Quality · 6 min read

A practical export preflight for campaign design

Catch missing image bytes, crop issues, overflow, wrong dimensions, and confusing filenames before delivery.

Published 2026-08-24
Original Retake editorial

Bright layered paper city poster for a daytime design festival

In this guide

A reviewable path, not a bag of tips.

Export should be a read-only projection of the design document. If rendering changes the active page or hides a broken asset, the delivery process is masking the real state of the file.

01Block missing visible assets
02Warn on crop and overflow
03Render every requested design directly
04Make multi-page delivery understandable

Block missing visible assets

A visible ImageLayer without stored bytes is not a warning; it is a failed export. Resolve the asset before rendering the page.

Warn on crop and overflow

A crop can be intentional, so treat it as a review item. Text or shapes outside the design may also be intentional, but the person exporting should see the risk.

Render every requested design directly

Do not activate each design in the editor just to export it. The renderer should project the requested design at exact dimensions without mutating selection or history.

Make multi-page delivery understandable

A ZIP should include the PNG files plus a human-readable manifest that names page, dimensions, and filename. The manifest is delivery metadata, not a second document model.

Worked example

Preflight a three-format event kit

Deliver portrait Feed, Story, and landscape network assets without changing the working document.

01
Audit visible image references before rendering.
02
Review intentional crop and off-canvas objects.
03
Render requested designs directly at exact dimensions.
04
Package PNGs with a human-readable manifest.

Outcome

A delivery folder whose files can be understood and traced without opening the editor.

FAQ

Questions to carry into review.

Should preflight modify the design?

No. Preflight and export are read-only projections. Fixes must go through normal Document Commands.

What should block export?

Missing bytes for a visible image should block. Crop and overflow can warn when the output may still be intentional.