Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print or remote publishing is a commercial prepress process that bridges the gap between digital content online and commercial print production.
This process allows a print house, a client, and possibly a graphic designer to create, edit, and approve computer-based online templates during the prepress phase. This process increasingly calls for a Portable Document Format (PDF) workflow environment with output provided by digital printing; although there is certainly no requirement that fulfillment be accomplished using digital production equipment; Web-to-print is also used today by printers with both offset and digital production facilities.
Web-to-print is targeted toward commercial users or to the general public, and both groups may access public or private online storefronts or catalogues offered by print houses. Within these storefronts, customers can choose pre-designed templates where they can alter the typeface, copy, images, and layout within a template, or approve a template layout and design that has been created by another person. While most Web-to-print applications allow clients to customize pre-designed templates it also frequently possible for clients to upload their own unique content for automated print production. When a digital press is used for the final output, the template usually is transformed into a PDF file that serves as the master plate for the digital press. In more traditional printing processes, like offset printing, the template is used to create a plate or plates that are used to produce the final printed product.
Materials produced by a Web-to-print process include business cards, brochures, and stationery, among other printed matter, that can be printed in full color or in black and white on various papers and on various presses. Web-to-print systems are also expanding to handle personalization and distribution of other marketing materials such as presentations, seminars, logo items, and even email and other electronic media. This change is driven by enterprise clients seeking a single repository/tool to manage all marketing efforts including print.