Friday Tip: Retire Old Artwork Before It Bites You: A Practical Print Version-Control Guide

You open a fresh box of brochures, flip one over, and see it: the old web address, the previous logo, last year’s promo line.

The printer did exactly what it was told. The problem wasn’t the press. It was the file.

Most expensive reprints come down to one simple issue: someone grabbed the wrong version.

If you use print regularly, cleaning up your artwork is one of the easiest wins you can give yourself this year. Here’s a practical, no-drama way to get your files under control, based on common North American sizes and real-world print workflows.

Why does old artwork cost you real money

Out-of-date files don’t just look messy. They create real problems:

• Wrong phone number, email, or URL

• Old logo or colours that don’t match your current brand

• Out-of-date pricing or services

• “Last year’s promo” was quietly reused because it was the first file someone found

You only notice when the boxes arrive or when a client points it out. By then, the money’s spent.

The fix is not complicated. It just needs a bit of structure and some discipline.

Step 1: Audit your core print pieces (by common sizes)

Start with the pieces you actually reprint, usually in standard imperial sizes:

• Business cards – 3.5" × 2"

• Letterhead – 8.5" × 11"

• Note pads / with compliments – 5.5" × 8.5" or 4.25" × 5.5"

• Rack cards – 4" × 9"

• Postcards – 4" × 6", 5" × 7"

• Tri-fold brochures – flat 8.5" × 11" (folded to 3 panels)

For each category:

1. Go through your shared drive, Dropbox, SharePoint, Canva folders, etc.

2. Pull every related file into a single working folder for review: design files, old PDFs, alternate versions.

You’re not fixing the design here. You’re just finding out what exists.

Step 2: Archive without deleting

The goal isn’t to delete history. It’s to get old stuff out of the way so nobody uses it by accident.

In each main folder (e.g. “Business Cards”, “Rack Cards”), create an _Archive subfolder.

Move into _Archive anything that is:

• Clearly out of date

• Tied to finished campaigns or old promos

• Early drafts that have been replaced

• “FINAL_v3”, “FINAL_v7” type clutter

You can still get to these files if you need them later, but they’re no longer sitting in the same space as the current artwork.

Step 3: Pick one master file and one approved PDF

Now that the noise is out of the way, choose one “master” per piece.

For each key item, keep:

• One live design file

  • Example: CETTEC_RackCard_4x9_MASTER.indd

  • Or CETTEC_RackCard_4x9_MASTER.canva

• One print-approved PDF at the correct size (e.g. 8.5" × 11" with bleed)

  • Example: CETTEC_RackCard_4x9_APPROVED_2026-01.pdf

Everything else goes into _Archive.

The logic is simple:

• The MASTER file is where edits happen.

• The APPROVED PDF is what goes to print.

If you don’t use InDesign or Illustrator, the same logic still applies in Canva, Affinity, etc. One editable file, one approved PDF.

Step 4: Define what “approved” actually means

“Final” means nothing if everyone has their own definition.

Set a simple rule internally:

• Only files with APPROVED in the name can be sent to print.

• Any change that affects what the customer sees (phone number, URL, offer, logo, image, copy) creates a new version.

• New version = new date in the filename.

• When a new version is approved, the previous APPROVED file is moved to _Archive.

Example naming:

• CETTEC_BusinessCard_3.5x2_APPROVED_2025-11.pdf

• Updated in January? New one becomes:CETTEC_BusinessCard_3.5x2_APPROVED_2026-01.pdf

Old “approved” file moves to _Archive. Nobody should ever be printing from it again.

This sounds basic, but it’s the difference between:

• “I thought this was the right one”, and

• “If it doesn’t say APPROVED_YYYY-MM, we don’t use it.”

  
  

Step 5: Make it easy for your team to do the right thing

Most version problems come from people in a rush, grabbing the first file that looks right.

Remove the guesswork:

• Create a short “Print File Rules” one-pager:

  • Where master files live

  • What MASTER vs APPROVED means

  • Who signs off on APPROVED before anything goes out

• Share this with marketing, admin, and anyone who sends files to print.

You can also add a simple pre-print checklist:

• Correct size? (3.5" × 2", 8.5" × 11", 4" × 9", etc.)

• Latest APPROVED version?

• Contact details checked?

• No old promos or outdated services?

If the answer is “yes” to all of those, then it’s ready for your printer.

A quick real-world example

Scenario:

Marketing updates the company phone number and website in 2024. Designs have been updated, but the old PDFs remain in a shared folder.

In early 2026, someone in a hurry grabs Brochure_FINAL_v3.pdf from 2023 because it’s at the top of the folder. It prints beautifully – wrong number, wrong URL, old product list.

Cost: the print run, plus time, plus embarrassment.

With the structure above:

• All 2023 versions would live in _Archive.

• The only PDF in the main folder would be something like CETTEC_Brochure_8.5x11_APPROVED_2026-01.pdf.

• There’s nothing “almost right” to click accidentally.

  
  

How we handle versions at CETTEC

At CETTEC Printing, when clients ask us to manage their artwork, we keep only the latest approved version of each piece active in our production system and move older versions out of circulation.

That means when you reorder business cards, letterhead, rack cards or postcards, we’re working from the most current approved file you’ve given us, not something from three years ago that happened to be in the same folder.

If you want help cleaning up your print files and standardizing sizes, names and versions, we can start with your core items and build a clean, current set of masters that you and your team can rely on all year.