Hello,
I there the possibility to export a cPDF (certified PDF) in Dorico for professional printing? If not, what do you advise as a workaround to export a cPDF? I did ask some printing companies for the cost of printing the book about piano technique and how to deliver my files? They told they wish to receive a cPDF for printing. I normal PDF has quality lost.
I’m not familiar with this particular variant of PDF. It’s not uncommon for printing houses to ask for one of the PDF subsets like PDF/X, which is designed to eliminate any potential problems with graphics in print publishing, and you can create PDF/X files with professional software like Adobe Acrobat. However, I don’t know anything about cPDF, so all I can tell you is that you cannot export it directly from Dorico, and you will need to ask your printing company for more information about how to create files in the appropriate format.
I note, however, that in practice you should find that you have no problems at all using one of the PDFs produced directly by Dorico for your publishing workflows.
As long as you use Dorico’s own Graphics Export, in the right panel of Print mode, everything that can be vectorised will be vectorised (ensuring no loss of quality).
If you use the MacOS print dialog you run the risk that objects may be rasterised.
Thanks for your reply. I checked out more about it: indeed a certified PDF is created from a PDF/X and can be done by graphic design programs. I don’t really completely understand the difference between the two? But from what I understand is that the c stands for certified and this is a stamp containing all the information about CMYK color specifications and measures etc.
So the best practice to get a lossless PDF from Dorico is to bring a graphics export from Dorico into a graphic design program and then export PDF/X? Do I understand that right?
Yes, that’s right. I do this often: the printer requires a certain color profile, so I import PDFs into InDesign and then export from there.
… to make sure the Black ink is extra Black! 
A quick Google shows that ‘certified PDF’ is feature pushed by Enfocus (who make high-end PDF software for commercial work). As far as I can see, it just means your PDF meets certain specifications for print – which is exactly what PDF/X does anyway.
I’d be very surprised if a PDF directly from Dorico was not suitable for any kind of printing, frankly.
To Lars: I would simply give your PDF to the printer, and ask them to confirm that they can print from it. Don’t forget that you are the customer, and it’s not for you to bend over backwards, if you’ve made a reasonable effort.
To Lars: I would simply give your PDF to the printer, and ask them to confirm that they can print from it. Don’t forget that you are the customer, and it’s not for you to bend over backwards, if you’ve made a reasonable effort.
Thanks for the heads up. It is true, I can insist to print from my normal PDF. Only thing is that I have no guarantee I get what I wish. Send it in the right format, they reprint if there is deviation. But I found Scribus, an open-source DTB for Mac and it can export PDF/X. Maybe it speeds up my design, because the text editing in Dorico isn’t an easy workflow. And there is quite some text since it is an educational piano book. But first I check it out if that is a program for me…
So far I have created three bigger publications, which were printed by three different printing companies. So far I didn’t have any problems with the built in PDF export from Dorico. Just send them a PDF to test.
I guess now that I think about it, I should clarify: my practice of importing Dorico PDFs into InDesign and then exporting the PDF is:
- a holdover from Finale, which did indeed export PDFs in the wrong color profile (CMYK vs RGB, IIRC)
- part of my typical workflow for other reasons.
So I have no reason or experience to say Dorico PDFs aren’t perfectly sufficient for sending to the printer.