Free tools for print proofing & approval
Free tools for the moments around a press run: work out what reprints cost, set your file up with the right bleed and safe area, estimate how long approval will take, and run a proper pre-production check. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is stored.
Pick one and start
No account, no download, no trial clock. Open a tool, use it, close the tab.
Bleed & safe area calculator
Build a to-scale bleed, trim and safe-area template and export a layered, print-ready PDF, SVG or PNG, or drop your own artwork and let it add the bleed for you. Millimeters or inches, real crop marks, named layers that open in Illustrator, and nothing is uploaded.
- Live to-scale preview
- Layered print-ready PDF
- Drops in your artwork + adds bleed
Reprint cost calculator
Put a number on what reruns actually cost you. Enter your reprints per month, your cost per reprint and the hours they eat, and see the monthly and annual figure.
Open the toolProof approval time estimator
See how much calendar time your review rounds cost, and what removing a single round would save. Rounds, not days, are the number you can control.
Open the toolProof approval checklist
Twelve things worth confirming before a job goes to press. Tick them off as you check them and watch the progress count: nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.
Open the toolUseful first, marketing second
No sign-up, no email wall
Every tool on this page runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or stored on our servers.
Built from real prepress practice
The items and inputs come from the proof-approval step of a working print and card-manufacturing operation, not from a template.
Honest about what they are
These are estimating and checking aids. They will not tell you what your shop will save, and they do not pretend to.
The thinking behind the tools
Most reprints are not press failures. They are expectation failures: a customer approved something that did not match the picture in their head, and nobody found out until the boxes arrived. That is why the calculator asks for hours lost as well as material cost, and why the checklist spends as much time on sign-off and specification as it does on artwork.
If you want the longer version, the guides cover the same ground in depth.
Related guides
About these tools
Short, straight answers to the questions we are asked most. If yours is not here, ask.
Ask us anythingAre these tools free?
Yes. Every tool here is free to use, with no account, no email capture and no usage limit. They run entirely in your browser.
Is my data sent to ProofScene?
No. Every tool here is client-side only. The numbers, sizes and ticks stay on your device: the checklist can optionally remember your progress in your own browser storage, and nothing is transmitted to us.
Can I use these with my team or my customers?
Yes. Send the link to anyone. The checklist is designed to be worked through with a customer or a prepress colleague on a call, and the calculator is useful in a management meeting about rerun costs.
How do these relate to ProofScene the product?
They cover the same moment in the job: the last check before you commit to a press run. ProofScene is 3D print proofing software that makes that moment clearer by showing the customer an interactive 3D model of the finished product instead of a flat PDF. The tools are useful whether or not you ever use ProofScene.
Will there be more tools?
We are adding tools as we build ProofScene. If there is a calculation or checklist your shop uses on paper today, tell us and it may become the next one.
Tools are the warm-up. The proof is the product.
ProofScene is opening early access to print shops and product suppliers. Join the list and be first to turn your proof sheets into interactive 3D approvals.
No credit card · Built by print people · Launching soon