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Sending JPEG from Mac Mail
I’d rather send my proofs out as JPEG’s just so that I know the customer cannot alter the artwork, or use it easily without paying for my time and effort.
Trouble is I send it off a Mac, using Mail, and everytime I attach a JPEG it becomes embedded rather than attached. Even with ‘Send windows friendly attachments’ checked.
I’ve had to resort to sending them out as PDF’s but trouble is that these still remain ‘editable’ to a degree.
Am I doing something wrong, or should I send another format?
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12 Replies
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David.
We had the same problem, are you saving from Adobe? – If so, you can password protect the file in the PDF settings, it means it can be viewed but not edited, you can even set it so it cant be printed. – Works a treat.
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I thought that there are ways around the password on PDF’s.
I have sent out a proof this AM using the technique you’ve suggested.
Just don’t want it getting sent to another company who can somehow extract the design easily.
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I use to send emails this way and got so sick an tired of it i ended up using outlook. I now send pdf’s but my files are always huge and like you i get paranoid so to keep the file size down, i open up my .ai in preview and save it as a pdf in there, you can’t edit those as far as i’m aware and the files are fairly small.
Another way is save it as a jpg then re save it as a pdf again done in preview.
If anyone knows a better way, i’ll be interested as my way is just by trial and error.
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ZIP it up and send that. Most people can open them, and you don’t have to worry
about people using vectors from the PDF. -
I might sound really stupid here, but don’t zipping a file just compact the size a little, the original file stays intact doesn’t it?
so if i zipped a vehicle template in .eps and then zipped it, surely the customer can then open that template up and use it?
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I mean ZIP up the JPG so it doesn’t embed, not any kind of vector.
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You can still open previews PDF’s in Illustrator, it does cause some data loss but can still open.
To reduce the size of the PDF’s when saving in Ai click the compression tool in the Save as PDF pop up and reduce the Dpi of any Jpegs in the file. 0- Thats should bring it down.
Another good trick, in the top right corner of the PDF tab (again, in the PDF pop up), change compatibility to only the latest couple of versions. – This will drastically reduce the size, most people with PDF viewers keep them up to date as it reminds you every-time you launch it to update. – Sometimes its storing the info needed to view correctly in older versions of reader that can make the file large.
As a separate note for the digital printers. – If you have issues with printing gradients. – Save the file as an older PDF and you shouldn’t get any issues with the gradients from illustrator and issues that come with in-design files that have cropped images in.
If you have one of the CS master collections, you should have Acrobats PDF pro, in this option you can also save as a ‘reduced size PDF’ – This really does bring the file size down. – There’s also some excellent tools in there for making multi page PDf’s
To my knowledge there is no way of opening a password protected PDF without the password.
We have had clients contacting us before asking for the password, when asked why they needed them, they told us so they can make some changes themselves. – We all know thats not possible & their trying it so depending on the size of the job we charge anything from £50 – £200 to release a version without the password. (never tell them the password) if you use the same P/W for all PDF’s. you will come unstuck if they pass it on to a competitor. – Believe me… 👿
For large files we send using wetransfer.com. – Its a great free site and is so easy to use. For a couple of pounds a month you can buy up your own page with your own background… (peach.wetransfer.com)
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It is relatively easy to bypass password protected PDFs with the right software…
Probably safer to ZIP the JPG file, and attach the ZIP – this stops the JPG from embedding in Mac Mail, and client can’t pinch any vectors.
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Jamie.
Your right! – Just had a quick scout round google and found a few different pieces of kit that can crack the Password.
As an alternative to this, you can do a selected screen shot of the proof using (on a mac) Shift>cmd>4 – Drag it over the proof and it will save a low(ish) res Png to the desktop. You can then open in preview and save as a Jpeg or PDF. you certainly wouldnt be able to edit it or blow it up larger then screen size to print… similar to attached..
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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I have a separate template for sending my proofs out, with specs etc.
I might start placing a JPG of the design onto the template, and export as a PDF. So even if they open the file they will only be able to extract the JPG. No usable vectors.
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password protected pdf’s are a right pain…. particularly as most design agencies don’t put correct bleeds or put all kinds of various crop marks that delay production time.
I noticed recently that One rip will throw out passworded PDFs (an actually lock up) and another will RIP. In the past I have seen RIPs ask for password.
When your dealing with a PDF that needs banner markings put on it, this is another problem.
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I open my vector in photoshop – place my logo on a layer above the image at 10% opacity – also have a 100% strength copyright line at the bottom – then I "save for web" as a GIF – it looks great on screen – emails fine – but they can’t do anything with it other than proof it!
The other thing I do is upload images to my Flickr account, and set the preferences to no downloads. Send them a link to that page – done.
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