Create your files in InDesign

In the Professional Zone you can download InDesign templates for various photo products of your choice. The templates are based on the exact dimensions of the photo product and contain a number of guidelines, which are explained below using a template for a Photo Book.

Cover

1.  This is the raw format of the pages including bleed. The area between 1 and 2 is the bleed and will not be visible in the final product.
2. Limits the design area and is the final format.
3. No important image parts or text should be placed outside this line.
4. This is the fold area of the cover.
5. It is the spine of the book.

Special covers

Please note that due to material limitations, special covers only allow text and clipart, not image files. The only exceptions are white leatherette and acrylic or brushed metal print covers for Professional Line photo books. If you choose a special cover such as Natural Linen, it must be designed using our online designer. PDF uploads are not supported for Special Covers. This is to ensure optimal reproduction on the final product.

Inner pages

1. This is the raw format of the inner pages including bleed. The area between 1 and 2 is the bleed and will not be visible in the final product.
2. Limits the design area and is the final format.
3.  No important image parts or text should be placed outside this line.

Please pay attention to the following details:

• Colour space: Always use sRGB for your data.
• Minimum distance: Do not place the elements directly against the bleed line. In other words, please cover the whole page or leave a gap of about 1 cm from the bleed line. Otherwise, you might get edge halos or cut off important elements from your image.
• Fonts: Please note that all fonts must always be embedded in the PDF file; alternatively you can also convert them into paths.
• Minimum font sizes: please note that font sizes differs among typefaces. Sans-serif fonts, regular or bold, should be at least 8 pt (measurement using the Arial font), while Serif fonts should be at least 10 pt (measurement using Times New Roman).
• Light fonts: If the weight of a font is Light, the size should be at least 12 pt. If light text is against a dark background, the font size should be at least 14 pt.
• Stroke width: The stroke width of lines should not go below 1 pt.
• Bleed: The value of bleed and joint space is always applied to one page and should therefore be taken into consideration for every page in a Calendar as well as in Photo Books (e.g. value x 2 for left and right).
• Before placing the order, please double-check all the pages carefully. If there are any problems, please contact our support team. You can examine all the details in full screen. We are not responsible for any mistakes in the product if they were visible to you in the preview.
• PDF export: Please do not use register or crop marks
• PDF files must be optimised in Adobe Acrobat Pro
• You can upload your PDF or JPG files at the Online Shop.

Photo book:

• The specified number of pages does not include the cover.
• For the entire Photo Book cover (front and back) only one PDF file is needed.
• The inside of the front and back cover will also be printed. If you want it to be white, please leave the first page of the first spread and the last page of the last spread empty. (The Photo Book starts immediately with the first spread.)

PDF Export

When using the PDF Export function (recommended when using InDesign and QuarkXPress), we suggest using High-quality printing when exporting, or use our Adobe PDF Saal Digital preset. In Output please change the target colour space to RGB Colour Space — sRGB IEC61966-2.1 (see screenshot below). If you use the Double Pages function (for photo books) with a layout program such as QuarkXPress or InDesign, please ensure that you have selected the Print Sheets (QuarkXPress = Mounting Surfaces) checkbox. It is important that we receive every double page as a page in the PDF.

Please note that the Use interface settings of the document checkbox is activated when you use our templates (see screenshot below).

You do not have to combine the PDFs (Double page cover and inside pages) but you can also upload 2 PDFs.

Please always optimise your PDF prior to uploading to reduce the amount of data and to convert any masks, transparencies and metadata that may cause problems during import.

Trimming (for PDF Export): In the PDF export field under Marks and Bleeds please use the Use interface settings of the document, checkbox if you have previously defined the trimming in the document.

Adobe PDF Presets: In order to avoid problems with the production of printable data, we also offer you a PDF export our Saal Digital job options for download free of charge. You can use these for all InDesign versions. Please download the job options here and install them on your computer.

To load the job options in InDesign or Photoshop click File and under Adobe PDF Presets, select Define. Then click Load and select the Saal Digital.joboptions from the saved location on your computer.

You can now select the Saal Digital profile under Adobe PDF Presets and then export your PDF.