Export (print file)
The Export extension turns every customer upload into a print-ready file. When an order comes in, your production team no longer has to open the customer's photo, apply the crop, resize it, add a margin and convert it to CMYK by hand: the app does it on the server and stores a download link to the finished file on the order.
Enable extension
To enable the Export extension, please visit: How can I add an Extension?
After the extension is enabled on your subscription, each upload field gets a new section Export settings (Extension).
How it works
- Built from the original. The print ready file is always made from the file the customer uploaded, at full resolution, not from the smaller preview in the browser.
- The customer's edits are applied. The crop, rotation and flip from the image editor, and the filters and color adjustments of the Editor extension, are replayed on the original, so the print matches what the customer saw.
- A link on the order. Each export is saved as a line item property on the order (for example
_print). Properties that start with_are hidden from the customer in cart and checkout. - Several files per field. One upload field can have several exports, for example a small JPEG proof for you and a CMYK TIFF for the store owner.
- Safe to change. Changing an export later does not change the files of orders that already exist.
What a print-ready file can include
| Need | What the export does |
|---|---|
| Print size | Scales the image to a real size in cm, mm or inches at the resolution (DPI) your printer wants, written into the file so layout programs and RIPs read the size. |
| Size chosen by the customer | Prints each order at the size of the variant the customer bought, for example 30 × 20 cm or 50 × 50 cm. |
| Border, hem or bleed | Adds a margin around the image, in white, any color or transparent. |
| Material shrinkage | Stretches the file by a percentage or a fixed amount, for fabrics and mats that shrink in production. |
| Color profile | Converts to CMYK, or to the store owner's own ICC profile, in 8 or 16 bit. The color profile of the uploaded file is respected. |
| File format | JPEG, PNG (with transparency), TIFF or PDF. |
| Cut lines | Draws a cut line around the image or around the motif of a transparent upload, with an offset for a sticker border or bleed. A PDF gets the cut line as a vector path in a spot color (for example CutContour), the way print and cut machines expect it. |
| Fixed colors | Replaces colors, for example white with the printer's fill white, or keeps a color that is reserved for the cut line out of the design. |
| Orientation and mirroring | Turns every file landscape or portrait for a roll printer, or mirrors it for transfer and back-of-glass printing. |
| Fixed look | Applies the same filter to every upload, for example black and white for a mono product. |
Output files can be up to 30,000 px per side. If you need a larger output file, please contact us.
Advanced example: large TIFF files with the original color profile
A customer uploads a 100 MB CMYK TIFF for a large canvas print. A file that size is too large for an image editor in the browser, and browsers always show and edit images in sRGB, so editing it there would lose the CMYK colors. Together with the Convert extension:
- The Convert extension makes a smaller sRGB copy of the TIFF that the customer can crop and edit in the image editor.
- The customer's crop and filters are saved with the upload.
- When the order comes in, the export applies the same crop and filters on the server to the original 100 MB TIFF, at full resolution.
- The server works on the original file, so its CMYK color profile is preserved: the store owner gets the CMYK colors the customer sent, not the sRGB copy from the browser.
The customer gets a fast editor, and the store owner gets every pixel and the colors of the original.
Set up with the AI assistant
You do not need to build an export step by step. Open the upload field and ask the AI assistant in the app to set it up for you. Describe what the store owner needs, for example:
Add a print file: CMYK TIFF at 300 DPI, 30 × 20 cm, with the customer's crop.
Our banners are sold by size in Live Product Options. Add a 3 cm hem on every side and 2 % extra width for shrinkage, 100 DPI.
Make a sticker PDF with a CutContour line 3 mm around the motif.
Add a small JPEG proof next to the print file.
The assistant adds the export to the field, explains the resulting file size and you review and save it. Ask it any time to change an export or to explain one.
What to ask the print provider
The answers to these questions are all the assistant needs:
- Which file format and color space (RGB, CMYK, their own ICC profile)?
- Which print size and resolution (DPI)?
- Do they need a border, hem, bleed or extra size for shrinkage?
- Do they need a cut line, and in which color or spot color name?
- Must the file be turned or mirrored for the machine?
Set up manually
You can also build an export yourself. Open the upload field and scroll to Export settings (Extension).
- Add an export. Click Add export. The new export starts with three steps: Auto-orient, Crop (from the customer's editor) and Output (JPEG).
- Order property. The name of the line item property that gets the file link,
_printby default. A second export gets_print_2. Keep the_at the start so the customer does not see the link.
- Add steps. Pick a step from Add step. The steps run from top to bottom. Auto-orient always stays first and Output always stays last; drag any other step by its handle to move it, or remove it with the red ×. Click a step to show or hide its settings.
- Save the upload field.
Print size per variant
When each variant is a different print size, for example 30 × 20 cm and 50 × 50 cm, turn on Variant settings, select the variants and set their Export size. Then add a Size step to the export from Add step and set its unit to cm, mm or in: the export prints each variant at its export size.
Testing exports
You can test an export inside the app.
- Upload a file on the widget in the app preview.
- On your specific export, click on the Test button; the app generates a link that starts the export in a new tab.
