Most files are checked without you asking: every new approval version is preflighted when it is saved, and every PDF that arrives in Files is checked on arrival. You can also check any PDF yourself, from the Preflight page or from the 1-up editor, and run a report again after a change.
On upload#
When a new version of an approval artwork is saved, preflight queues a report for it straight away with your team's default profile (or, without one, Offset commercial). This covers uploads in Approvals and versions saved by a fix. A PDF uploaded on the Preflight page is checked with the profile chosen in the dialog, and a version saved by a fix with the profile of the report that was fixed, not the team default.
In the Approvals artwork list, the Preflight column shows the latest report of each artwork's latest version as a badge:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Not checked | No report yet. |
| Checking… | The report is queued or running. The badge updates by itself. |
| Preflight passed | No errors or warnings. |
| 3 warnings | Warnings, no errors. |
| 2 errors | At least one error. |
| Preflight failed to run | The file could not be checked. |
Click the badge to open the report. See also the Approvals dashboard.
When a PDF arrives in Files#
With Preflight PDFs when they arrive on in the Automation tab of Files settings (it is on for a new team), each new version of a PDF in Files is checked with your team's default profile (or, without one, Offset commercial), whether it came from a drop, an upload, the Files API or a copy. The file's card and row in Files show Checking… while the report runs and then the result, its side panel has Open report, and its Activity tab lists the report as Preflighted. A file that has not been checked shows Not checked; check it with Preflight in its side panel or right-click menu (see Files). A version is not checked automatically when:
- it arrived in a drop or API batch of more than 200 files, including files Files matched to content it already had instead of uploading them again (check the ones you need with From Files, below);
- it is not a PDF, or it is larger than 250 MB;
- a newer version of the file arrived before its check was queued;
- it already has a report, for example because you dropped it on the Preflight page or it was saved by a fix: that report counts, and no second one is made;
- it was uploaded in Approvals or to an imposition job: those apps check their own copy (an Approvals round that is the Files version's own bytes also shows its result in Files).
Automatic checks are reports like any other: they are listed on the Preflight page and count toward the artworks processed on your plan.
When you then send that version for approval (Send for proof in Files, Choose from Files in Approvals, or Send v3 for approval), the new proof round uses the version's report instead of checking the same file again, as long as the report used the profile the round would get (your team default) and didn't fail to run. The report then belongs to both: it is listed once, under the file's name, and counts once.
The Run preflight dialog#
On the Preflight page, Run preflight opens a dialog with three ways to choose the file:
- Upload a PDF: choose a PDF, or drop one on the dialog. It is saved in Files, in the Preflight folder, named after the file ("Spring flyer (2).pdf" when that name is taken), so a fix can save its result as version 2 of the file. PDF files only, up to 200 MB.
- Approval version: pick a version of an artwork you already have. The list shows the most recent versions, newest first; type in Search artwork to narrow it. Double-click a version to run at once.
- From Files: Choose from Files opens the Files picker; pick a PDF and its current version is checked.
Then choose the Profile: Team default (or a preset suited to the artwork), one of your team profiles, or one of the five presets. Press Run preflight and the report page opens. It shows "Checking the file…" and fills in by itself when the report is ready.
Drop a PDF on the page#
Drag a PDF from your desktop anywhere onto the Preflight page. The page shows "Drop a PDF to preflight it"; let go and the Run preflight dialog opens with the file chosen, so you only pick the profile and press Run preflight.
In the 1-up editor#
The editor's Preflight tab checks the imposition artwork's file in use (the print-ready file once there is one) with your team's default profile, or a preset suited to the artwork. Run preflight starts it, and Full report opens the report page. Findings are listed in the tab; click one to zoom to it on the canvas.
Once an artwork has a report, changing the file in use (adding bleed or trapping, or reverting) queues a new report with the same profile. Until it is ready, the tab says the report checked an earlier version of the file and the chip in the editor header reads Preflight out of date. See The Preflight tab.
Run again#
Run again at the top of a report checks the same file again (the same approval version, the same version of a file in Files, or the imposition artwork's file in use now) with the same profile or preset. Use it after you change the profile, or when a report ended with an error such as a timeout. If nothing changed, the new report is filled from the earlier result without running the checks again (see results are reused).
Starting the same check twice while the first is still waiting to start gives you the waiting report instead of a second one.
A report of a file in Files has Open in Files, which shows the file in its folder. When a newer version of the file is in Files, Check v3 (with the newer version's number) checks that version with the same profile. If that version was checked already, automatically or by someone else, the button is Open v3 report instead, so it is never checked twice. A report of an approval version shows Open v3 report only: a newer version of its file becomes a new proof round from Approvals (see Proofs and Files).
Recent reports#
The Preflight page lists the 50 most recent reports of your team, newest first, with their result, the artwork or file, profile, errors and warnings, and when they were started. A file in Files shows its folder under its name, for example "Customers / C-102". Filter them by result:
| Filter | Shows |
|---|---|
| All | Every report. |
| Failed | Reports with errors. |
| Warnings | Reports with warnings but no errors. |
| Passed | Reports with no errors or warnings. |
| Running | Reports still being checked. |
| Couldn't run | Reports that could not check their file. |
Preflight failures on the team home opens the Failed list with only the latest report of each artwork, file and imposition artwork: the newest report of an approval artwork's latest checked version, of a file's latest checked version in Files, and of each imposition artwork. So a file checked again (Run again, or a change in the 1-up editor) no longer shows once its new report passes, and neither does an older version once a newer version (a fix, or a new upload) has a report. Show every report brings back the full list.
Timing and limits#
Reports run in the background. A report waiting more than an hour for the background worker, or running for more than 15 minutes, ends with an error saying so: run it again. You can start up to 30 preflights a minute. See Preflight limits for the page and size limits.