Proofreading

The errors that survive three readings by the author

Authors do not miss typos through carelessness. They miss them because they read what they meant to write, and the brain fills the gap. That is why a document checked three times internally still goes to print with a client's name spelt two ways and a total that does not match its table.

A proofreader reads differently: slowly, line by line, without knowing what the sentence is supposed to say. The second pass is not a repeat of the first. It runs across the document looking only for consistency, because the worst errors are not misspellings but a figure that changes between page 4 and page 19.

• Numbers and totals that disagree between text, tables and summaries
• Names, product terms and job titles spelt or capitalised two ways
• Mixed UK and US spelling in the same document
• Cross-references pointing to a section that has moved
• Captions, footnotes and headers left over from a previous version

Proofreading after layout is a separate job

Text that was perfect in Word can break the moment a designer flows it into a layout. Words split badly across lines, a paragraph loses its last sentence in an overflowing text box, or a heading ends up alone at the bottom of a page. None of these exist in the manuscript, so a manuscript proofread cannot catch them.

We mark designed files with standard PDF annotations, each one pinned to the exact spot, so the designer can work through them without interpreting anyone's notes. For long reports we recommend both: a proofread of the final text, then a lighter check of the designed proof against it. The second check is quick, and it is the one that catches what actually prints.