AI Print Preflight for WooCommerce print shops
For print shops that take customer artwork and want to find bad files before the press, not after.
wp-admin order #1670: the AI Preflight panel reads Print-ready and lists 5 passed checks next to the customer design.
In short
What this does for your store
Print preflight: an automated check of a print file before production (resolution, colour mode, fonts, bleed, transparency) so problems are caught before the press, not after.
- Runs in
- Your designer and the wp-admin order
- Checks
- Resolution, colour mode, fonts, bleed, transparency
- Mode
- Manual or automatic per order
- Checked against
- Plugin 2.17
The business moment
What does a bad customer file cost a print shop?
Customer artwork arrives at the worst moment: after the order is paid and the job is scheduled. A blurry image or a missing bleed turns into a reprint, a delay or an awkward email.
- A phone photo placed on a small product looks fine on screen and prints soft, so the reprint is on you.
- Staff open every file by hand to check resolution, colour mode and fonts, one order at a time.
- The customer is told about the problem days after ordering, so the job slips and support tickets follow.
- Nobody records why a file was approved, so the same mistake comes back with the next reorder.
How it works inside WooCommerce
How preflight works from upload to print file
Two checkpoints: one the buyer sees in the designer, one your staff see on the order. These captures show the order side and the settings behind it.
- Buyer designs or uploadsIn the plugin today
- Preflight in the designerPPI check, one-click upscale · In the plugin today
- Order placedIn the plugin today
- Preflight on the orderFive checks, manual or automatic · In the plugin today
- Print file downloadSVG, PNG, CMYK JPG, PDF · In the plugin today
- Hard stop before checkoutCustom development
-
Set the rules once
Cmsmart Cloud, AI Tools: the required DPI, manual or automatic order preflight and who may use AI.
-
Run the check on the order
After Re-run AI Preflight the panel lists resolution, colour mode, fonts embedded, bleed and transparency.
-
Accept the artwork
Staff accept the customer design on the order; the customer mail is a separate step.
-
Download the print file
Download design offers SVG, high-quality PNG, CMYK JPG with an ICC profile and PDF.
Real captures from the Cmsmart demo store (order #1670 and test products). Customers, orders and data are demo data.
Requirements
What does Cmsmart preflight check, and against what?
Your own required DPI is the benchmark. The external row shows one printer's published number so you can see how such minimums are written.
| Item | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Resolution | Effective PPI at the print size, compared with the required DPI you set in Cmsmart Cloud | Cmsmart plugin 2.17 |
| Demo result | 184 PPI against 300 DPI recommended on a 2.74 x 2.73 in badge gave a caution; after a 2x upscale it read 409 PPI | Cmsmart demo capture |
| Order checks | Resolution, colour mode, fonts embedded, bleed margin, transparency | Cmsmart plugin 2.17 |
| Run mode | Manual with a Re-run button, or automatic: the order goes on hold, runs once per order and pauses when the wallet is below your minimum balance | Cmsmart plugin 2.17 |
| Print outputs | SVG, high-quality PNG, CMYK JPG with an ICC profile and PDF | Cmsmart plugin 2.17 |
| Printer minimum (example) | 150 DPI minimum for DTG files; enlarging an image lowers its DPI in proportion | Printful DTG file guide, checked 6 October 2026 |
Bleed size and colour-profile rules differ by printer. Use your printer's own published values for the shop's settings.
Recommended settings
Recommended preflight settings for a print shop
Every option below exists in plugin 2.17. The recommendation is our starting point; test it on your own artwork.
| Setting | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Required DPI | The minimum your printer publishes for that product | The star rating is only as honest as the number it is compared with. |
| Order preflight | Manual while you test, automatic once you trust it | Automatic puts the order on hold and runs once per order. |
| Pause customer AI below | A reserve in tokens | Keeps tokens for the preflight and auto-fix on orders so buyers cannot use them all. |
| AI per customer per day | A small limit | Stops one enthusiastic visitor spending an afternoon of your balance. |
| Who may use AI | Everyone while testing, then tighten | Everyone, Members, or Customers who have ordered. |
Cost
How is it paid for?
AI runs on tokens from the store owner's Cmsmart wallet, so your buyers never see a charge. Tokens come with a monthly plan and the balance resets at each renewal. This page does not print a per-use cost; the live plans and balance are on AI credits and in your dashboard.
