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 meters, 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.

This refers to any protective covering used to bind together 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.