.png. Download all at the top of the list makes one ZIP with every version's print-ready PDF and proof PNG, named by job and version: name-v01-print.pdf, name-v01-proof.png, name-v02-print.pdf, and so on (a version with many print files keeps each file's own name after the version, like name-v03-print-poster-07.pdf, with a proof PNG for each). The ZIP is put together in your browser, and a line under the button shows which version it is on; if a file can't be added, the ZIP still downloads, with a note inside naming what's missing. Tapping a row shows that version in the card. In the conversation, each version's line has the same Print-ready PDF and Proof (PNG) downloads under it, plus Download all (ZIP) when the job has more than one version. The assistant's longer note after a new version shows its first paragraph, with Read the full note for the rest.

Many files in one version: when a version makes more than two files, such as a 26-page PDF split into 26 single-page posters each with bleed, or a set of two-sided pieces, the big picture on the left becomes the list of every file, in the same order as the pages of the original. Each file is a numbered card with its picture, its full file name (the part that tells it apart, like p07 or back, in bold), its finished size and file size, its check result (Passed in green, Needs a look in amber, Must fix in red, with what was found written right on the card, and the card outlined in the same color), a box to select it, and a download button. A two-sided piece is one card with the Front and Back side by side under the piece's name. The bar at the top stays in view while you scroll: the count ("26 files", or "6 pieces, 12 files" for two-sided work) with the check result ("all passed", or "1 must fix, 1 needs a look, 24 passed"), Combined proof (every file in one PDF, opened in a new tab), and Download all (one ZIP of the print files and the combined proof; where a ZIP isn't offered, each file downloads in turn and the browser may ask to allow several downloads). Under it, All, Needs a look, and Passed filter the list, Find a file narrows a long list by name, and Select all with Download selected downloads just the files you tick. Tap a file's picture to see it large, in the same full-screen viewer with the same zoom and the same Show trim & safe lines switch: the file's place in the set and its full name stay at the top, Previous and Next (or the arrow keys) step through the files, Show back or Show front flips a two-sided piece, what its check found is listed under the picture, and Proof (PNG) and Print-ready PDF download that one file's proof picture and print file. Each card also has a picture button beside its download that saves that file's proof PNG. The open file is added to the page's address, so copying the link opens the same file. If a long file had pages left when the run ended, a line says which ("Pages 25 to 26 aren't done yet") with Continue where it stopped, which finishes them (typing continue in Ask for a change does the same). Beside the list, the download button reads Download all, and on a phone the quick row's third button, All files, downloads them all. File check, folded under the result, counts files the same way ("22 of 24 files passed · 1 must fix · 1 needs a look"). A version with one or two files shows the usual single proof described next.

Pick a style or a layout: when a build was made in several layouts, the card shows them side by side, each with its picture, a line about it, and a Use button. Most products come in three styles, Classic, Modern, and Bold; business cards come in ten layouts, each picture showing the front above the back (a standing card shows them side by side); letterhead comes in seven layouts and the #10 envelope in the same seven, so an envelope matches its letterhead; full-color flyers come in up to six layouts chosen for your words and photos (from fourteen: Spotlight, Split, Gallery, Bold type, Framed card, Circle photo, Diagonal band, Cover, Event poster, Minimal, Coupon, Two photos, Price list, and Customer quote; a one- or two-ink PMS flyer uses the classic layouts), rack cards in six, and postcards in five (for example Medallion, Masthead, Color bands, and Diagonal). Business cards are front and back unless you pick Front only. Past six, Show more opens the rest. 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.

