Digital Solution Centers

Printable PDF Version

File Naming Guidelines

The purpose of this document is to illustrate the Digital Solution Center’s guidelines for naming portable files. Naming your files according to these guidelines makes it easier for RR Donnelley to meet your expectations of a quality job. This means the right version of the right page, in the right place in your publication.

• File names should only include alpha-numeric characters, underscores (used to separate sections of the file name), and periods (used before the suffix “.PDF”, “.PS”, etc.)
• Special characters, including but not limited to, asterisks, ampersands, slashes, dollar signs and brackets should never be used.
  Theses are illegal characters ( ˜ ´ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) + = { } [ ] | \ ; : " ' < > , ? / )
• File names also must not exceed 25 characters.
• The filename should always begin with a three digit page number. This clearly identifies to anyone working with the file which page a file represents, and allows all pages to appear in order in a list.

Revised Files

The situation may arise that after uploading a file you may need to make a correction. You should make the necessary correction in the native application and create a new PDF. The revised PDF should include the letter "r1" after the page number, for the first revision.

• In this example, page 12 has been revised twice. When submitting revised files, always add “r” after the folio, followed by a number representing the revision level (“r1” for the first revise, “r2” for the second, etc.)

Special File Naming

Certain situations may arise where you may need to use a low resolution image or a spot color in your files. By including these letters at the end of the file name the pages will process automatically without error.

• Low Resolution images - Pages that contain a low resolution image (continuous tone < 100 dpi, bitmap < 300 dpi), that is known and is acceptable to print, should include the letters “lr” at the end of the file name before the “.pdf”

• Spot Colors - Pages that contain a known spot color that is intended to print, should contain the letters “pms” at the end of the file name before the “.pdf”

• Spot Colors with Low Resolution images - Pages that contain both a spot color that is intended to print and a known acceptable low resolution image, should include the letters “pmslr” at the end of the file name before the “.pdf”

• Gray Scale Pages - Pages that are intended to print gray scale only include the letters “bw” at the end of the file name, (“bwlr” if the page is gray scale and contains known low resolution images).

• Version Pages - Pages with versions should include version information in the file name. In this example, page 100 has three versions; A, B, and C. To denote a version in the file name, after the folio, add “v” and a letter or number representing the version (“vA” for version A, “vB” for version B, etc).

Note that page 100 version C has been revised twice. The revise code should always follow version information in the file name.

• Cover Pages - Cover pages should be named FC (front cover), IFC (inside front cover), IBC (inside back cover), and BC (back cover)