one important issue is the document page size. Setting up a 2" x 3" ad in
the middle of a letter page means the ad will import at letter size not 2x3.
So set your document size to be the final size of the ad.
Importing ads done in other apps will be an exercise in frustration. It can
be done w/o problem if the ads are done right. But, as you will find, your
advertisers know a lot less about what you are doing than you do (I don't
mean this to demean you, merely to explain the real world!) which means they
will send you things you can't do a thing with without climbing a steep
learning curve...if then. And most will not understand any instructions you
give them, or, worse, will proclaim themselves an expert but you still can's
accommodate their files, expert or not.
Let's take the case of they send you a PDF. ok. PDF is universal, right?
Wrong! (I'd say 80-90% of them are wrong for the purpose they are submitted
to fill. Let's say your document is spot color, black and a PMS blue for
accents. And they send you a color PDF. Well, first, you can't import the
PDF into MSPub. You will have to convert it. The best converter os Acrobat
itself. You will have to open it in full version Acrobat ($200+, the freebie
"Reader" won't work). Then you'll have to save as EPS or TIFF (experiment to
see which imports and prints right for you. An eps requires a PostScript
printer to print. A Tiff will make the type shaggy (but maybe not too shaggy
for your purposes)). Different versions of Acrobat have different saveas
features.
If you are ready to learn, work hard at it, and to be terminally confused
several times a day, welcome to the world of accepting other people's files!
It can be fun when you start figuring it out (and investing the $$ needed to
make it work). But it's pretty bad in the meantime.