Edit words and photos (full-color flyers): when you didn't add photos, the first version uses a layout made for type and color and shows Add photos, or edit it yourself with a Choose photos button that opens the panel at the photo choices; nothing is picked for you. A flyer version shows Edit it yourself with an Edit words and photos button. It opens a panel over the page with a Preview of the flyer at the top (first on a phone) that draws itself again about a second after each change; the preview is only a picture, and Save makes the real print file. Words: Line above the headline, Headline, Subhead, Points (up to five short lines, Add a point, and an x to remove one), and Call to action. Offer: Big figure (such as 20% OFF or $99), What it's on, Coupon fine print and Expires; the fine print prints only when you fill it in, nothing is added for you. Contact and date: your contact lines (phone, website, address) and an Event date and Time for the Event poster. Price list: your own items, prices, and short descriptions; three or more items with prices make the Price list layout available. Customer quote: a real customer's own words, their name, and a detail; it makes the Customer quote layout available. The assistant never writes prices or quotes for you. Photos (up to four, the count shows how many are added): the first is the main photo; tap a photo to put the blue dot on the part that must stay in view (the arrow keys move it too), drag a photo or use the up and down arrows to change the order (shown when there are two or more), Replace swaps it for a photo from your computer or phone, Remove takes it out (Undo puts it back), Add your own photo adds one from your computer or phone, and Choose from photos shows 8 to 12 free stock photos picked for your business and its services (for example a mowed lawn in front of a house for lawn care), checked so none has readable words, signs or logos in it and each is sharp enough to print. Tap the ones you like and press Use; none is placed until you pick it, and a flyer that had no photos switches to a photo layout. Show other photos looks again. Where an image service is set up, Make an image with AI shows its cost in cents first and adds the image to your photos when it's ready, already enlarged to 300 ppi over the whole flyer, bleed included, so it prints sharp and the file check doesn't flag it (your own photos are checked at their real resolution). Layout lists every layout with a line about it; the chosen one has a check. One that needs something you haven't given shows a lock and a button that takes you there (Add 1 more photo, Add an offer, Add your prices, or Add a quote), and if you remove the photos a layout needs, saving uses the closest layout that fits and the version says which. Save as version N draws the flyer again with your changes and makes the next version with a new proof and file check; no AI is used, so nothing is charged. Cancel or the x closes the panel without saving. The new version's change list says exactly what you changed, for example Headline, 1 photo removed, or Photo order changed.

The picture is big and on the left. Proof shows the proof itself: the bleed shaded, the red cut line, the blue dashed safe area, and the sizes, with a line under it saying what each line means. Final artwork shows the art exactly as it prints, with no proof sheet, no background, and no lines, marked FINAL, with a note on how much of the edge is bleed that gets trimmed off (a two-sided piece shows its front; every side is in the print-ready PDF). What I did, when the file changed, plays the change over the finished file (for bleed, the art running out past the cut), with Play again. Tap the picture (or Zoom in, or View large above it) to open the large viewer: the clean art as it prints, drawn from the print-ready PDF itself (or the final artwork picture when there is no PDF), filling the screen, with none of the proof's lines or labels on it. Zoom in with the + and − buttons, Fit, 100% (the printed size on your screen), and 200%; a mouse wheel, a trackpad pinch, or Ctrl or ⌘ with the scroll wheel; two fingers on a phone; or double-click or double-tap a spot to zoom straight to it (again to fit). Drag to move around a zoomed picture; the PDF is drawn again, sharper, as you zoom in. Show trim & safe lines (off to start) draws the red cut line, the blue dashed safe area, and the shaded bleed over the art, with a key to what each means; it appears when the version's size is on record and matches the file. Previous version and Next version (or the arrow keys) step through the versions; the keys + and − zoom, 0 fits, 1 is 100%, and 2 is 200%; Esc, the close button, or the browser's Back button closes it and leaves you on the job (the address shows view=large while it is open). Each job has its own address, so Back from the job itself goes to the page you were on before it. The footer shows the version's check result and summary, with Proof (PNG) and Print-ready PDF downloads for the version you're looking at. A version that made many files opens its first file here; each file opens large from its own card. 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.

