Features
Grouped by the job it does, not by the menu it sits in.
Every entry below answers the same three questions: what it lets you do, why that matters in a print shop, and which specific problem it takes away.
Group 01
Getting the proof in front of the customer
The proof has to arrive, open, and be obviously the right one. Nothing else matters until that happens.
- Send one link per job, not a fileThe customer clicks and the proof opens in whatever browser they already have. There is no account to create, no password to reset and nothing to install.RemovesAttachments that get forwarded, renamed, re-saved and printed months later by mistake.
- Put every file for the job on that one linkFront and back, inserts, a five-page catalogue — all of it under one job number, each file labelled with its page count.RemovesThe front being approved while the back was never opened.
- Send the same link again without creating a second jobResend Proof re-issues the existing link to the customer.RemovesA duplicate job created just because the first email got lost.
- Let the link expireProof links carry an expiry date, thirty days by default and configurable to whatever suits your shop. The job page shows you the exact date.RemovesA live proof link sitting in an old inbox indefinitely.
- Notify without writing anythingProofQueue emails the customer when a proof is ready and when a new version replaces it, and emails your team when a proof is approved or put on hold.RemovesThe follow-up email somebody meant to send and did not.
Group 02
Showing artwork the way it will actually print
A customer who cannot judge the size cannot give you a meaningful approval. The proof page is built to be measured, not just looked at.
The customer toolbarEvery control, one strip
- Show every page at once, at the trim sizeMulti-page work is laid out as a sheet of pages rather than a document to scroll through, with a control for how many sit across the screen.RemovesA customer checking page one of five and replying “looks good”.
- Draw the cutline and the safe line on the artworkBoth guides sit over the art, so the customer sees what gets trimmed off and what is sitting too close to the edge. Their colours and the cutline inset are configurable.RemovesCopy trimmed off a banner that nobody spotted on a screen.
- Caption every page with its own dimensionsEach page carries its real size beneath it, and the units switch between inches, centimetres and feet.RemovesGuessing the scale from how big it looks on a laptop.
- Give them rulers, zoom, fit, rotate, pan and a two-page spreadThe same handling a printer would use: fit to page, fit to width, fit to height, actual size, set percentages, rotate either way, drag to pan, and thumbnails to move between pages and files.RemovesEmailing a crop of the artwork because the customer could not see the detail.
- Work at phone widthThe proof page stacks into one column on a phone, with the same artwork, the same guides and the same buttons.RemovesAn approval that waits until somebody gets back to a desk.
Group 03
Answering “what exactly am I approving?”
Most proof disputes are not about the design. They are about the size, the page count or the order number.
- Write the specifications next to the buttonJob number, file name, total files, page count, file size, artwork dimensions, finish size, order number, product and status, all in one column beside the artwork.RemovesAn approval given without knowing the finish size.
- Show the order number in large typeThe order number is repeated as a block at the bottom of the panel, so the customer can check it against their own paperwork before approving.RemovesThe right artwork approved against the wrong order.
- Carry your product specifications through to the customerWhatever you type when creating the job — stock, finish, quantity, hemming, grommet spacing — is shown to the customer on the proof.RemovesA separate email explaining what the job actually is.
- Declare what was corrected automaticallyWhere ProofQueue has resized artwork to the trim or media box, or added bleed it detected was missing, it says so on the proof.RemovesA silent correction the customer discovers after delivery.
Group 04
Getting a decision on the record
An approval is only useful if you can point at it six weeks later.
- Approve, replace, or hold — three buttons, no typingThe customer picks one. There is no sentence for your team to interpret and no ambiguity about what they meant.Removes“Looks good” buried in the middle of a reply chain.
- Require a name before anything is recordedNone of the three actions work until the customer types their name, and that name is stored against the decision.RemovesAn approval that nobody in the building can attribute to a person.
- Ask for the reason at the moment of the holdPutting a job on hold opens a required reason box: “tell us what needs to change — this is sent to the team with your name”.RemovesA rejection with no explanation and a second email to ask for one.
- Lock the proof once it is decidedAn approved proof shows a banner, stamps the artwork, greys out the toolbar and replaces the buttons with the status.RemovesThe same proof being approved twice, or changed after sign-off.
