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Just as a Tiling artisan might need to know whether you want indoor or outdoor tiles, smooth or non-skid, we too need to have an understanding of what role your final product will be expected to perform.  It can be SO frustrating to have the PERFECT electronic document when displayed on a low-resolution internet screen, only to find that it looks like RUBBISH when printed. And it can ALSO be annoying to be in possession of a super-high-quality product that is TOO bulky to attach to an e-Mail.

So before we can get started on your project, we need to understand precisely what you are hoping to achieve. As a general rule, we cannot "re-size" an existing PDF file but If (at the time of initial creation) you'd like a RANGE of .pdf's that will cater to your every need, then NO PROBLEM...  The COST difference will be negligible!

e-Mail Attachments :

If your intent is to use your final .pdf  file as a lightweight e-Mail attachment that is intended for on-screen viewing and ununlikely to be rejected by recipients' mailboxes, then you should tell us this from the outset. We will create a document at a resolution of around 100dpi (dots/pixels per inch) which will look fine onscreen but which won't really "measure up" on an inkjet printer.

Office Printer :

Modern Inkjet Printers cater to a wide range of resolutions. You will usually be more than satisfied with 300dpi for text-only documents, or 400dpi if photos are included.

If you intend to output to "Photographic" paper, then you might require 600dpi files.

Just be aware that High Resolution equates to large file sizes which might

a) be rejected by e-Mail-boxes,
b) take a long time to transmit / receive,
c) take a long time to print (and use lots of ink),
and
d) occupy lots of disk space.

Offset Printing :

Offset printing 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.

Compared to other printing methods, offset printing is best suited for cost-effectively producing large volumes of high quality prints in an economically sound manner that requires little maintenance.

Offset lithography is one of the most common ways of creating printed matter. A few of its common applications include: newspapers, magazines, brochures, stationery, and books.

All Offset-Printing companies have their own guidelines and specifications that have to be met by the DeskTop Publisher, so it is always useful for us to know what company you intend using from the outset. We can then get the spcs directly from them, if necessary... Often they will be displayed on their web site.

Some of the things they will be concerned about will be:

Document Size - from basic factors such as U.S. Letter vs A4 / A3 page sizes to specific requirements as to the use of crop-marks, or whether files have to exactly match the final media size.

Fonts that we will have to provide, just in case they don't have them... sometimes this might mean you will have to choose different fonts, for compatibility reasons.

Bleed - Do you want your artwork to continue to the edge of the page or would you prefer a border?

Graphics / Images / Photos should typically be of a resolution of 300dpi (final printing size) or better and use the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black) colour convention (as opposed to RGB - Red, Green, Blue).

Rich Black - Might it be necessary for us to specify our blacks as C30, M30, Y30, K30 instead of the "standard" black, which might allow overprinted objects to show through, like pesky ghosts.

Others :

You might intend your final product(s) to be viewed directly off a CD, DVD or USB Key. Or the files might only be intended for viewing on a web page. Each will demand it's own considerations so we urge you to follow the age-old maxim of :

( YES, that WAS intentional !
Like antici...      
...pation ! )