Right over the picture is Download print file, the one filled button on the card, with Proof (PDF) beside it and All files, which opens the full list below (a two-sided piece says Download print files and gets both sides and the combined PDF in one ZIP). Beside the picture, always in view without scrolling, are the next steps. At the top of them is the newest exchange: You asked, with your last request, and the assistant's answer in a few lines, plus No new version from this request when it answered without making one, so its reply is never hidden down the page. When the assistant asks a question it shows there too, as The assistant asks with its tap answers and Other (questions about inks, styles, or your template keep their own card in the conversation). While a change is being made, the working card sits here with its steps and clock, and the proof dims with Making version 4 (the next number), and the new proof replaces the old one in the same place. Ask for a change is a box (with the microphone, Add files, and Take a photo) where you say what to change, like "make the logo a little bigger"; Make the change sends it, and Enter does too. Send to your customer has Send for approval (Send again once it's out), which opens the Send proof drawer. Download print-ready PDF downloads the print file (for a two-sided piece, Download front and Download back give each side as its own print-ready PDF, the way printers such as 4over take them, with the same PDF boxes as the combined file (every box at the full size including bleed when Trim size includes bleed is ticked in Shop profile) and names like job_front_4.125x6.125_bleed.pdf; Download all (both sides, ZIP) holds the front file, the back file and the combined PDF; Both sides in one PDF is the combined file), Download proof sheet (PDF) downloads the proof with its lines and company, Download proof (PNG) downloads the smaller proof picture (the art only, 1,600 pixels on its long side), Download all downloads every version's print-ready PDF and proof PNG in one ZIP, and All files and formats opens the full list below (the proof PDF with its lines is there). Quick changes, under them, sends one of up to three common changes in one tap: the fixes the version still has open first. My quick changes holds your own: press Save my own quick change, give it a short button name (up to 40 letters, like Our house bleed) and write in What it should do as much detail as you like (it starts with whatever is in Ask for a change); Save puts the button on every job. Pressing it sends the full instructions, exactly as if you had typed them. The pencil beside each one edits it, and Remove deletes it. They are saved to your account, so they follow you to any computer or phone. On a phone, Download print file comes first, with Proof and Change (which jumps to Ask for a change), then the proof; the Showing menu and Compare all versions sit just under the proof, and Send for approval is under Ask for a change. The list of jobs on the left starts folded on a laptop-size screen when you open a job (until you open or fold it yourself), so the proof has room.

Everything else is folded under the result, each with a one-line summary: What I did, step by step (the log of everything that ran for this version, plus anything worth knowing), File check ("7 of 7 look good"; it opens by itself when something must be fixed), All files and formats, and File details (the product, finished size, bleed, safe area, print boxes, Prints with, Printing with, where the numbers came from, and the printer rules the piece was made to). Then Is version 2 right?. All files and formats shows the Proof (for your customer, cut and safe lines marked) and the Print-ready file (for the printer: exact size, bleed, print boxes) together. Numbered and personalized pieces, such as NCR forms, tickets, and anything you ask to be numbered or personalized, also get an FPO file (for position only), which shows your printer where the numbers or names print and is never printed itself; other pieces don't need one, so it isn't shown. Blank templates and file work have no print file, 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.

What I did, step by step is a log written from what actually ran, never from the assistant's say-so. Each line has its time, in order: what you asked (and any question the assistant asked first, with your answer), each step with its real result ("Looked up the spec: Postcard 6 x 4 in, 1/8 in bleed", "Extended the navy edge 1/8 in past the cut on all four sides", "Photo on page 1: 100 ppi to 400 ppi"), the file check with its counts and each warning, the proof, any step that did not finish and why, and the files saved with their sizes. The assistant's own summary shows last, marked as its words. A run over many pages is one line ("Pages 1 to 26: split into its own file") with Show all 26 pages to see each page; three or more steps in a row that match fold the same way. Versions made before the log existed show their change lines with a note saying so.

Before a version is shown as done, Printer’s Helper checks it the way a prepress tech would, the same loop a shop runs by hand: it runs the file check, then looks at the proof against your request (the right size and shape, the change you asked for, nothing cut off or past the cut, no white slivers where bleed should be). Anything it can fix (bleed, safe area, PDF boxes, plates, low resolution) it fixes right away and saves again, then says what it did; it does this up to two times. A version it fixed on its own keeps its number and takes the place of the pass it fixed, so one request is always one version (never a version 3 and a version 4 for one color change), and the job shows one current file, not a trail of near-copies. Whatever still needs a look after that stays in File check below, in plain words. Revisions (follow-up changes) run on the same model as the first request. NCR forms are built with no bleed and a 5/16 in gripper edge kept clear, and a sign cut to a shape has its cut line 1/2 in inside the ordered size, on a sheet with 1/2 in bleed.

