Using Pre-Flighting
1 Install Printer's Distiller settings in your copy of Acrobat Distiller and the pre-flight profile in Enfocus PitStop
2 Print from your application and choose "Adobe PDF" as the printer.
3 Select the Printer's Distiller settings in Properties of Adobe Distiller from the print dialog box and create the PDF
4 Open the PDF and Preview in Acrobat
5 Run the PitStop pre-flight check plug-in from Acrobat
6 View the report
7 Fix any errors, reported by PitStop, in the original application and go back to Step 2
8 Repeat until there are no errors reported
9 One there are no errors reported close Acrobat and copy the PDF to a disk
10 Fill out an order form
11 Bundle everything up and call a courier
12 Courier Arrives and picks up Job
13 Courier Delivers Job
14 Printer calls, Proof is ready to view
15 Leave office to go and view Proof
16 Arrive at Printer's to see the proof
17 Look at proof, Approved
18 Wait for call from Printer then pick up job
Preflighting
Taking its name from the pre-flight check a pilot does before taking off, pre-flighting software will check the PDF you have created against a preset profile and alert you to any issues the PDF may have.
Done properly this solution is virtually bullet proof but like flying a plane is very complicated. Getting things set-up is tricky and the pre-flight reports can be intimidating for the initiated.
Pre-flighting is most used by industry professionals involved in the highest quality printing work. Apart from the complexity of this software there is the small matter of cost with a single user licence potentially costing $1000 on top of your PDF creation software costs.
Pre-flighting is rarely used by non-graphic arts professionals.
You can find more information about pre-flighting here: