Between the canvas you designed and the file a printer receives, four things have to line up. Only one of them is the design. This guide explains the other three, because they are where “the print looks different from my screen” usually comes from.
What goes into a print file
The design is only the starting point
The render begins from the revision the order was bound to, not from what is open in your editor. If you changed the design after the order, the file will not have your change in it. That is design versions doing its job.
Then the shopper’s values are applied. A name replaces the placeholder text, an upload fills the photo frame, a colour choice repaints the layer it belongs to. Only after that is there something worth rendering.
The surface decides the size
Each surface carries its real-world size in millimetres and, when a provider is involved, the exact output geometry that provider expects, including the bleed that gets trimmed away.
That is why the file is bigger than the visible artwork, and why a design with two sides produces two sets of files rather than one file with two pages. See manage a product’s sides.
Print preview in the editor’s File menu shows the sheet without any editor chrome on it. It is the quickest way to see what is actually on the page.
What comes out
Production produces two files for each surface: a PDF and a PNG of the same output. Both are raster, made at the target size and resolution rather than as scalable artwork. Print files: PNG and PDF covers which one to hand over and when.
For a self-print product the files stay with you to download. On a provider route, the same output is what production works from.
Common questions
Can I get a vector file?
No. The output is rendered as pixels at the target size and resolution, even inside the PDF.
The print file is larger than my canvas. Why?
It includes the bleed the provider asked for. The trim is what remains after that edge is cut away.
My shopper uploaded a small photo. What happens?
It is rendered at the size the design places it. The DPI rules on the field are what stop a photo that is too small from getting that far.
I fixed the design. Will the file be regenerated correctly?
A re-render uses the order's own revision, so it will produce the same result. A design fix applies to orders placed after it.
Next
Read what is in an order, or go to print files: PNG and PDF for the download side.
Every term used here has a one-line definition in the glossary.