File check shows the checks that need a look. Each one offers what really happens: a real fix, named by what it does (Extend the edges into the bleed, Move everything inside the safe line, Set the PDF boxes for this product, Improve the resolution), which makes a new version and checks it again. A check that only your customer can fix, such as RGB color, offers Draft a note to the customer instead.

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.

Under each check that needs a look are its actions. The fix button (for example Improve the resolution) makes a new version; that version's report opens with Checked again after the change, each line the last version had open with its before and after (Must fix to Looks good, or still Worth a look with what was measured now), so a fix is shown, never just claimed. Accept as is marks the check reviewed: it stays in the report, labeled Accepted as is, and Undo takes it back; accepted checks drop out of Quick changes. Draft a note to the customer opens a message to your customer right in the report, written from the measured numbers (for a photo: the page, its ppi at print size, the ppi the product wants, and about how many pixels it needs). Edit it, then Copy message or Open in my email. Nothing is sent from aiKit and nothing goes to the assistant.

Improve the resolution works through the real fixes in order and stops at the first that works: a sharper copy of the same picture already in the job (in this file, the customer's other uploads, or an earlier version, matched by what the picture shows, not its name), then vector art of it among your files, drawn again at full size, then AI upscaling. AI upscaling is not turned on yet, so today the first two run. When one works you get a new version with the photo replaced in place (same spot, size, and color mode), the ppi measured again, and a close-up of the same patch before and after at 300 dpi. When none works, nothing new is saved and the chat lists each thing it tried; then accept it as it is or send your customer the draft note. While a photo is under its resolution, the job keeps your uploads (they may hold the sharper copy); they're removed once it's fixed.

How did version 2 turn out? has a thumbs up and a thumbs down. Thumbs down asks What went wrong? (pick any, plus optional words); Send and fix it makes the next version from your report, Just send it only reports. Every thumbs down reaches the aiKit team and is rechecked after updates. 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 Printer’s Helper, lists everything it keeps. See the guide What aiKit remembers and learns.

Ask for a change, beside the proof, 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). Quick changes send one in a tap: the real fixes the latest version still has open (named by what they do, like Improve the resolution; accepted checks and notes to your customer are never in this row), then common changes. Before the first version, or when the assistant asks about inks, a style, or your template, the box sits under the conversation instead (Your answer), and its quick buttons become Yes, go ahead and No, thanks when the question was asked in words. Each change makes one new version; earlier versions stay in the job and can still be downloaded or sent. Changes are part of the same job, up to the 5 it includes.

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. Each file uploads on its own with its progress on its chip. A file that can't be used stays in the box, marked in red with what to fix, and isn't sent; if no file in the send can be used, nothing goes to the assistant and your words stay in the box to send with a fixed copy.

Your uploads lists every file you uploaded to the job, every time you open it (except while the assistant is working, when your files stay with your message), even one no message has used yet: a picture of the file (its first page for a PDF), its name, size, and page count, a Download link for the file exactly as you sent it, and whether it was Sent to the assistant or is Not sent yet. The list is folded at the bottom of the job, under the work; open it to see the files. It never shows your own files as a result. A file that hasn't been sent yet (for example, because the message it came with didn't go through) is ticked Send with my next message and shows as a chip in the box marked In this job, so your next message takes it along with nothing to add again; untick it, or press its ×, to leave it out. A file stops showing Not sent yet the moment the message carrying it goes, while the assistant is still working on it; if that message doesn't go through, the file is ticked to send again once the turn ends. Art files are removed from the server once the job's first version is made and say so. Your shop or company logo isn't listed here: it still goes on the proof, set from Shop profile or Proof from.

