When every copy has to be different

Raffle tickets, entry passes, invoice books, delivery dockets, gift vouchers, parking permits: all of these are print jobs where each piece carries its own serial number, and most of them also need a perforated stub that tears off cleanly. They look simple. In production they involve a combination of variable printing, perforating, collating, padding and sometimes numbering by a separate machine, and the order in which those steps happen decides whether the finished books work.

This guide explains how numbered and perforated jobs are produced, what to specify when you order them, and the errors that cause reprints.

Two ways to put a number on a page

Digital numbering

The numbers are generated in the file and printed with the rest of the artwork on a digital press. Each impression is unique, so the sequence, the starting number, the font and the position are all set in the artwork. This is the method for almost every numbered job today, and it is what a variable data print run is. Advantages: any font, any colour, numbers can appear on multiple parts of the same ticket (stub and body) in one pass, and the sequence can be checked in the PDF before anything prints.

Mechanical numbering

A numbering head stamps the number after printing, on a letterpress or a dedicated numbering machine. The head advances one digit per impression. This is the traditional method for NCR (carbonless) sets and still appears where the number must be impressed into the paper, or where the job was printed offset without variable data. Limitations: one font (the numbering head's), one colour (usually red or black), and the position is fixed by the machine.

Unless you specifically need the impressed look, ask for digital numbering. It is cheaper, more flexible and easier to verify.

Sequence planning

Before the file is built, settle the sequence. The questions a printer will ask:

• Start and end number. 0001 to 1000? 1 to 1000? 5001 onward because last year's batch ended at 5000? Fix the digit count so every number has the same width; leading zeros keep the layout stable.
• Numbers per piece. A raffle ticket has the same number on the stub and the body. A three-part NCR invoice has the same number on all three sheets of a set. A voucher may need a number and a separate code.
• Books or loose. Tickets are usually padded into books of 50 or 100 with a cover, numbered consecutively within each book. Loose tickets in a box are fine for a single-event raffle but hopeless for anything that needs accounting.
• Order inside the book. Ascending from the front is normal. Some organisations want the lowest number at the back so that the top ticket is always the next unused one; say so.

Write the sequence down in the order as text, not just in the file. It is the single most common thing that goes wrong, and it is invisible on a one-page proof.

Perforation

A perforation is a line of tiny cuts that lets the stub tear away without scissors. It is made either on the press with a perforating wheel, or afterwards on a dedicated perforating machine or a creasing/perforating unit. Two specifications matter:

• Teeth per inch (TPI). A coarse perforation (around 8 TPI) tears easily but leaves a ragged edge; a fine one (16 to 24 TPI) tears cleanly and holds together better in a book. For tickets in a book, 12 to 16 TPI is typical; for a tear-off reply slip on a leaflet, 16 to 24.
• Position and direction. A perforation must run the full width or height of the sheet in a straight line and be at least 6 mm from any parallel fold or trim. A perforation that stops short of the edge cannot be made on most machines.

Mark the perforation in the artwork as a dashed line on a separate layer named "PERF", not as a printed line. If you want a visible dotted line printed as a guide, add that too, but make it clear which is which. Thick stock above 200 gsm needs a coarser perforation to tear reliably; the same TPI that works on 100 gsm bond may hold a 300 gsm ticket together.

Production order matters

A typical numbered ticket book goes: print (with numbers) → perforate → cut to size → collate into sequence → pad with a cover → wrap. Change the order and problems appear. Numbering after cutting means every ticket is handled individually. Cutting a numbered multi-up sheet without a correct collation plan produces books where the numbers jump by the number of tickets across the sheet, so ticket 1 is followed by ticket 11. A print shop handles this by imposing the numbers so that each stack cuts into a consecutive book; it is why numbered jobs are imposed differently from ordinary flyers, and why late changes to the quantity per book are expensive.

NCR sets

Carbonless invoice and docket books are the most involved version of this job. Each set has two to four sheets of specially coated paper, each a different colour (white, yellow, pink, blue), glued along one edge so that writing on the top sheet transfers to the ones below. Numbering must be identical across all sheets of a set and consecutive between sets. Perforation is usually on the top sheet only, so the customer copy tears out and the book copy stays. Specify which sheet is fixed and which tears, and ask for a made-up sample from the first book before the run continues.

Checking a numbered job

• Read the first, last and one middle number in the first book and the last book; confirm they match the requested sequence.
• Check that no number repeats between books. Take the last number of book 1 and the first of book 2.
• Tear one stub from a ticket in the middle of a book. It should separate cleanly without pulling the ticket out of the pad.
• For NCR, write on a top sheet and check the transfer on the bottom copy.

For the general approach to inspecting a delivery, see our guide on what to check when a large run arrives.

Numbered and perforated printing at S7

We produce numbered tickets, vouchers, permits and NCR books through our digital printing department, with numbering generated in the file so the whole sequence can be checked in the proof. Perforation and padding are done in-house, the imposition is planned so that books collate consecutively, and we make up one complete book from the first sheets and check the sequence before the run proceeds.

To order, send the artwork with the stub and body marked, the start number, the quantity per book, and the total. If the artwork is not built yet, tell us the ticket size and we will send a template with the perforation line positioned correctly. Our full production capabilities are on the printing services page, and for anything with unusual sequencing, such as several prize categories in one run, get in touch before building the file.