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How do I export a print-ready PDF?
A print-ready PDF needs the artwork at final size with bleed, a TrimBox describing the finished size, a BleedBox containing it, an embedded ICC output intent describing the printing condition, and no surprises such as missing fonts.
What the boxes mean
| Box | Meaning |
|---|---|
| MediaBox | The whole sheet, including everything |
| BleedBox | Trim plus bleed — the area that may be printed |
| TrimBox | The finished size after cutting |
| CropBox | What a viewer displays |
Steps
- Set the document to the finished trim size.
- Choose a bleed — 3 mm is the common default.
- Load the ICC profile your printer specified.
- Enable crop marks if the printer asks for them.
- Export, then confirm the TrimBox and BleedBox are present and correctly nested.
PDF/X, and being careful with the term
PDF/X is a family of ISO standards that restrict PDF to what print production can handle reliably. A file is only PDF/X if it has been validated as such — writing the right keys is necessary but not sufficient. Treat any tool claiming PDF/X without validation with caution, and ask your printer to preflight the file.
PhotoAIA writes PDF/X-4 structure and checks sixteen requirements itself, but does not label its output PDF/X-4, because no conformance validator has certified it.