If a message doesn't go through (the server had a problem, or the connection dropped before the assistant answered), a red box above the message box says so with the reason. Your words go back into the box and your files stay ticked, so nothing is lost; Send again sends it as it was (with any words you changed), and Dismiss hides the notice. The words are also kept in this browser, so they're still in the box if you close the page and open the job later. Pressing Send, Enter, or Command (or Control) and Enter stops the microphone at once if it was listening, and nothing said after that is added to the next message.

Send to your customer, on any version, has one button: Send for approval (or Send again once it's out). It opens the Send proof drawer right on the page, the same drawer as on All jobs (see "Sending proofs from All jobs" below). When your Shop profile has your company name or logo, the card says "Sent from" your shop (with Edit); otherwise Add your shop name and logo puts your name and logo on the email and the customer's page. All jobs shows who opened it.

Your customer gets their own private page with no account: your logo, shop name, and company details (from your Shop profile), the proof with zoom and pan, page thumbnails, cut and safe lines, a side-by-side compare with the last version they saw, markup tools (pin, box, circle, arrow, pen, highlighter, and text notes, in six colors, with Undo) that each leave a numbered comment on the exact spot, the files you attached to download, and Approve or Request changes. Approving takes ticking the checklist (spelling, colors, size, dates and prices), checking the box that says they approve that version exactly as shown and that printing starts from it, and typing their full name as a signature (unless you turned the typed name off). It works the same on a phone. The page never shows vendor names, your costs, or anyone else's jobs, and it's hidden from search engines.

When your customer answers, aiKit emails you (Approved, or Changes requested with their note and pins), and the job updates everywhere: the result card ("Version 2 approved", or "Changes asked for on version 2" with their note), Your jobs, All jobs and its counts, and the print shop dashboard. Make a new version and Send version 3 goes to the same people on the links they already have, with a What changed note, and opens a new round; the earlier answer is kept on the job.

Jobs sent before this drawer existed keep their single link, and the result card still shows their customer's answer. Sending one of them again from the drawer gives each person their own new link.

Shop profile (Set up your shop until you've set it up), in the row at the top right of Printer’s Helper next to What aiKit remembers and About (at the bottom of the page on a phone), 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.

Crop marks and color bars on print files and proofs is off to start, for every account: print files come out at their exact sheet size with nothing outside the bleed, the way automated printing lines want them, and proofs show only the cut line, the safe area, and the shaded bleed. Tick it in Shop profile only if your printer asks for crop marks and color bars; it applies to jobs started after you save. A saved printer that lists crop marks follows this setting too.

Trim size includes bleed (for printers like 4over) is off to start for new accounts: print files use the standard PDF boxes, so the trim box is the finished size and the bleed box and page add the bleed (a 5 x 7 flyer with 1/16 in bleed has a 5 x 7 trim box and a 5.125 x 7.125 bleed box). Tick it if your printer's upload sizes include the bleed (4over lists a 5 x 7 flyer as 5.125 x 7.125): then every PDF box (media, crop, bleed, trim and art) is the full sheet with bleed. The press cuts in the same place either way, and the file check says which one a file uses. It applies to the next step of every job after you save, and a saved printer with its own box rule keeps that rule.

If you run more than one shop or division, each job can be for a different one. Proof from (For, in the main box) is settled before a job starts: it sits next to Printing with in the main box, right under the box on every product page, and under Customer on the task pages such as Make a proof for my customer. It lists your Shop profile and every company you set up (the same list as Quote from in Quotes), and shows the logo that will print beside the name. + Add a company… adds a new one right there: its name, Add its logo (a PNG or JPG up to 1.4 MB), and its Phone, Email, Website, and Address, the contact lines printed at the foot of the proof sheet. Edit (the company)'s details… in the same list changes any of them later; editing the Shop profile opens Shop profile.

