Preflight and cut contours for label production
Label and sticker work fails on the cut path more often than on the artwork. Prepta checks for a correctly named contour spot colour, generates one where the geometry is unambiguous, and applies the bleed and colour rules your label profile sets.
Customer file not ready for production?
Typical profile
- Colour
- CMYK, Spot
- Minimum resolution
- 300 ppi
- Bleed
- 2 mm
- Cut contour
- Required (CutContour)
- Transparency
- Flagged, never changed
What goes wrong
No cut contour at all
The shape exists visually but there is no path the cutter can follow.
Contour drawn as ordinary artwork
A black stroke where a named spot colour is required, so the cutter prints the line instead of cutting it.
Contour on the wrong layer or colour
Named something other than the workflow expects, or set to process colour.
Bleed missing on a die-cut shape
Irregular shapes need bleed following the contour, not a rectangle around it.
What Prepta does
Contour generated where none exists
A named spot colour at the offset your profile sets: the trim rectangle for full-page artwork as a safe fix, a traced outline after you confirm it.
Existing contours recognised
A cut path in a spot colour named as your workflow names it (CutContour, Kiss, Thru, Die…) is accepted as it is, never renamed.
Bleed added from the page edge
To the amount your label profile sets, mirrored from the edge once you confirm.
Complex outlines escalated
Where a shape could be cut several plausible ways, an operator confirms which is intended.
Common questions — labels & stickers
What is a cut contour in label printing?
A vector path, usually as a named spot colour stroke, that tells the cutter where to cut. A black process stroke prints instead of cutting.
Can Prepta generate a cut contour automatically?
For full-page artwork, the trim rectangle is a safe fix: it runs without a click when your workspace turns on Auto-fix safe issues. A contour traced around the artwork’s outline is generated once an operator confirms it.
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