How to Prepare Your Cards for Press Using Scribus

This tutorial will offer you some advice on how to use Scribus
to create your content and prepare print-ready PDF files for
DriveThruCards. It will address how to set up one digital file so
that both sides of the card are printed in full color.
The screenshots shown in the tutorial use Scribus 1.4.1 and
1.4.4 for Mac and Adobe Acrobat Professional X. If you are using
a different version of the software some of the instructions and
screenshots may be slightly different, but hopefully you can find
the right feature in your software version.
This Tutorial is Divided into Sections:
1. What is Scribus?
2. What do I need to get started?
3. How to start a new document with Scribus
(the template explained)
4. What you need to know before you begin
(more about recommended file specifications)

What is Scribus? 5. Creating Master Pages with Scribus

Scribus is an Open Source program that brings professional page 6. Adding Additional Pages with Scribus
layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStations and
7. Adding Text with Scribus
Windows desktops.
8. Formatting Text
It is available for free at www.scribus.net.
9. Adding Art
10. Color Management
11. Preflight Verification
12. Exporting your Scribus file as print-ready PDF
13. PDF/X-1a Compliance with Adobe Acrobat Pro
14. What Do I Do Next?
15. Tips and Things to Remember
16. I Need More Help!

1 revised 4.07.2016
 What do I need to get started?
Although you have now downloaded and installed Scribus, there are You will have to click through and declare that you are an end-
a few more steps you will want to take before you being working. user, and then accept a Trademark Policy before you reach the
download page. Once there, Adobe supplies you with a list of
First, you will need to download and install GhostScript, which included profiles in the ZIP package and detailed instructions
Scribus needs in order to work properly. Current GhostScript about where to put these files after youve received them.
releases of execution files and zipped tarballs can be downloaded
for free from Ghostscript.com. Alternately, an older release of Below are the lists of profiles you will receive from Adobe. Note
GhostScript can be downloaded for free from SourceForge.net, a that US Web Coated (SWOP) v2 will be the color profile you will
repository for open-source software development and projects. use to export your final press-ready PDF.
Although Scribus does come with some basic color profiles that For more information about Scribus and ICC profiles, visit:
are useful for PDF exporting, you will need to download and install http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/Getting_and_installing_ICC_profiles
professional printing color profiles, or ICC profiles, which are
available for free from Adobe. These profiles are common standards
in the graphics industry and will ensure that the color information in
your press-ready PDF is consistent with standards the printer uses.
The direct URL to download these ICC profiles is:
www.adobe.com/downloads/other-downloads.html
Under ICC profiles, choose <Windows> or <Macintosh>.

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 How to start a new document with Scribus
This is the beginning of the step-by-step process for creating a new document for your cards
Please note: For your convenience, we have created templates
of our available card sizes to make your work easier. You can find
these downloadable templates on the Preparing Your Cards page
of the Publisher Knowledege Base, under Title Management/
Card Printing. bleed area
This is required. If your art does not
Starting your new file from a template The bleed must bleed, include a white
Now you are ready to begin! First, open Scribus. Then, in the measure (0.125) or black area that will
File pull-down menu, navigate to where you have saved your past the trim line on extend to this edge.
downloaded template file. Open it. all four sides.
Do not set a die-cut for
Click the Windows pull-down and open the Properties window. Including the bleed, round corners in the
your final size should layout.
Lets take a look at this template. What are all these lines? measure 2 by 3
(2.75 by 3.75). The final PDF file must
The pink area is the safety area for your text, logos and any not have crop marks.
important images. If any of these elements run outside of this
area, they risk being trimmed off when the cards are cut after
printing. trim line
The white area edged by the dotted black line is called the trim The trim area should Every thing outside the
line. This is where the paper will be cut or trimmed off after the measure 2 by 3 dotted line will be cut off.
cards are printed. (2.5 by 3.5).
The blue space is the bleed area. Background images or color
must extend to this line in the file, which you can see is outside
of the paper trim line. This ensures that there is no unprinted
safe area
white margin around the edges of your finished cards. The safe area should All text, important
measure (0.125) images, and logos
inside the trim line should remain inside
on all four sides. this pink area.
The total safe area
measures 2 by 3
(2.25 by 3.25).

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 What you need to know before you begin
More about the recommended specifications
The order of your document pages for correct front-to-back printing
Please create one file for your entire deck of cards. The order of the cards in the final PDF will be the
order of the finished cards in their packages.
To set up your file, you must order the pages with one card back and then one card front for each
card in the deck. See the screenshot to the right for a sample view of what your multi-page document
should begin to look like. page 1
In this screenshot, the document layout has been set to double-sided in Scribus. This will make it
very easy to design and apply master pages for the correct card front and back pages, which we will
cover next in this tutorial.
Cards do not need to have a common border color between their fronts and backs.