Default for new jobs: tick it when adding or editing a company, or press Make it the default under the picker, and new jobs start with that company (the list marks it · default). New jobs never start with whichever company you used last. When you have companies but no default yet, Start (or Make the proof) asks first: Proof from is outlined and says Pick who this proof is from. And if your words, the customer's name, or a file name mention one of your other companies (for example the request says it's for your sign shop while Proof from shows your print shop), the start stops and asks which name and logo go on the proof sheet: From (that company) switches and starts, Keep (the current one) starts as is.

Everything your customer sees for the job then wears that company: the proof sheet the assistant makes, the customer's proof page, the Send proof drawer, the approval email, the approval record, and the comment report. A company with no logo saved shows its name in text; it never borrows another company's logo or your Shop profile's. A job started from another job (Use as a starting point, Duplicate) never carries the other job's shop logo into the new piece. The clean large view and the proof PNG carry no company at all, only the art.

On the job, Proof from (under Send to your customer) shows the job's company and its logo and changes it, before or after the proof is made; + Add a company… and Edit (the company)'s details… work here too. Picking another company switches the proof page, Send proof, and emails at once, and when the latest version already has a proof it draws that proof again right away with the new company's name, contact lines, and logo (Done. The proof now shows …), and re-brands its file check report; changing the job's company's details does the same. It uses no AI, doesn't count as a change, and never touches the print file; the version log notes that the proof was made again. If the remake doesn't go through, a Remake the proof with (the company) button stays there to try again. The job's top line also reads for and the company name.

Make a template, one of the choices under the box, 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 Printer’s Helper. 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. The list is a quiet column with no box around it, so the main page stays in front. Before your first job there is nothing to list, so the column stays hidden and the page is one column. 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. On a computer, the dock of pinned tools stands at the right edge of Printer’s Helper so it never covers the page.

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 type a new folder name: Make folder and move creates it and moves the job in one step; the folder name then shows under the job in the list), 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/printers-helper/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.

When the assistant needs your answer, the question card pulses briefly, the page scrolls to it, and the browser tab reads (1) Question waiting until you answer. 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.

Every job that has a proof picture has a Send button on its row: Send proof (the main, filled button on Ready to send and Changes requested jobs), Send version N when there's a newer version than the one your customer has, or Send again. Send proof is also the first item in the job's menu (the three dots). It opens the Send proof drawer on top of the list, so you never leave All jobs.

Ready to send works as a send queue: a header says how many proofs are ready, the list is one flat list (no date headings), and each row shows the version number and the customer (or No customer yet) with a tick box. Select all ticks every proof that can be sent. With any ticked, a bar at the bottom shows how many and Send selected. Send selected groups the jobs by customer: for each customer, add the To addresses (the last person you sent that customer's proofs to is filled in) and CC if you like, write one note, and pick an answer-by date. Each person gets one email per customer listing each of their proofs, and every proof still has its own private link, so each answer lands on the right job with a name on it. The newest version of each job goes out.

Once a proof is out, its row shows where it stands as steps: Sent, Opened (they opened the email, when their mail app loads pictures), Viewed (they opened the proof page), and Approved or Changes requested, with who got furthest and when ("Dana Rivera viewed the proof · Oct 4, 2:10 PM · 1 more on this proof"), open comments, and the answer-by date. Under it: Activity, Send again, and Send version N when a newer version exists. Activity lists each person (To, CC, or BCC, their role, their step with its time, and Copy link for their own link) and the proof's whole timeline: created, each version, sent (and whether the email went out), opened, viewed, pins, comments, reminders, approvals with the typed name, and change requests.

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.

The drawer slides in from the right (full screen on a phone, with Write and Preview tabs). If email isn't set up for your account yet, a note at the top says so plainly: nothing is emailed today, each person still gets a working link, and Copy link gives it to you to paste into your own email. Once email is set up, Send emails it for you.

Version: a picture card for each version, newest first, marked Sent or Newest. Versions with no proof picture can't be picked. When you pick a newer version than the one your customer has, What changed in version N appears; your words show in the email and at the top of their page.

