First-Class Support with printplaza
Downloads
On this page you'll find needful information and examples which will help you in creating your printready data.
PDF-Settings
Do you have your own layout ready but you're not sure how to make a printready PDF?
Just take the given profile from this page to configure you're software right and you won't miss a thing.
Color Management
If you're using a color management system, please make use of the following ICC profile.
DownloadHotline
You can reach our support-hotline mondays through fridays between 09:00 and 17:00
+49 (211) 74 90 90 78
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
1. General questions
How does the order process work?
Shopping cart
After selecting your desired product in our convenient product chooser, you see the product details. Here you may choose further options, like a proofs for approval, or the timing of delivery. After confirming these options you will find your product in your shopping cart, where you still may change your desired quantity. With one order you may choose as many products as you wish!
Registration
If you didn't register before, now is the time to register for an account. If you already have an account, you may login now. For registration we need some personal information, as well as a standard invoice and delivery address. You may input and manage additional addresses later. If you wish to have more than one contact person for one customer number, don't forget to click the checkbox at Company / Club / Organisation! For successful registration you will also need to accept our privacy policy.
Order confirmation
You will once again see the details of your order, including the costs, as well as the delivery and invoice address. You may now change these or add additional ones. If this is your first order you now also need to define your pament method. With acceptance of our Terms & Conditions you will now complete the buying process.
Upload
After the order confirmation you may now upload your job files with almost every standard browser in a very convenient way. We use the neweset technology to present you a progress bar for your upload, so even big files do not make any problem. If you send us a PDF our system will instantly make a preflight check of your data and tell you about the printability of your files. The system just makes a suggestion, you may decide on your own if you would like the data to be printed. After you assigned the files to the right job you also have to confirm that your data is complete to let the production start.
Order state
At the menu item Open orders you may now always check the state of your order.
After selecting your desired product in our convenient product chooser, you see the product details. Here you may choose further options, like a proofs for approval, or the timing of delivery. After confirming these options you will find your product in your shopping cart, where you still may change your desired quantity. With one order you may choose as many products as you wish!
Registration
If you didn't register before, now is the time to register for an account. If you already have an account, you may login now. For registration we need some personal information, as well as a standard invoice and delivery address. You may input and manage additional addresses later. If you wish to have more than one contact person for one customer number, don't forget to click the checkbox at Company / Club / Organisation! For successful registration you will also need to accept our privacy policy.
Order confirmation
You will once again see the details of your order, including the costs, as well as the delivery and invoice address. You may now change these or add additional ones. If this is your first order you now also need to define your pament method. With acceptance of our Terms & Conditions you will now complete the buying process.
Upload
After the order confirmation you may now upload your job files with almost every standard browser in a very convenient way. We use the neweset technology to present you a progress bar for your upload, so even big files do not make any problem. If you send us a PDF our system will instantly make a preflight check of your data and tell you about the printability of your files. The system just makes a suggestion, you may decide on your own if you would like the data to be printed. After you assigned the files to the right job you also have to confirm that your data is complete to let the production start.
Order state
At the menu item Open orders you may now always check the state of your order.
What payment options are available?
We offer you the easiest payment method on the web: Payment via Credit Card (VISA or Mastercard). For owners of a german bank account we also offer Direct Debit. Regular customers may also be valid for payment upon invoice. Upon payment via Direct Debit or Credit Card, your account will be charged upon completion of the order process.
How do you deliver the ordered products?
Delivery of your printed goods will be done from our logistic partner UPS. Our system is directly connected to their tracking system, so you will alway check the delivery state of every package under the item Open orders. For bigger shipments (> 200 kg) we have another partner who does the shipping.
How long is the production time?
The time for production is very individual for every product. Small products are fast to produce, bigger ones take more time. When you choose a product we will individually inform about the delivery date. Soon we will also offer express services.
How long does the delivery take?
The delivery time of "UPS Standard"-packages is up to 48 hours. If you wish you may also choose the UPS Express-Service, which guarantees a delivery within 24 hours. Shipments of bigger sizes may take 24 to 72 hours.
How does a Softproof work?
If you send us open files, or you have choosen an extra Screen-Proof, we convert your data in a so-called RIP (= Raster Image Processor) to a uniform PDF file. With this file generated, the file is definitely printable, and does not change anymore. This PDF will lie on our web-server and you get asked per e-mail for approval. With a click on a link in this mail you are directed to our website, where you may online proofread your data (high-res or low-res, depending on your bandwidth). You may then give online some correction wishes or approve the data for printing. If your monitor is calibrated the right way, you even get a color-correct contract proof!
What if I have questions during production?