Comparison
Ways to check print files in a WooCommerce shop
Written by the Cmsmart team, who make this tool. Competitor facts come from each vendor's own page, checked on 6 October 2026; anything a page does not state is marked as not stated.
| Question | Cmsmart in your own store | Manual check by staff | Cloud preflight service | Acrobat plugin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | In your WooCommerce designer and on the admin order | In Photoshop or Acrobat on a staff computer | A cloud service; Filecheck also has a WordPress plugin | Inside Adobe Acrobat (Enfocus PitStop Pro) |
| Who does the work | The buyer fixes it; staff review a pass or fail panel | Prepress staff, order by order | The service, then staff | Prepress staff |
| What it checks | Effective PPI, colour mode, fonts, bleed, transparency | Whatever staff look for | Filecheck: DPI, bleed, CMYK, fonts. Customer's Canvas: format, colour space, fonts, page boxes, resolution | Low resolution, bleed, colour and fonts |
| Store integration | Built in; WooCommerce only | None | Filecheck blocks Add to Cart until files pass; Customer's Canvas integrates into a site or MIS | None |
| Pricing model | Tokens from your Cmsmart wallet | Staff hours | Filecheck: pay per use. Customer's Canvas: not stated here | Subscription |
| Best for | WooCommerce print shops with customer uploads | Low volume or colour-critical jobs | Shops that want a hard gate or a non-WooCommerce platform | Prepress teams fixing PDFs by hand |
Where the others win
- Filecheck stops the buyer at Add to Cart until the file passes. With Cmsmart a hard gate like that is custom development.
- PitStop works inside Acrobat and is built for prepress staff correcting PDFs; Cmsmart reports and offers an upscale rather than editing the PDF.
- Manual checking stays the right answer for colour-critical work.
Sources (checked 6 October 2026): Filecheck · Customer's Canvas preflight · Enfocus PitStop Pro. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
Be clear before you start
What does it not do?
- Preflight reports and, in the designer, offers a one-click AI upscale. It does not redraw artwork or fix a design problem for you.
- The upscale suggestion in the designer is a size rule of thumb. The DPI verdict comes from the Preflight check.
- There is no built-in block at Add to Cart; stopping an order on a failed check is custom development.
- It does not check die-lines, boxes or other packaging geometry.
- It runs in WooCommerce with the Cmsmart Ecommerce plugin; there is no Shopify or Etsy version.
Go further with custom development
Need more than the plugin does today?
We build these as scoped projects on your WooCommerce store, tracked in WorkSuite like every client project. Talk to an ecommerce expert and we will quote it.
- A hard stop at checkout until the file passes
- Preflight results pushed to your MIS or ERP
- Product-family rules, for example different DPI per product
- Approval routing for B2B clients
Real numbers, real clients
Trusted by store owners in 80+ countries
What we have delivered since 2012, and what customers say about working with us.
- 6,300+ client projects since 2012
- 4,600+ projects delivered since 2012
- 1,800+ live stores online now
- 80+ countries clients worldwide
- 500+ custom development projects since 2012
- 120+ engagements running 5+ years ongoing support
Since 2012 · a Netbase JSC company · as of Sep 2026 · source: WorkSuite project records
Rated by customers on third-party sites (as of Sep 2026)
Teams in 80+ countries run their ecommerce projects with Cmsmart
NBDesigner is a very robust plugin for printing shops. It may take a bit of time to learn, as I am, but the support team is there to help. I've been in printing 30 years and I am impressed with how the developers have thought this plugin through. It has everything.
Pamela Redman
Verified on Trustpilot
Plug in is so good. Please make toturial video step by step. Selena answered the question well, but I wish it had been faster.
วชิระ เชื้อผู้ดี
Verified on Trustpilot
Great software and excellent support! NBDesigner is a fantastic tool – very intuitive and easy to use. It makes the customization process smooth and efficient. The support team is also incredibly helpful, responsive, and professional. I use it on my website, and it works perfectly. Highly recommended!
Khanh Nguyễn Đức
Verified on Trustpilot
Read more testimonials Delivered & maintained with WorkSuite: tickets, tasks, milestones and invoices in one place. See how it works
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Check your first order file in your own store
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Cmsmart Ecommerce provides custom ecommerce and WooCommerce development services for web-to-print, product personalization, plugin support and API integration.
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