Your image files need to be high resolution

The images you will be using for your cards, regardless of front or back placement, need to be high page 2 page 3
resolution, which is at least 300 dpi. The physical size of the image at 300 dpi needs to be at least
the same size as the printed card or larger.
For example, if your background image is 300 dpi with a physical size of 3 by 4, you are good to go
since that is larger than the card. If your background image is 300 dpi but measures 1 (1.5) by 2,
then you have a problem. To scale up this image to meet the size of the actual printed card, your image
will be degraded because the physical size of the image is not large enough.

page 4 page 5

72 dpi 150 dpi 300 dpi page 6 page 7

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 Creating Master Pages with Scribus
Master Pages allow you to place borders, text and other information
just once in the file. Then those elements will appear on all of the
pages you select, in the exact same spot. Its very useful for recurring
items, like repeating card backs.
First, go to the Insert menu and select Insert Image Frame.
Then click and drag to place a frame for your master page image. You
can set the frame size in the Properties window using the X,Y,Z tool,
or you can manually resize it by clicking and dragging the blocks or
handles on the Image Frame box. The Properties window will be used
often, so you may want to leave it open while you work in your file.

handles

Heres a tip!
If you sel
select Snap to Guides
from the Page menu before you
resize your Image Frame, the
box should automatically align
(or snap) right to the guides
already set up in the template
for the safe area, trim, or bleed.

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 Creating Master Pages (continued)
Double-click on the box, then select the graphic to import.
Use the Image tool in the Properties window to size the image
to the box simply by clicking the Scale to Fit Frame Size button.
Make sure to tick the check box for Proportional to ensure the
graphic is not stretched.
Once you have the page set the way you would like, go to the
Page pull-down menu and select Convert to Master. Name the
master page, then save it.
You can save as either a left- or right-hand page: right could be
the back of the card, left could be the front.

If you cant select items on the page with your cursor, check to make sure that your
document layers are not locked. To do this, pull down the Windows menu and select
Layers. The Layers palette will open. If the box under the lock icon is checked,
uncheck it. The items you are trying to select should be available to you now.

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 Creating Master Pages (continued)
To apply the new master page to the document, go to the Page
pull-down menu, then select Apply Master Page. Select the master
you just made and the correct pages to apply it to.
You can select all pages, only odd or only even pages, or just a
specific page range in the document.
You can also click on the page(s) you wish to convert while holding
down the Shift key, pulling down the Page menu, and selecting
Apply Master Page. All the pages you chose should autoformat.
If you zoom out to view multiple pages of the document, it would
look something like this:

Heres a tip!
You may want to turn on the
Rulers Relative to Page option
in the View pull-down menu. It
automatically sets the rulers zero
point to the upper left-hand corner
of each page as you work.

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 Adding Text with Scribus
First, add your text frame to the page. Pull down the Insert
menu and select Insert Text Frame. Your cursor will change
from an arrow to crosshairs with a text icon. Click and hold
down your mouse, then drag the crosshairs across the page to
draw your text frame.
To place text, open the file with your text content, select the text
you want to place, and copy it. Go back to your Scribus file and
click on the first page inside the text area, right-click on it and then
choose Paste to import and place all the text you selected. It will
not be formatted but it will all be there.

Heres a tip!
If the same text appears
throughout the entire
document in the same place,
you can also make that as
part of a Master Page.

What does that mean?

If you paste more text than the text
frame can hold, a little crossed red
box will appear in the lower right
corner to alert you.

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 Adding Additional Pages with Scribus
To add additional pages to your document, pull down the Page
menu and select Insert. You will be able to dictate the number
of pages to add, where in the document to add them, and even
which Master Pages to apply.
Do not change the Page Size information in the next dialog box.
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The Move Objects with their Page option ensures that objects stay
on their assigned pages when those pages change position in the
document. Although turned on here, it may not be desirable at all
times. When active, if you add an odd number of pages in the middle
of the document, your left-hand card back pages will become right-
hand pages but will retain the card back master images.
 Formatting Text with Scribus
Expand the Text menu in the Properties Window. Right-click to select
all of the text on your page, then set the basic font and size for the
body text. Justify text by selecting it all and clicking the Left Justify
Text box in the menu. Explore the Text menu. It has many options for
formatting text: color, effects, tracking, kerning, and line spacing.
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Once you have the body text adjusted, you can go through and set
the headers by selecting them and setting their attributes, just as
you did with the body text. If you have a lot of text to format you
may want to set global body and header styles. To do this, click
the Edit pull-down menu and select Styles.
 Formatting Text (continued)
In the windows that open you can set the headers (Character Things to avoid as you style text in your document:
Styles) and the body text (Paragraph Styles). Once you have
set your styles, select the text to convert, then choose the new Widows: One single word or line at the bottom of a column of text
style. It will now appear under the Style Settings in the Text tool. Orphans: One single word or line at the top of a column of text
Formatting text Paragraph and Character styles can save you a Hyphens between columns of text
lot of time in the long run.

