How to Make Your Tech Editing Process Go Smoother (and Faster)

Revising a pattern after technical editing shouldn’t feel like hard work, but for a lot of designers, it does. Comments get missed. Files get mixed up. Suddenly what should have been a quick and easy QC process turns into weeks of unnecessary back-and-forth that you dread.

There are a handful of small, simple things you can do that make a huge difference in how smooth the tech editing process actually is. Once you implement those habits, EVERYTHING else gets easier . . . for you and your editor.

Here are some easy things you can do to make the editing process of pattern writing a breeze.

Contents

1. What the tech editing process usually looks like

2. Make sure your PDF is editable (not flattened)

3. Keep your file size under control

4. Use PDF markup tools to track edits

5. Version control

6. Your pre-editing checklist

What the tech editing process usually looks like

If you’ve never worked with a tech editor before, the workflow is pretty standard:

1. You send a PDF of your pattern

2. Your tech editor marks it up with comments

3. You receive the PDF back with a lot of feedback

4. You work through those comments and make changes

5. Repeat as necessary until your pattern is polished sufficiently

Most of the time, those comments live directly inside the PDF using markup tools—insertions, deletions, highlights, and notes—each tied to a comment in the comments pane of the PDF reader (Adobe Acrobat is the most common).

At that point, the ball is in your court.

And this is where things either go smoothly . . . or absolutely do not.

Make sure your PDF is editable (not flattened)

This is the single most important thing you can do.

When you export your pattern from whatever software you’re using—InDesign, Affinity Publisher, Word, etc.—you usually have the option to export the PDF as text or as images.

For tech editing, it must be text.

Flattened, image-only PDFs:

• Break or limit markup tools

• Force editors to draw or place comments in the margin instead of using the specific markup symbols

• Make feedback harder to interpret and easier to miss

  
  

Flattened PDFs do have a place, specifically, when you’re protecting your copyright in the final customer-facing version of the pattern.

But during tech editing? They are a nightmare.

Send an editable PDF so your tech editor can use proper markup tools and you can clearly see exactly what they’re asking for. You can always flatten it later once it's finalized.

Keep your file size under control

Aim to keep your PDF under 25 MB.

This comes up constantly, especially with files exported from Affinity Publisher or patterns with large embedded images that are not PDF or SVG images. Oversized files cause problems at every stage:

• They’re harder to email

• They require cloud sharing (and permission management)

• They crash PDF viewer software more easily during markup

As a tech editor, I check file size before I even start. If a file is massive, there’s a real risk the software will crash mid-edit. When that happens, an hour of comments and editing can be lost which is infuriating!

That’s not just frustrating. It’s a massive time sink that will break my business model.

And while this matters for tech editing, it also matters later. Most platforms that sell digital products—Etsy, Wix, Shopify—have file size limits. You’ll need to optimize the file eventually anyway.

Do it before tech editing, not after. I will actually send patterns back to clients before editing if the file size is too big. That's how important this is.

Use PDF markup tools to track edits

When your tech editor sends your pattern back, don’t just read through the comments and start making edits.

Most PDF readers (especially Adobe Acrobat) include a checklist or “resolved” feature in the comments pane. Use it.

This allows you to:

• Mark comments as addressed without deleting them

• Keep context for why a change was made

• Pause and resume editing without losing your place

• Write notes to yourself or ask your editor specific questions about specific comments

  
  

This is especially important if you’re working in short bursts—five minutes here, half an hour there—or if edits stretch over weeks or months.

The last thing you want is to send a revised pattern back to your tech editor only for them to flag the exact same issues again because they got missed the first time. That’s frustrating for everyone.

Version control

Version control matters more than people think.

If you’re only doing a single tech edit pass, this may not feel critical. But if you send a pattern back for a second or third review, file naming becomes essential.

Always include:

• A version number (v1, v2, etc.) or

• A clear date

This avoids:

• Editing an obsolete file

• Sending the wrong version to your tech editor

• Paying for edits you already implemented

As a tech editor, I’ll often add version numbers myself if they aren’t there for this reason, But it’s far better if you do this upfront. Ambiguity here causes real, preventable mistakes.

Your pre-edit checklist

• Export editable PDFs for tech editing (not images)

• Keep files under ~25 MB

• Optimize images before export

• Use comment checklists and PDF reader editing tools instead of deleting notes

• Add version numbers or dates to filenames

These are small habits, but they make a BIG difference.

You're paying good money to have your pattern professionallly tech edited. Let's make sure we do some simple things to get the most bang for your buck so you can write better patterns faster.