What do I send to the printer?

Send the PDF with your artwork on it and the dieline layers still in. The printer uses those lines to make the cutting die and to line the print up with it.

Before you send

1. Check the sizes in the block under the drawing. It lists every size you typed, the blank size and the scale, 1:1.
2. For a box, make sure the thickness matches the board the printer will use. If it doesn't, change it and download again. See how thick the board should be.
3. Print the PDF at actual size on plain paper, cut it out and fold it. It's the quickest way to see your product fits, as long as the sheet is big enough.
4. Keep your artwork on its own layer and leave the dieline layers in. Printers usually set the lines to non-printing or swap in their own.
5. Run backgrounds past the cut line and keep text inside the safe line. How much bleed is the printer's call.
6. Ask how they want the file: fonts outlined or embedded, image resolution, colour mode.
7. Ask for a proof before the full run.

Send the link too

The block under the drawing ends with a link that opens this dieline with the same sizes. Pass it on, and the printer can check a size or change one without starting over.

This is general advice. Every printer has its own house rules. When they send a template or a checklist, theirs wins.

Next

Still stuck? Tell us what you were trying to do