- Keep the decision on the jobThe status, the name and the version it applied to stay on the job for as long as the job exists.RemovesReconstructing who approved what from three people’s mailboxes.
Group 05
Handling revisions without another email thread
Revisions are where proof-by-email breaks down completely. This is the part most shops feel first.
- Put the new version on the link the customer already hasUpload the corrected artwork to the same job. The customer gets a New Proof Version Available email pointing at the same address they used last time.RemovesA second, third and fourth attachment circulating at once.
- Keep the superseded version visible and markedThe version that was replaced stays on the page, greyed out and badged ARCHIVED, directly above the one that replaced it.RemovesAn argument about which version the customer actually saw.
- Let the customer send the replacement themselvesInstead of replying with an attachment, they press Upload new file(s) and ProofQueue walks them through the job one file at a time.RemovesArtwork arriving as an attachment on a thread nobody in production reads.
- Check the replacement as it is uploadedIt must have the same page count as the file it replaces, and a first page within a quarter of an inch of the original size. The rules are stated before the customer chooses a file, and a file that breaks them is refused.RemovesA 96 by 48 inch banner quietly replaced by an A4 export.
- Review it before it replaces anythingA customer upload lands as a pending upload on the job. An administrator promotes it or rejects it. Until then the live file does not change.RemovesProduction picking up a file the shop has never looked at.
Group 06
Keeping the team out of the inbox
The point is not that the software is clever. It is that nobody has to go and ask anybody.
- Count every job by statePending, Approved, Rejected, New Files and Total, across the top of the dashboard, updating as customers act.RemovesA morning meeting spent asking who has heard back.
- Filter and searchFilter to one state, or search by job number or order number.RemovesScrolling somebody else’s inbox to find a job.
- Recognise the job from the rowEach row carries a thumbnail of the artwork, the job number, the order number, the customer, how many files and how long ago it was created.RemovesOpening six jobs to find the one you meant.
- See when the proof was openedThe job records its own activity, including when the proof was viewed.Removes“I never got it” with no way to check.
- Keep your customers on fileSave contacts, import an existing list from a CSV file, and start a proof directly from a contact.RemovesRetyping the same email address onto every job.
Group 07
Keeping the artwork under control
Proofs are production files. They should not end up as a PDF in somebody’s downloads folder.
- Show the proof without handing over the fileThe proof page is a viewer. It offers no download, no print and no save, and it tells the customer so with a View only badge.RemovesPrint-ready artwork circulating outside the job it belongs to.
- Expire the linkProof links stop working after their expiry date, which you set.RemovesAn old link still opening a live proof a year later.
- Watermark the proof if you want oneAn optional watermark can be switched on. It ships switched off.RemovesNothing on its own — see the note below.
Group 08
Making it look like your shop
The customer should feel they are on your proof page, not on somebody else’s software.
- Put your name and logo on the proofYour company name and logo sit at the top of every proof the customer opens.RemovesA proof that looks like it came from a stranger.
- Set the guide colours and the cutline insetThe cutline colour, the safe line colour and the cutline inset are all configurable to match how your shop marks up artwork.RemovesArguing with a guide that does not match your own bleed standard.
- Choose light, dark, or automaticThe proof page offers a light and a dark appearance, and an automatic mode that switches on a schedule you set — day starting at 07:00 and night at 19:00 by default.RemovesA glaring white screen on a press floor at night.
- Set the operational limitsThe link expiry, the maximum upload size and how long completed jobs are retained are all settings, not assumptions.RemovesWorking around somebody else’s idea of a sensible default.
Said plainly
What the view-only proof page is, and what it is not.
The proof page does not offer download, print or save, links expire, and an optional watermark is available. Together these keep production artwork from casually leaving the job it belongs to, which is what most print shops are actually worried about.
They are not a technical guarantee that a determined person cannot capture what is on their own screen, and we will not tell you otherwise. If artwork ownership matters commercially, that belongs in your terms with the customer. ProofQueue removes the everyday leak — the forwarded attachment — rather than claiming to solve the hard one.
Which of these do you actually need?
Most shops come to ProofQueue for one specific problem and discover the rest later. Tell us the one that is costing you now and we will show you that part first.