Remember!
The body text will be small, so use a font that is
easy to read and without many flourishes. Industry
standard size is 10 to 12 points for type size, and
12 to 14 points for leading (or line spacing). Leading
is usually 2 points more than the type size.

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 Adding Art with Scribus
To add art or graphics, first add an Image Frame by clicking the
Insert menu and choosing Insert Image Frame. A tab will attach
to the cursor. Click and drag it across the page to make a box
to place the art in. You can also size the box in the Properties
window using the X, Y, Z, tool.
Before you begin to move the text out of the way, next make sure
the Text Frame is not locked. You can simply double-click the text
and make sure the Is Locked option is not checked. You can also
find it under the Item drop-down menu. Dont forget to resize the
Text Frame out of the way, using the Arrow or Select Item tool from
the horizontal toolbar above your document window.

8-bit color? Yes, please!

Scribus currently only supports color images of the
8-bit variety (not 16- or 32-bit color). Importing 16- or
32-bit color images will result in some strange behavior,
like color shifting or disproportionate images. If youre
having mysterious image issues, check your bit depth! toolbar

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 Adding Art (continued)
Double-click on the Image Frame and then find the image to place.
Your selected graphic will be placed in the Image Frame box at its
full size, which is 100%. It may need to be resized or scaled using
the Image tab in the Properties window. With the image selected,
you can look at the Image tab and see all of the size and scale
information for that picture.
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By simply clicking the Scale to Frame Size button, the graphic will
fill the frame. If the Proportional option is selected, the graphic will
scale in proportion and not stretch. If the graphic is larger in width
or height than can proportionally fit in the frame, it will fit to the
smaller measure. The Scale command can also be found under
the Item drop-down menu; its called Adjust Image to Frame.
 Color Management in Scribus
With your document open, find and open your Scribus application
Preferences. There will be many preferences you can set, such as
non-printing guide appearances and document hyphenation. Scroll
down to and click open the Color Management options. Click to
activate color management in the document. Make sure that the
color profiles for CMYK images, CMYK Solid Colors, and Printer
are all set to U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2.
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Then click to activate Simulate Printer on Screen, and click to
activate Mark Colors out of Gamut. Finally, click the OK button at
the bottom to save and apply your changes. Going forward, a
neon green color will appear on your document pages showing
you where any colors appear that are over the ink management
limit relevant to the color profiles youve assigned in this menu list.
Heres a tip!
This icon appears in the lower right-hand corner:
Click it! This turns your color management view on
and off without opening your Preferences again.
 Preflight Verification in Scribus
Once again, open your Scribus Preferences. Scroll down to and
select Preflight Verifier options. Make sure to check all of the
top boxes above the image resolution settings. For the lowest
and highest allowed image resolutions, set the lowest at 220
dpi and the highest at 2400 dpi. 220 dpi is the lowest possible
number for color images while 2400 dpi is the highest image
resolution for black and white bitmapped images. (Continuous
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grayscale images fall into the 220 dpi preference for color
images.) If you plan to insert PDF images into your document,
uncheck and deactivate the Check for placed PDF files option.
Do check and activate Check for GIF images. (For print, the
preferred linked or embedded image file formats you should be
using are TIF and EPS file formats.)
Verify!
Now you can open the Preflight Verifier pane from the Windows
menu and run a preflight report. In this pane, you can check your
entire document for potential errors based on your previously set
preferences, like checks for overflowing page text, missing pages,
or placed GIF files. It will give you a list of all pages and all images
and if they pass or fail the preflight verification. This gives you a
chance to fix a lot of mistakes before the file is sent to the printer.
 Exporting Your Scribus File as a Print-Ready Color PDF
The preferred PDF profile is currently PDF/X-1a:2003, but the
older PDF/X-1a:2001 standard is also acceptable.
When your card deck is complete and set up as you would like it,
you are now ready to export your file as a print-ready PDF. Choose
the File pull-down menu, then Export, then Save as PDF.

The Preflight Verifier window will open. Choose the current profile
as PDF 1.4 or 1.3 from the profile menu, depending on which PDF
profile you intend to use.
PDF 1.4 is used for PDF/X-1a:2003
PDF 1.3 is used for PDF/X-1a:2001

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 Exporting as a Print-Ready Color PDF (continued)
Now set the following specifications in the next series of four windows, then click Save when they are complete:

General Tab Fonts Tab

Make sure All Pages are selected in the Export Range. Check Make sure to embed all fonts. Click the Embed All button.
the box next to Maximum Image Resolution. Make sure the
Maximum Image Resolution is set to 2400 dpi. Dont forget to set
compatability to PDF/X-1a!

