Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file.

It refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers.

Offset is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called "fountain solution"), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. The modern "web" process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several metres, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through.

Post press includes various types of finish work such as trimming, embossing, foiling, die-cutting, scoring, folding and bindery. Post press checking can include:

• Embossing: Defects that are commonly checked for are un-sharp edges, pinholes, ruptures and "halos" (shadows around the emboss).
• Foil stamping: Defects to be avoided are feathering, color changes, scuffing, peeling and un-sharp edges.
• Die-cutting: Defects that are commonly checked for are clean cutting and correct positioning.
• Folding/ Bindery: Before the printed sheets are folded or bound it is common to make and review a trimmed dummy of the finished piece. Defects that are commonly checked for are page order and alignment.

This is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of paper sheets that are folded together into sections or sometimes left as a stack of individual sheets. The stack is then bound together along one edge by either sewing with thread through the folds or by a layer of flexible adhesive.

Is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older forms such as the nineteenth-century "paper-boards" and the traditional types of hand-binding.