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A proof is the artwork you send the customer to approve. Nothing should reach a press without one, and PRINTOOLS keeps the whole trail so “we never approved that” is a settled question rather than an argument.

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Mocks and proofs

A mock is the visual — artwork placed on the garment. A proof is the mock sent for a decision, with a revision number and a status. You can attach mocks to a quote or a quote group while you are still selling, then send proofs once the job is live.

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The cycle

1

Create the mock

Place the artwork on the garment, at the position and scale it will actually print.
2

Send the proof

The customer gets it by email. Several proofs can go in one message if a job has multiple products.
3

Record the decision

Approved, or changes requested. The customer’s decision is recorded against that revision.
4

Revise if needed

Opening a revision keeps the old one intact. History shows every version and every decision, in order.
5

Confirm the size split

Before production, confirm how many of each size the approved artwork applies to.

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Approving on the customer’s behalf

Sometimes a customer approves by phone or in person and someone records it for them. That is a deliberately separate permission — in the API it is the proofs.approve scope, held apart from ordinary proof editing, because approving artwork commits the shop to printing it.
Only record an approval you actually received. The approval trail is what protects the shop in a dispute, and it is only worth anything if it is true.