One big challenge I have found in the process of using only free software but at the same time engaging with people in the printing industry is how to create files in the formats and modes they require.

OpenOffice (now LibreOffice) kind of does the job for text. All I needed to do was to make sure that the fonts were embedded so instead of using the shortcut icon, I did File-Export as PDF and in the field PDF producer:
PDF/X-1a:2001.

Graphics are a different matter.
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