Tiny Online Tools
One run, every problem the printer would have found
A job comes back from the printer with a list. This tool produces the same list before you send it, sorted by how much trouble each item is, with the page number attached.
What it checks
Fonts. Any font without an embedded FontFile, FontFile2 or FontFile3 is an error — including the base 14. "Helvetica is always available" is a PostScript-era assumption; a modern RIP substitutes something with different metrics and your line breaks move. Type3 fonts are flagged separately, and subset tags (AAAAAA+Carlito) are reported as information because they are healthy.
Image resolution. Effective DPI is the intrinsic pixel size divided by the drawn size on the page, which is the only figure that means anything. Below the profile minimum is an error; bitmap and line art get a much higher minimum. Wastefully high resolution is reported too — a 2400 DPI photo is megabytes the RIP will throw away.
Colour. RGB and Lab objects in a CMYK-destined file. ICCBased spaces and their component count. Spot colours and how many, because each one is another plate on the invoice. A missing /OutputIntents entry, which is what tells the RIP what CMYK actually means.
Page boxes. No TrimBox. A TrimBox equal to the MediaBox, which means no bleed at all. Bleed under 3 mm. Boxes escaping the MediaBox. Mixed page sizes and rotations. Text sitting inside the safety margin, where the guillotine may find it.
Transparency. Transparency groups, soft masks and blend modes other than Normal. Older RIPs need these flattened.
Ink. Total area coverage against your limit, both as a rendered estimate and — more reliably — as the CMYK values the file actually declares.
And the rest. Hairlines under 0.25 pt that vanish on press. Overprint settings. Annotations and form fields that were never flattened. Embedded JavaScript. Encryption.
What it is not
It is a checklist, not a PDF/X validator. It does not verify version keys or the identity of an output intent's profile, it cannot open ICC profiles, it does not check trapping, screening or imposition, and it reports overprint rather than simulating it. Your printer's RIP remains the authority.
Privacy
The PDF is read entirely in your browser and never uploaded.