Processing model
- Your files — PDFs and images — are read and analysed by your own browser, in a background worker. They are not uploaded, and no file content, file name or metadata value is sent anywhere.
- The site's Content-Security-Policy only allows network connections back to this site, so the page cannot send your files to third-party services — including AI services.
- If usage analytics are enabled, they record only which tool was used, start/finish, the profile chosen, and counts per result category (for example "2 to fix, 1 to review") — never file names, file content, font names, sizes or metadata values.
- Reports (CSV / JSON) are generated on your device.
Print preflight
- Fix before sending — a measurable problem against the chosen profile (for example a font that is not embedded, or an image below the profile's minimum effective PPI).
- Review — may be fine, depends on your printer (RGB colour, spot colours, mixed page sizes).
- Passed — the check ran on the whole file and found nothing.
- Not inspected — the check could not run or could only partly run (encrypted content, damaged objects, no trim size known, time limit reached). It is never counted as passed.
Profiles: General print, Flyer / postcard (300 PPI target, 3 mm bleed), Poster (150 PPI target, 3 mm bleed) are common print-shop conventions, not any single printer's specification. Book interior uses Amazon KDP's published paperback values (bleed 0.125 in on top, bottom and outside edge; 300 PPI images; embedded fonts), sources linked in the tool and last checked 19 September 2026.
The Book Cover Size Calculator uses Amazon KDP's published paperback cover values (paper thickness per page, 0.125 in bleed, spine text rules; source, checked 19 September 2026) or the values you enter for your own printer. KDP values are not a general standard.
The RGB / CMYK Checker never treats RGB as an error on its own: the result depends on what you say your printer accepts and whether it prints in black ink only.
Effective PPI is always image pixels ÷ printed size. The DPI value stored in an image file is shown for information only and never changes a result.
Not checked yet: overprint, total ink coverage, safe margins, hairline widths, minimum text size, crop marks, hidden layers, glyph coverage of fonts. A clean report is not a guarantee that a printer will accept the file.
Independence
Check Before Submit is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Adobe. It does not predict review outcomes, give approval probabilities or modify your files.
Adobe Stock checker result types
- Pass / Fail — only for requirements Adobe publishes with a clear, measurable value.
- Could not verify — the file does not let us confirm the requirement, or Adobe's wording is ambiguous for this value.
- Quality risks — our heuristics; never a pass/fail and never Adobe's thresholds.
- Not checked — listed on every report so the remaining manual checks are visible.