You may reach our support team everytime via e-mail. Questions get answered shortly, latest in the space of 2 working day
What about customer complaints?
We always try to assure best quality. If you are nevertheless not satisfied with the product we deliver, please tell us as soon as possible in written form. Send us some of your faulty examples (10 pcs. at least) to our postal address, including the following data: Order-number, reason for complain, percentage of faulty quantity, may we get back the whole quantity? Do you wish a rebate or a new production?
Order Cancellations and/or Changes
Should you have any questions concerning your order (e.g. cancellation, changes, etc.), please contact the customer service immediately. All orders are final and cannot be refunded or cancelled after they have been approved for printing by means of the confirmation "Print data complete".
All other requests after placing the order (data not yet approved for printing) are subject to a handling fee of €25. The customer must report any identified defects or changes to printplaza within one workday; we reserve the right to accept or reject the reported defects. In the event of complaints, 100% of the goods received must be returned to printplaza.com within five days of the date on which the order was delivered. If the defect or change request is accepted, printplaza.com will produce the goods anew free of charge (new edition) and deliver with the shipping mode originally ordered by the customer.
All other requests after placing the order (data not yet approved for printing) are subject to a handling fee of €25. The customer must report any identified defects or changes to printplaza within one workday; we reserve the right to accept or reject the reported defects. In the event of complaints, 100% of the goods received must be returned to printplaza.com within five days of the date on which the order was delivered. If the defect or change request is accepted, printplaza.com will produce the goods anew free of charge (new edition) and deliver with the shipping mode originally ordered by the customer.
What do I have to pay attention to if I want to pay by credit card?
You will receive a transaction number with your order confirmation. Keep it safe. You will be debited when the order is registered. www.printplaza.com will be mentioned as a confirmation on your billing statement.
2. Technical questions
Both my pesonal data as well as my print data contains
sensitive information. What do you do for security of the data?
All traffic between you and our server over the internet runs over an encrypted tunnel. On base of the SSL standard all data get encrypted with a 128 bit encryption. This encryption is based on a certifcate, issued from a certificate authority called Thawte. You may verify the authenticity of this certificate by clicking on the seal we show you on the login screen.
Our server are maintained from our professional IT and get patched with the newest software for security. We even had been certified from an independent organisation to get the allowance for saving credit card details.
Which paper formats are available?
| DIN-Formats | in mm | dots at 300 dpi |
|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 x 1189 | 9933 x 14043 |
| A1 | 594 x 841 | 7016 x 9933 |
| A2 | 420 x 594 | 4961 x 7016 |
| A3 | 297 x 420 | 3508 x 4961 |
| A4 | 210 x 297 | 2480 x 3508 |
| A5 | 148 x 210 | 1748 x 2480 |
| A6 | 105 x 148 | 1240 x 1748 |
| DIN-Lang | 210 x 105 | 2480 x 1240 |
| Business-Cards | 85 x 54 | 1004 x 638 |
Which sorts of paper can I choose?
Basically, PrintPlaza allows you to choose the paper on which your product will be printed. In order to help you with this choice, here is a short description of the types and weights we propose.
Offset paper
Generally speaking, this paper is used as letter paper and writing paper. Its surface is slightly coarse. As it absorbs ink and dries quickly, it is a perfect paper for daily use in the office. PrintPlaza proposes offset papers with a density of 80, 90 and 120 g/m2.
Coated art paper
Coated art paper is normally used for brochures and other top quality printed products. It owes its name to its capacity to perfectly reproduce the quality and colours of images. Its surface is kaolin coated and offers a glossy or mat finish which improves its optical and haptic qualities. We offer you weights of 115, 150, 200 and 300 g/m2. Thanks to their resilience, the heavier densities are perfect to print brochure covers and similar products.
Cardboard
Cardboard is used for everything that needs to be stable and strong. For example, business cards of postcards may not bend when taken. Our cardboard types have weights of 246, 280, 300 and 308 g/m2, which give printed products the stability they need.
Offset paper
Generally speaking, this paper is used as letter paper and writing paper. Its surface is slightly coarse. As it absorbs ink and dries quickly, it is a perfect paper for daily use in the office. PrintPlaza proposes offset papers with a density of 80, 90 and 120 g/m2.
Coated art paper
Coated art paper is normally used for brochures and other top quality printed products. It owes its name to its capacity to perfectly reproduce the quality and colours of images. Its surface is kaolin coated and offers a glossy or mat finish which improves its optical and haptic qualities. We offer you weights of 115, 150, 200 and 300 g/m2. Thanks to their resilience, the heavier densities are perfect to print brochure covers and similar products.