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 Exporting as a Print-Ready Color PDF (continued)
Color Tab
Make sure the Intended Output is set to Printer.
Check the box next to Convert Spot Colors to Process Colors.
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Pre-Press Tab
Check the Use Document Bleeds box.
The printer does not accept PDFs with any printer marks, so
leave those options unchecked.
Set the PDF/X Output Intent profile to US Web Coated (SWOP) v2.
(This may only be available to you if you have installed ICC profiles
from Adobe, as recommended on page 2 of this tutorial.)
 PDF/X-1a Compliance with Adobe Acrobat Pro
After exporting your PDF from Scribus, you can open it in Acrobat Pro to confirm PDF/X-1a compliance as well as run fix-ups to make the
PDF compliant to that profile. Expand the Tools Pane from the top left corner to expose the different tool options. Expand the Print Production
Tools at the very bottom of the tools list. Click to open the Preflight dialog box. There will be many options for fix-ups to run. Expand the PDF/X
Compliance options and choose Convert to PDF/X-1a (SWOP), then click the Analyze and Fix button. The dialog box will run a report of fixes
and changes made to the document. When the fix-up is complete, a green check mark will appear if the fix-ups are successful. If the fix-ups
have failed, an X mark will appear. In either case, you can check the report for details about errors and warnings.

Note: If you are using an older version

of Acrobat Pro, you can find Preflight
under Print Production in the Advanced
pull-down menu at the top of your
screen. If you cant find it, try searching
for the location using Preflight as a key
word in the Acrobat Help Menu.

Check for compliance!

After youve run preflight fix-ups, its best to verify the
documents compliance. To do this, click on the PDF
document icon in the left-hand sidebar. It will expand
a pane detailing conformance standards and output
intent. Confirm that the standard is PDF/X-1a and
that the output intent is SWOP v2. Click the Verify
Conformance link. This will run a quick check on the
file and tells you if the file passes or fails compliance.

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 What Do I Do Next?
Once you have your finished the print-ready PDF of your entire
card deck, its time to upload them!
Log in to your DriveThruCards account and go to your Publisher
Hub on the Publish page. If you have not already set up a title
record, go to TITLE MANAGEMENT/Set up a new title to do so.
If you have already set up your title, you can proceed to CARD
PRINTING. Use the Upload and manage printed card files tool.
This tool will walk you through the process of uploading your print
PDF file and ordering a physical proof of your cards.
If you have any questions or need more information about
how to proceed with filling out this form, you may also find it
helpful to follow our Card Walkthrough located in the Publisher
Knowledge Base.

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 Tips and Things to Remember I Need More Help!
About Specifications I have questions that arent covered here...
All images should be 300 dpi/ppi resolution. The physical size of
the image should at least be the size as it appears on the card. To contact Publisher Services, please email brian@onebookshelf.com.
All images should be grayscale or CMYK. Do not use RGB Brian will do his best to help you and answer any questions you
or Lab colors. The colors may shift unpredictably during the have that are not covered in this tutorial. Your questions will help us
export to print-ready PDF process. improve this tutorial, so it answers more questions for everyone!
Preferred image formats are TIFF or EPS files. Refrain from using If you have decided that you dont care to do your own file layout, you
JPG or PNG files, which are more suitable for web publishing. can find people with professional skills and contract them to create
your print files. The cost of this work depends on how much of the
Header fonts shouldnt be ridiculously large. The optimal range
work you do yourself before handing it over. You can find freelance
is 24 pts to 14 pts. Body Fonts should be 10 pts to 12 pts. Line
layout professionals at sites like www.upwork.com.
spacing or leading is usually 2 points more than the font size.
We can also recommend someone for layout if you would like.
In making your text fit into small spaces, avoid Tracking your text
Please contact Publisher Services for details.
more or less than 20%. It will look too squished or too loose.
Avoid widows and orphans: leaving a single word at the end of a
paragraph or a single line at the top or bottom of a column of text.
Black text should be made with a 100% black swatch, with total
CMYK values of 0% Cyan (C), 0% Magenta (M), 0% Yellow (Y),
and 100% Black (K).
Black elements should not be built in Registration black or with
the 100% black swatch used for text. They should be built out of
Rich black. For best results, we recommend the CMYK values
of 60% Cyan (C), 40% Magenta (M), 40% Yellow (Y), and 100%
Black (K). CMYK total value should NOT exceed 240%.
Text should be at least 0.125 from the trim edge.
Embed all fonts used in the document (all font families used,
including all screen and printer fonts).
Do not add information or printer marks such as crop marks,
web-press comments, etc.

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