Print Operations Overview
Printing takes place only on Wednesdays. Poster submissions via our online order form must be received no later than 5pm (Central) on a Tuesday to be printed that Wednesday. We have a limit of 100 posters that can be printed per Wednesday. Refer to the rest of this page along with our FAQ for more important details and other locations you can print posters. Our current poster queue for the upcoming Wednesday can be found on our Poster Printing Queue page.
We do not accept in-person order submissions. DO NOT call the Memory & Aging Project or the Knight ADRC with questions regarding poster printing. Poster related matters are handled via email by contacting posters@abraxas.wustl.edu between the weekday hours of 7:30am and 4:00pm (excluding WUSM observed holidays or days when the Center is closed). Poster staff are in the office until 30 minutes after the last poster has printed.
WUSM observed holidays and other emergencies may impact our ability to print; however, any outages will be listed at the top of the Order Form as far in advance as possible.
Accepted File Submission Formats
- Adobe PDF
If you are using a program other than PowerPoint such as Illustrator or InDesign, we recommend that your final, submitted PDF for printing be one of these two PDF versions:
- PDF/X-1a – This is our preferred format as it forces the entire document into CMYK-only color profiles and completely flattens all transparency. It is virtually impossible for a printer to misread this file.
- PDF/X-4 (NOT X-4p) – If X-1a is not possible, this version allows modern transparency effects and layers but ensures the printer’s Raster Image Processor (RIP) handles the layering mathematically and perfectly.
If you cannot directly export into either version, there are online tools that will handle the conversion from a standard PDF into one of the two versions we listed. As always, review the PDF carefully to make sure everything looks correct before submitting your order.
Accepted Image Formats
The Knight ADRC poster service only supports posters that contain images meeting the qualifications below. Images that fail to print in a poster that deviate from the list below are not the responsibility or fault of the poster service, and you will still be charged for your poster.
- PNG – This is the recommended and preferred format for images.
- TIFF
- JPG – Do not apply any compression options when saving the JPG image.
All images within your poster should be at least 150dpi and no more than 300dpi.
MacOS users should make sure to NEVER use a screenshot image in their poster even if the screenshot itself is a PNG file. Export the image from the program that created the image and then save that as a PNG. Insert the exported PNG into the poster.
Accepted Poster Design File Formats
The Knight ADRC strongly recommends that you design your poster in Microsoft PowerPoint 365 which all faculty, staff and students have access to for free. Using PowerPoint 365 increases the likelihood of printing success.
If you choose to design your poster in any other program, we are not responsible for any posters that may contain printing errors, and you will still be charged for your poster. There are too many variables and points of failure which is a situation we cannot support or troubleshoot when issues arise.
See the Accepted File Submission Formats section further above for important information regarding the PDF you be submitting when using a program other than PowerPoint to create your poster.
Properly Designing a Poster in PowerPoint
When designing a poster, you should never just open up PowerPoint and start creating a poster on the default slide. The default’s slide size in inches is not appropriate for posters. Either use a template or, if you need a custom size, then set your slide’s size to a Custom Slide Size which is in inches.
What you need to know:
- Your poster size limit at your presentation venue.
- Our maximum printable dimensions:
- 42-inches by 708-inches on our 42-inch roll media
- 36-inches by 708-inches on our 36-inch roll media
- The maximum size of a PowerPoint slide if using PowerPoint for creating a poster (56-inches by 56-inches)
The goal is to create a poster that is 100% of the poster size limit at the presentation venue; however, it must also meet requirements from numbers 2 & 3 above as well.
If your size limit at the venue is 48-inches by 84-inches for example, you’re limited to 42-inches by our printer on that 48-inch dimension. The 84-inch dimension is within our 708-inch printer limit. However, a 42-inch by 84-inch poster is larger than PowerPoint’s limit 56-inches by 56-inches. When this situation occurs, you should design a slide at half-size. You would set your PowerPoint’s custom slide size to 21-inches by 42-inches (half of 42-inches by 84-inches). Then on the order form, you select the option to scale the short side to 42-inches (effectively doubling the size of the file’s dimensions when printed).
If you design a poster that isn’t exactly half size or full size, we can proportionally scale whatever size your poster is to fit either the 36-inch or 42-inch roll media.
Always leave a .25-inch margin around your poster. Do not place text, logos, images or graphs/charts inside this margin in order to avoid problems. Resist to urge to place text or objects/images right up against the sides of your poster.
QUICK TIP: A quick way to get an idea of how your poster will look when printed is to zoom in on it at 200% if your poster is half of the desired print size. If images/graphs/logos look blocky and unreadable, increase the resolution of your images. If you plan on submitting a file that is 100% of the final desired printed size, view your poster at 100% zoom to get an idea of how your poster will look printed. If you are unsure of the scaling percentage being applied to your poster, you can use our Scaling Calculator to determine the exact percent of scaling. Once calculated, use that percentage number as your zoom amount when reviewing your poster.
When you are done designing your poster, export a PDF of the PowerPoint slide following the instructions in the next section.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you submit a poster file that exceeds our 42-inch roll size limit (such as a poster 44-inches x 56-inches) and select the Same as File’s Dimensions option on our order form, your poster will be automatically scaled down proportionally using the shortest dimension to fit our 42-inch media. This will give you the largest possible size poster based upon what we are able to print combined with your file’s submitted dimensions.
Properly Creating a PDF from PowerPoint
Below are instructions to properly create a PDF from within PowerPoint for printing at the Knight ADRC. Failure to correctly follow these instructions may lead to your poster looking distorted or with missing images when printed, and you still be charged for the poster. It’s also possible that you order may be rejected for printing.
The use of any other method to generate a PDF other than the steps below is not supported and may result in you being charged for a print that does not look like what you expected, or your order may be rejected by the printing service.
Carefully read and follow the instructions below to create the correct type of PDF so we can print your poster.
- Mac Computers: To properly create a PDF from PowerPoint, select File > Export within PowerPoint. Verify the file type is set to PDF.
- Windows Computers: Select File > Export. Select the Create PDF/XPS Document and then click the Create PDF/XPS button.
- DO NOT print the PowerPoint slide to a PDF or use Save As to create a PDF.
- If you do not see the option to do File > Export, your version of PowerPoint is out of date. Contact WashU IT Services at (314) 933-3333 to get the most recent version of Microsoft Office.
- IMPORTANT STEP: Once your PDF has been created, open it and verify the page sizing matches your PowerPoint’s slide dimensions. In Adobe Acrobat Reader click File > Properties (Document Properties) > Description tab. Within the Advanced Information section, you’ll find Page Size.
Understanding Print-Ready Files
All files submitted to the Knight ADRC are to be considered “print-ready.” This means that we assume you have read all of the information provided regarding poster printing on this website, have properly proofed your file and that you understand how to determine what your poster will look like when printed by using a program’s zoom/magnification function, and understand that we will not edit or in any way review the contents of your submitted file before printing.
We are not responsible for typos, missing images due to failing to follow our guidelines on this page, or for graphics that appear pixelated when you insert images that are of insufficient resolution for the printed size you request on the order form. Any reprints due to designer error are charged at full cost. Since we print on Wednesdays, and are only in the office while printing, a reprint may not be possible.
Refer to our FAQ regarding submitting revised files for printing. Check over your work carefully before submitting it for printing!
Other Helpful Resources
- NCSU has some great tips regarding poster design. Check them out!
- Refer to Science Buddies’ page for all things font and display board to make sure your poster is designed effectively.
Questions? Please reach out to posters@abraxas.wustl.edu.
Updated 9/18/2026