Who it goes to: Customer is the business or person the job is for, from your Clients list. Search as you type (name, company, email, or phone) and pick one, or Add a customer to save a new one right there with name, email, phone, and company. A customer with a saved email goes on the To line as the Approver; when the customer has no email yet, the first To address is saved to them when you send. Sending files the job and its proof under that client, so they show on the client's page under Print jobs & proofs. When your Shop profile has no logo yet, a line under the email preview says so, with Add your logo, which opens Printer’s Helper with the Shop profile ready to add it. To takes one address or a whole pasted list (commas, semicolons, new lines, and Name <address> all work); each address becomes a chip with a role: Approver (approves or asks for changes), Can comment (pins and notes only), or FYI (just sees it). People you've sent this customer's proofs to before are offered under the box. Add CC or BCC opens two more lines. CC people get their own copy and link, can comment, and everyone sees they're on it. BCC people get their own copy to look at, and nobody else sees they got it, on the email or the proof page. Every person gets their own private link, so each answer has a name on it.

The email: Template fills in the subject and note. Three come with every account (First proof, New version, Need it today). {name}, {customer}, {job}, {version}, {shop}, and {due} turn into the real words. Edit anything, then Save as a template (give it a name) to reuse it; a template with the same name is replaced. Subject is the email's subject line. Note to your customer shows in the email and at the top of the proof page, signed with your shop name; the email already says hello and has the Review the proof button. Add a video (under the note) puts a link to one of your Screen Recorder videos into the note; the email shows the video's picture with Watch the video under your note.

Files to attach: the files this version made that are worth sending (the print-ready PDF, the proof PDF, the FPO file, a cut line, fold lines, a template) are tick boxes; ticked files are copied onto the proof. Upload a file adds your own (PDF, picture, ZIP, Word, or text, up to 4 MB each, up to 10 per proof); Remove takes one off. Your customer downloads them from the email and from Files from your shop on their page. The print-ready file goes to your customer only when you tick it.

How they approve: Approved when any one approver says yes, or when all approvers say yes. Ask for their typed name to approve is on by default; turn it off and the name on their link signs instead. Every approval also needs the box that says they approve it exactly as shown. Answer by sets a date shown in the email and on the page; Remind them automatically sends approvers who haven't answered one reminder the day before and one on the day (it needs a date and email set up).

Preview, on the right (or the Preview tab on a phone), shows the exact email the first person on the To line will get, with its subject, built from the same template the send uses, and it updates as you type. Preview the proof page opens your customer's page for that version in a new tab, with a bar that says it's a preview; nothing there can be posted.

At the bottom: a summary (how many on To, CC, and BCC, and how many files), Copy link, and Send. Copy link makes the links without emailing anyone and copies the first one; with nobody on the To line it makes one link for the customer. Send saves everything and emails each person (or, while email isn't set up, saves it and shows the links to copy). Either way the job moves to Waiting on customer, and the done screen lists every person with Copy link for their own link.

Every "?" next to a field opens a short explanation; press it again, press Escape, or tap elsewhere to close it.

Printer’s Helper uses your account's tokens, the same tokens every aiKit AI tool uses. There is no separate monthly job count. Each job uses tokens for the AI work it does. The changes you ask for on a job are part of that job, within the rules under What counts as a job below. The line on the print shop dashboard, at the bottom of Printer’s Helper, and on All jobs says Uses your tokens, shows how many are left, and turns amber when about a fifth is left.

When tokens run low, press Get more on that line. It opens Tokens & usage (/home/usage), where Get more tokens adds more to your account. Your tokens renew each month on your account's renewal day, shown on that page. 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), Printer’s Helper asks: This looks like a new job. Start it as a new job? 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 5 changes. Under Ask for a change, a line shows how many are left (3 of 5 changes left in this job). A version that comes back Not done yet doesn't count, and neither does a fix the assistant makes on its own. Before a change past the fifth, you're told first (This job's included changes are used): Continue starts a new job on the same piece, with 5 more changes; Not now leaves the job as it is. Every change uses your account's tokens; if they run out, the next change is held with a plain note and nothing is used.

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 opens it as a new job; It's a revision of this one keeps it, and the answer is noted. When a new job starts 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.