Editor › Learn › Export Checklist: The Last Five Minutes Before Delivery
What should I check when exporting a finished image?
Pick the format for the DESTINATION (not habit), embed the colour profile, export from the master, reopen and inspect the result, and archive the layered master alongside the deliverable. Print this page — the print stylesheet strips navigation and yields a clean reference card.
Format by destination
- Print: flattened TIFF (LZW/Deflate) or print PDF, in the printing condition's space.
- Web photo: JPEG or WebP, sRGB, sized for actual display dimensions.
- UI/graphics/screenshots: PNG.
- Continuing work elsewhere: PSD (or layered TIFF), profile embedded.
Colour
- Profile embedded in the export — verify, don't assume.
- Web derivatives converted to sRGB; print deliverables in the destination space.
- One conversion, from the master; never re-convert a converted file.
Verification
- Reopen the exported file fresh and inspect at 100%.
- Check dimensions, mode and profile against the delivery spec.
- For JPEG: inspect sharp edges for artefacts at the chosen quality.
Naming and archive
- Name states job, version, colour space (e.g. brochure_v3_FOGRA39.tif).
- Layered master saved and archived; deliverable derived, never the only copy.
- Client-bound packages include the font/licence notes the job requires.
Questions
- Why reopen the export? The editor just wrote it.
- Because the export path is a different code path from the canvas, in EVERY editor. Thirty seconds of reopening catches the wrong-profile, wrong-mode and truncated-file classes outright.