First introduced in Acrobat 6, in 2002, Callas preflighting has become an integral tool within Acrobat Pro, ensuring files are ready for production and streamlining the transition from design to print.

In the latest version of its preflighting software, Callas has included support for all PDF/A, PDF/E and PDF/X standards, including PDF/X-4 and PDF/X-5, as well as the latest Ghent PDF Workgroup (GWG) specifications.

Callas said: For Acrobat 9, Callas and Adobe have joined forces to implement the GWG ‘Universal Proof of Preflight’. As the first product to support this new cross-vendor specification, Acrobat 9 further improves communication between designers and production by offering a pre-flight audit trail.

In addition, Callas has extended the inbuilt PDF fixing capabilities within Acrobat, allowing files to not just be checked but optimised for the intended production process.

Acrobat 9, which was launched at Drupa, features a number of significant improvements on its predecessors, including support for Flash, as a result of Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia, and integration with the new Adobe PDF Print Engine 2.0 (APPE 2.0).

In addition, designers can use the new PDF Portfolios feature to bundle a collection of media, including text documents, design layouts and graphics, into one single compressed PDF document.

This would allow designers to include the separate elements of a print-ready document within a single compressed PDF.

Callas preflighting technology forms the basis for its pdfToolbox 4, which is available to other vendors.