Cardboard
Cardboard is used for everything that needs to be stable and strong. For example, business cards of postcards may not bend when taken. Our cardboard types have weights of 246, 280, 300 and 308 g/m2, which give printed products the stability they need.
What is CMYK?
CMYK stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). In offset printing, these four colours are used to print colour images. Please make sure that your files and images are based on this colour space. Due to the required conversion, the print result of data created in the RGB colour mode may differ from the screen display.
What means 4/4-colored?
4/4 colored means that both sides of a paper are printed with 4 colors. For example a poster, which will only printed on the front side, while the back will be left white, will be 4/0-colored.
3. Printready files
What data formats do you accept?
Our favortite and also the less expensive data format is the PDF. You may deliver open files, the extra chrarge depends on the quality of data. Professional formatted files (for example Adobe InDesign, QuarkXpress, Photoshop, Corel Draw etc.) are cheaper than data of not-grphic-professional applications (for example Word, Powerpoint etc.). Standard color space should be CMYK.
Which resolution do pictures need?
The resolution of your pictues should be at least 150 dpi at printed size. A lower resolution may result in artefacts and ill deliver poor print quality. For an optimum quality the resolution should be 300 dpi.
What is bleed and why is it necessary?
If you create job files, your pages should be 3mm bigger on every edge. If you wish to have a final size of 210 x 297 mm, the size of your image should be 216x303 mm. All images that touch the final paper edge, should be extended 3 mm further to the bleed. If you take care of this, you will never have white spots at the edge of the paper.
Which applications should I use for designing print jobs?
Printplaza recommends for designing job files the applications Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. For creating print-ready PDF files out of this programs in just a few click, please have a look at our download page.
Which details are verified by the online preflight check and
which are not?
Printplaza automatically carries out an online pre-flight check of your data in order to make sure there will be no problem during the further processing of these data.
Criteria that might lead to a warning or even an error message are:
* Has your PDF file been damaged?
* Are your data accessible or locked?
* Do all pages have the same format and orientation?
* Do all images have a resolution of 150 dpi or more (line drawings require 600 dpi)?
* Do your images use OPI?
* Is your document in CMYK colour mode or does it include other RGB objects?
* Are there supporting colours in your document?
* Are all fonts embedded?
However, the online preflight check of your data does NOT check whether there are blank pages in your document or whether your transparency / overprint adjustments are correctly set up.
* Has your PDF file been damaged?
* Are your data accessible or locked?
* Do all pages have the same format and orientation?
* Do all images have a resolution of 150 dpi or more (line drawings require 600 dpi)?
* Do your images use OPI?
* Is your document in CMYK colour mode or does it include other RGB objects?
* Are there supporting colours in your document?
* Are all fonts embedded?
However, the online preflight check of your data does NOT check whether there are blank pages in your document or whether your transparency / overprint adjustments are correctly set up.
4. Finishing
What does folding mean?
Folding is the machined folding of paper. To see the specified folding for a product, please have a look to the data-sheet we serve you while ordering.
What does perforation mean?
Perforation means that paper will be cutted at a specific position on one line, but only in periodic steps. After this you may later detach a part of this paper.
What does saddle stitching mean?
The stitching of brochures is the connection of singe pages to a booklet. For this connection we use a wire, similar to the well known staple. Famous exmaples for saddle stitched brochure are TV-papers or thinner catalogs. Saddle stitching is possible for brochures, depending on the paper weight , up to 80 pages. For thicker products we recommend the adhesive binding.
What does perfect binding mean?
When the adhesive binding is used, the printed sheets will be glued to a brochure. For the glue to adhere we use a molding cutter at the spine. After this the cover will be attached on the fresh film of glue. For a perfect binding a bleed of 5 mm is ideal.
What does die cutting mean?
The procedure of die cutting is used to give papers a very individual, not right-angled shape. While cutting normally is alway a straight line, with a die cut it is possible to make special shapes.
What does Wire-O binding mean?
The Wire-O binding consists of numerous loops, which are fomed of out of an endless wire. The ring-fomed loops grab in holes in the paper and will be pressed together. The well-known example for Wire-O bindings are so-called College-Pads or table calenders.
What does cellophaning mean?
Cellophaning is a special finishing for printed products. The surface of the paper will be covered 1- or 2-sided with a very thin transparent foil. You will get a very good protection against wetness or dirt. Cellophaning is available in matt or glossy.
What does UV-Varnish mean?
UV-Varnish is used to make glossy effects for Cover or Postcards. Seperate parts or whole pages could very preciseley be covered with UV-Varnish. The varnish will temper under UV-light, so it will be instantly dry. You will not only have a very good protection, your product will also leave a very high-qulity impression.
