Offset Printing

Offset printing is done at Scantron Print Services in Columbia, PA. To ensure that your job is printed as you designed it, please be sure to follow the Print Services Art Files Requirements.

Differences Between Offset Printing and Laser Printing

Offset Printing at Scantron Print Services	Local Laser Printing
Cut sheets, multi-parts, booklets, and continuous forms can be printed. Standard and custom form sizes are available. Several booklet binding methods are available, including gluing and stitching. Print quality is consistently good. Ink is guaranteed for scanner readability. Paper is guaranteed for scanner readability. Cost may be lower than laser printing, at larger print quantities.	Cut sheets can be printed. Other form types may not be available. Standard form sizes are available. Custom form sizes may be inconvenient or unavailable. Some laser printing equipment may be able to produce booklets. Print quality may vary, depending upon the laser printer used. Ink is not guaranteed for scanner readability; you must perform your own ink testing. Paper is guaranteed for scanner readability if you use Scantron DesignExpert stock form 103188 or 265914. Otherwise, you must perform your own paper testing. Cost may be lower than offset printing, at smaller print quantities. Greater flexibility and convenience than offset printing. "On demand" printing is possible, especially for smaller quantities and at distributed locations. We recommend local laser printing with Scantron DesignExpert stock form 103188 or 265914 for jobs of 1000 forms or less. It requires that you perform printer alignment between jobs.

Offset Printing at Scantron Print Services

Local Laser Printing

Cut sheets, multi-parts, booklets, and continuous forms can be printed.
Standard and custom form sizes are available.
Several booklet binding methods are available, including gluing and stitching.
Print quality is consistently good.
Ink is guaranteed for scanner readability.
Paper is guaranteed for scanner readability.
Cost may be lower than laser printing, at larger print quantities.

Cut sheets can be printed. Other form types may not be available.
Standard form sizes are available. Custom form sizes may be inconvenient or unavailable.
Some laser printing equipment may be able to produce booklets.
Print quality may vary, depending upon the laser printer used.
Ink is not guaranteed for scanner readability; you must perform your own ink testing.
Paper is guaranteed for scanner readability if you use Scantron DesignExpert stock form 103188 or 265914. Otherwise, you must perform your own paper testing.
Cost may be lower than offset printing, at smaller print quantities.
Greater flexibility and convenience than offset printing.
"On demand" printing is possible, especially for smaller quantities and at distributed locations.
We recommend local laser printing with Scantron DesignExpert stock form 103188 or 265914 for jobs of 1000 forms or less.
It requires that you perform printer alignment between jobs.

Job Specification Sheet

Access the Job Specification sheet from the Options menu and use it to create a special report about the specifications of your document design. The report includes complete details about the OMR grids and bar codes you have defined in your document, the colors you have selected, the graphics you are using, any special instructions, and more. We request you send a copy of this Job Specification when you submit your documents. In addition, we suggest you keep a copy for your own use.

Fonts

Locating Fonts

We recommend that you include the font files required by your Scantron DesignExpert file with your printing order. The fonts used by your Windows system are stored in the system folder (Start Menu/Settings/Control Panel/Fonts). This is essential if you use special fonts that you purchased or had custom designed. Proper printing from your file may be impossible without these font files.

Use the Document Fonts dialog to identify what font families are used in your Scantron DesignExpert design file. Go to Scantron DesignExpert’s Text menu and select View Fonts. This dialog lists all of the font families used within a document file.

Use the Font dialog to identify whether font files are installed for each font used in your Scantron DesignExpert file. Go to Scantron DesignExpert’s Text menu and select Font. This dialog lists all of the fonts installed on your Windows system:

In the Font section of the dialog, a symbol beside the font name indicates whether it is an OpenType, TrueType, or Adobe Type 1 font. If no symbol is present, it is probably a screen font. Select OpenType and TrueType fonts for files to be printed at Scantron Print Services.

$image\FontSymbol.jpg$

OpenType

TrueType

Adobe Type 1

In the Sample section of the dialog, a picture of what the font looks like is provided and, most importantly, a description of the font that tells you whether your Font/Style selection is OpenType, TrueType, PostScript, screen font, or "imitated for the display." Select OpenType and TrueType fonts for files to be printed at Scantron Print Services.

NOTE: It is not unusual to select an OpenType font in the Font section then find font type variations by Style. In the example above, Arial Black Regular is OpenType, Arial Black Italic is TrueType, and Arial Black Bold and Bold Italic are "imitated."

Graphics

If you are preparing documents to send to Scantron Print Services for printing, please be aware that ONLY certain file formats work successfully at the high resolutions necessary for offset printing. See Print Services Art Files Requirements for details.