Help and Support Topics

It’s frustrating when your prints don’t match your monitor but there are a few factors in play when comparing paper to digital screens. This YouTube video from Todd Dominey explains the limitations of print and the steps you can take to get a result that does your photography justice. Learn more from Todd Dominey: Key… Read More »Why prints seem darker than the image on screen

Photoshop is an excellent image editing software that allows photographers and artists to produce stunning, print-ready images. As with other software, we encourage Photoshop users to provide a .pdf file when sending files to print but the size of these files can quickly become unmanageable if the correct export settings are not used. Why is… Read More »Managing file size when exporting from Photoshop

Colour replication is achieved differently in print and on screen but both rely on combining dots of only a few different colours at varying intensity to create the illusion of a broad spectrum of hues and shades. This range of colours is known to the print industry as a ‘gamut’ – and it differs between… Read More »Why CMYK prints look different compared to RGB images on screen

The Edinburgh Copyshop is a VAT registered business, so we need to collect tax on certain items from our pricelist but the rules on printed matter are complex and some items can sit on the fine line between definitions for a standard-rated item and a zero-rated item. This means we will often need to assess… Read More »How VAT applies to printed items

Microsoft Office an almost ubiquitous suite of software for handling the most common tasks by employees in a traditional office. It offers well known word-processing, spreadsheet management, presentation and desktop publishing solutions that have been around in some form for over 30 years. Files made with office are easy to share, easy to edit and… Read More »Exporting .pdf files from Microsoft software

What is a spread? A spread is the name for what you see when you look at an open book or publication – two pages side by side that can have text and images across the central joining between the 2 individual pages. What are pdf reading spreads Reading spreads are an on-screen representation of… Read More »About .pdf reading spreads and individual pages

Pantone is revered by some designers as the gold-standard in colour. Beautifully coffee mugs and hefty swatch books promise perfect accuracy to those who set up their files with spot colours and shun the crowded waters of CMYK or even RGB in the hope of ensuring exactly the same tone every time they print. And… Read More »How do Pantone and CMYK differ

Why do margins matter so much more in print than on the screen when it seems intuitive to place content anywhere on a design using digital software? The realities of manufacturing means you could be setting yourself up a print disaster if you push text or design elements out to the sides. Margins have been… Read More »Why margins are important

What is bleed? Bleed is a word designers and artists will hear frequently when submitting a job for print. While there is an old cliché about putting sweat, tears, and blood into your work – this print-production term has a much more technical explanation. So lets cut to the point. Most artwork comes to the… Read More »What is bleed and how to add it to your files