Software & Apps Design How to Prepare Your Document Layout for Printing Use this list to put all the right elements in place by Eric Miller Writer Eric Miller is a former Lifewire writer, freelance graphic designer, and owner of a web development and graphic design studio established in 1998. our editorial process Twitter Eric Miller Updated on December 13, 2019 portishead1/Getty Images Design Graphic Design Photoshop Animation & Video 3D Design Tweet Share Email When preparing a document to send to a printer, there are several specifications and elements to include in your layout. These specs help to ensure that the printer provides your final project as intended. Trim Marks Trim marks, or crop marks, show the printer where to cut the paper. For a standard layout, such as a business card or poster, trim marks are small lines located in each corner of the document. One line shows the horizontal cut, and one shows the vertical cut. Since you don’t want these lines to show up on the printed piece, trim marks are placed outside of the final visible, or live, area. When working in graphics software such as Illustrator, set the trim marks to be shown on screen and automatically placed in the final document export, such as a PDF. If you downloaded templates from a printer, the trim marks will often be included. Trimmed Page Size The trimmed page size is the final intended size of your pages, after being cut along the trim marks. This size is important to supply to the printer because it determines what machines will be used to print your job, which affects the final cost. When starting a project, the size you create your document at in a graphics program is the trimmed page size. Bleed It's often necessary to have images and other design elements extend to the edge of the printed page. If in your layout these elements only extend to the edge, and not beyond, a small amount of white space may show up on the edge of the paper if it's not cut exactly on the trim marks. For this reason, there are bleeds. Bleeds are images that extend beyond the live area of the page (and beyond the trim marks) to guarantee clean edges. Background colors are a common use of a bleed. The amount that images need to extend beyond the trim marks is referred to as the bleed. Consult your printer at the start of a job to find out the required amount of bleed, which is often around one-eighth of an inch. In your graphics software, use guides to mark the bleed area, which doesn't need to show up in the final document that you deliver. Make sure any image that needs to extend to the edge of the page extends to the bleed guides. Margin or Safety Just as images that should bleed should extend beyond the live area of your layout, images that you don’t want to risk getting clipped should stay within a margin, sometimes referred to as a safety. Consult your printer for these measurements. Just as with bleeds, set up guides to help stay within the margins. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit