Dieline File Formats: What to Send Your Printer

Send a packaging dieline as a vector file: usually a print PDF (PDF/X-4 if your printer accepts it), or the native Illustrator .ai file if the printer asks for one. Put the cut and fold lines on their own layer as stroked paths in a named spot colour, and follow the printer's spec for colour names, bleed and marks. Never send a screenshot, PNG or JPG as the dieline: die makers and cutting tables follow vector paths, and a bitmap has none.

Which file format to use for a dieline

Whatever you choose, ask for the printer's technical spec before you export. Printers state their preferred format, bleed, colour names and whether the dieline should be in the same file as the artwork or a separate one.

Structural designers often build the dieline itself in packaging CAD software such as Esko ArtiosCAD, then hand it to the graphic designer. If the printer supplies the dieline, start from their file rather than redrawing it.

How to set up the dieline in the file

Conventions vary by printer, but these are the usual requirements:

1. Put the dieline on its own layer, separate from the artwork, and lock it while you design.
2. Draw it as strokes with no fill, in a spot colour with the exact name the printer specifies. Many printers ask for a spot swatch called "Dieline"; others want separate names for cut and crease lines. PakFactory, for example, asks for dieline layers named "cut" and "crease".
3. Set the dieline stroke to overprint if the printer asks, so it doesn't knock out the artwork underneath.
4. Extend artwork into the bleed past every cut edge. The printer sets the amount; PakFactory asks for at least 0.125 inch past all edges and glue flaps.
5. Keep text and logos inside the safe area the printer marks, away from folds and cuts.
6. Embed or outline fonts. PDF/X requires embedded fonts; some printers, PakFactory included, ask you to convert type to outlines.
7. Use images at full print resolution. PakFactory asks for at least 300 DPI for embedded images.

How to export a print PDF from Illustrator

1. Choose File > Save As, pick Adobe PDF as the file type and save.
2. In the Save Adobe PDF dialog, choose a PDF/X-4 preset from the Adobe PDF Preset menu, or the PDF/X standard your printer named.
3. Under Marks and Bleeds, set the bleed to the printer's value or use the document's bleed settings, and add marks only if the printer wants them.
4. Under Output, set the output intent the printer recommends. PDF/X files need one.
5. Save, then open the PDF and check that the dieline layer and spot colour came through.

If you have Acrobat Pro, its Preflight tool can check a file against PDF/X before you send it. Name the file so the printer can tell versions apart, for example brand-carton-250ml-dieline-v3-pdfx4.pdf.

Why a screenshot or pasted copy of a dieline fails

A dieline carries information that a picture can't:

• Geometry. Cut, crease and perforation lines are paths at exact real-world size. A screenshot is a grid of pixels. A 300 mm-wide carton captured as a 1,000-pixel image has about 85 pixels per inch at full size, and even a sharp image gives the cutter nothing to follow.
• Line meaning. Printers tell cut from crease by colour name or layer. A flattened image merges both into coloured pixels.
• Colour. Spot colours, foils and coatings must reach the press as named inks. A screenshot turns them into screen RGB.
• Bleed and trim. In a PDF these are defined boxes. In a bitmap they're just pixels.

The clipboard makes this mistake easy. When you paste Illustrator artwork into Slack, email, Word or Photoshop, what arrives depends on the formats Illustrator put on the clipboard and what the target app accepts; it's often a bitmap, and never a print-ready file. Which Illustrator clipboard settings matter explains those formats, and SVG or PNG on the clipboard covers what survives a paste. Windows clipboard history (Win+V) keeps text, HTML and bitmaps only, so a dieline pulled back out of history is a picture at best.

Screenshots are fine for a quick question ("is this tab on the right side?"), as long as the real file goes with them or is already with the printer. Label any image as a preview, not artwork.

How to send the file itself

Attach or upload the PDF, or share it from a shared project folder. If you copy it in File Explorer and paste it into an email or chat app, you're passing the file, not a picture of it; clipboard copy vs file copy explains the difference. Avoid sending through chat apps that recompress images or strip files; stopping chat apps compressing your images has more on that.

If you send native Illustrator files, include the fonts and linked images, or outline the type. Keeping font files with the specimen image covers keeping fonts with a design.

FAQ

Can I send a dieline as a PNG or JPG?

Only as a reference image. The printer needs vector paths for the die, so send a PDF or native file as well.

Should the dieline print on the box?

No. It marks where the die cuts and creases. Printers use the named spot colour or layer to separate it from the artwork, which is why the exact name matters.

Is PDF/X-1a still acceptable?

If your printer's spec asks for it, yes. It doesn't allow RGB images, so convert to CMYK first. Otherwise PDF/X-4 is the more flexible choice.

Related reading

• Illustrator Clipboard Handling Settings: Which to Choose
• How to Copy and Paste SVG as Vectors, Not Pixels
• Clipboard vs File Copy in Windows: What's the Difference?
• How to Hand Off Font Files, Licenses, and Specimens

Sources

• PDF/X (Wikipedia) — PDF/X versions, ISO part numbers and base PDF versions.
• Artwork guide for digital print corrugated boxes (PakFactory) — example printer requirements: cut and crease layers, bleed, outlined fonts, 300 DPI images.
• ArtiosCAD (Esko) — structural packaging design software.
• Using the clipboard (Microsoft Support) — clipboard history formats.

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