Collated vs. Uncollated
Collated printing makes it easy to print welcome packets, employee training materials, information packets for prospective students, flashcards and more in the right order.
You get to design unique content and imagery for each page in your set and they’ll all be printed with the same size, shape, paper stock and finish (like UV coating and rounded corners). Read more to find out if collating is right for your next project.
What’s the Difference Between Collated and Uncollated?
Understanding the difference between collated printing and uncollated printing can determine how you design your project for online printing.
Collated
To collate something means to compile it in a specific order. This can be actual sheets of paper or simply numerical data. For an online printer like Smartpress, collated means your piece has more than one page and is printed in the order you specify.
For example, you want three copies of a five-page informational packet. If you want each packet to print in the same order, collated printing would be your best bet. This way, collated printing would print pages one through five of the first packet before moving on to the second packet and so on.
Uncollated
If something is uncollated, it means it’s compiled randomly or in an unspecified order. In printing terms, uncollated means your piece has more than one page and those pages are printed separately.
For example, you have that same five-page informational packet. When printing three copies of it, uncollated printing would print page one three times, then page two three times and so on. The result is one stack of page one, one stack of page two, etc.
When to Use Collated Printing
Collated printing comes in handy and saves you time on so many projects. It’s ideal for:
- Marketing information packets
- Instruction manuals
- Product information
- Program literature
- Professional portfolios
- Flashcards
- Event and wedding table cards
- Custom playing cards, trivia cards and tarot and oracle cards
- Recipe cards
- Devotional decks
- Note cards and stationery
Tips & Tricks
- Individually shrink wrap bundles of assorted stationery and more for easy retail sale.
- When printing manuals and how-to’s, add one, two or three drill holes for easy insertion into binders.
- Make the most of our online printing services and choose the corner stapling option for preassembled packets.
Learn more: Collated Printing: Top 10 Marketing & Design Ideas, Decked Out: Customize Flashcards for Learning & Fun