The reply that said 'looks good'
The customer asked for three changes to the leaflet. Your studio made them and sent proof 3. The customer replied 'looks good, go ahead' to the thread, but the reply was attached to proof 2's email. Someone in production saw the approval, pulled the latest file they could find, which was in fact proof 2 with one correction missing, and it printed.
Five thousand leaflets later, the phone rings. Who pays for the reprint depends on an email trail that three people now have to read carefully, and nobody enjoys the conversation.
Where proofing goes wrong
Proofing is a version control problem that most printers run through email. Email is good at conversation and bad at saying exactly which file a comment belongs to.
- Proofs are sent as attachments, so several versions exist in several inboxes.
- Approval arrives as free text, sometimes with further changes buried in it.
- Production decides which file is final by looking at file names and dates.
- Nothing stops a job moving to plates or the digital queue without an approval on record.
- When a dispute happens, the evidence is spread across personal inboxes.
What the loose approvals cost
Reprints are the visible cost: stock, press time and finishing done twice, and often absorbed by you because the paper trail was unclear. The quieter cost is the time spent chasing approvals that never arrive, because nobody owns the follow-up, and the press slot that sits empty while a customer is on holiday. Account handlers also spend a surprising part of their day forwarding proofs and asking whether 'fine' means approved.
Proof approval built into the job
- Each proof is uploaded against the job number and given a version automatically. Old versions stay visible but are marked as superseded.
- The customer receives a link, not an attachment. They view the proof, add comments pinned to the page, and choose approve or request changes.
- Approval is recorded with the version, the person, the time and any comments, and the customer receives a copy for their records.
- Reminders go to customers who have not responded, on a schedule you set, and the account handler sees who is overdue.
- The job status in your MIS updates when the proof is approved, and production only sees the approved file.
- Plating or digital release is blocked until an approved version exists, unless a named person overrides with a reason.
| Question | Answered by email trail | Answered by the system |
|---|---|---|
| Which version was approved? | Read the thread carefully | Shown on the job |
| Who approved it? | Whoever replied | Named person and time |
| Were changes requested too? | Buried in the text | Separate comments on the page |
| Is anything waiting on the customer? | Ask around | Overdue list |
Life with clean approvals
Production works from one file per job, the approved one. Account handlers stop forwarding PDFs. When a customer disputes a finished job, the approval record answers it in a minute. Customers generally like it too, because commenting on the page is easier than describing a change in an email.
It also changes how proof chasing works. Instead of an account handler remembering to ring about the brochure proof on Friday, the overdue list shows every proof waiting on a customer, how long it has waited and which press slot depends on it. You decide which ones to chase, and the reminders handle the rest.
Does your proofing look like this?
- You have printed from the wrong version at least once.
- Approvals come in as 'ok' replies without a version.
- Jobs sit waiting for approvals that nobody is chasing.
- Disputes involve forwarding old emails to your manager.
- Your studio and production keep separate folders of 'final' files.