The Print Shop Rejected My File (A Checklist So It Doesn't Happen to You)
Common reasons print files get rejected and how to fix them before you submit.
I ordered 500 business cards. Uploaded the file, paid, waited a week.
Got an email: "Your file doesn't meet our requirements. Please resubmit."
No explanation of what was wrong. Just "doesn't meet requirements." Helpful.
After three rounds of back and forth, I figured out the issue: my image was RGB, and they needed CMYK. A five-second fix that cost me two weeks of delay.
Here's the checklist I use now so this never happens again.
Resolution: The Most Common Rejection
Print requires higher resolution than screens. What looks great on your monitor at 72 DPI will print blurry.
The rule: 300 DPI at the final print size.
If you're printing a poster at 24x36 inches, your image needs to be 7200x10800 pixels. Most phone photos are 4000x3000 — not even close.
Check your image dimensions before submitting. If they're too small, you have three options:
- Use a different (larger) source image
- Redesign at the correct size
- Accept lower quality (not recommended for anything customer-facing)
Color Space: RGB vs CMYK
Screens use RGB (red, green, blue light). Printers use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black ink).
Some colors that look great in RGB simply can't be reproduced in CMYK. Bright neon greens, electric blues, vivid oranges — they'll look duller in print.
This isn't a bug. It's physics. CMYK has a smaller color gamut than RGB.
What to do:
- Convert to CMYK before submitting if the print shop requires it
- Check how your colors translate using a color converter
- Avoid neon/electric colors in designs intended for print
- Ask for a proof before printing the full run
File Format: What Print Shops Actually Want
Every print shop is different, but generally:
- PDF is preferred for most print jobs (preserves fonts, vectors, layout)
- TIFF for photo prints (uncompressed, highest quality)
- PNG is acceptable for simple graphics
- JPEG works but avoid heavy compression
- Never submit WebP or SVG unless the print shop specifically accepts them
Bleed: The Edge That Gets Cut
Print shops cut paper with machines that aren't pixel-perfect. If your design goes right to the edge, you need "bleed" — extra space beyond the trim line that gets cut off.
Standard bleed is 3mm (0.125 inches) on each side.
If your business card is 3.5 x 2 inches, your file should be 3.75 x 2.25 inches with the extra space filled with your background color or pattern.
No bleed = white edges on some cards where the cut was slightly off.
Font Issues
If you're submitting a PDF, either:
- Embed your fonts (most PDF creators do this by default)
- Convert text to outlines/paths (guarantees it looks right everywhere)
If you're submitting an image file, this isn't an issue — text is already rasterized.
My Pre-Submit Checklist
Before uploading anything to a print shop:
- ✅ Resolution at 300 DPI for the print size
- ✅ Color space is CMYK (or at least checked the conversion)
- ✅ File format matches what the shop accepts
- ✅ Bleed included if design reaches the edge
- ✅ Fonts embedded or converted to paths
- ✅ File opened on a different device to verify it looks right
When In Doubt, Call Them
Seriously. Most print shops have someone who will spend two minutes on the phone explaining exactly what they need. It's faster than the rejection-resubmit loop.
Print file rejections are frustrating because they feel arbitrary. But they're almost always one of five things: resolution, color space, format, bleed, or fonts. Check those five before submitting, and you'll save yourself a lot of back-and-forth.