Bleeds

[elle1013]

Hi,

I'm relatively new to InDesign. I'm setting up my document and have set a bleed area. From what I've read, this will eliminate white margins form the edge of the page when printed. But I still have white space at the edge of the pages. How do I rectify this?

All help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

 

[jimoblak]

Are you printing to a paper size that allows bleeds? If your document is letter-sized, you cannot print a bleed on a letter-sized page. You need a larger sheet of paper.

 

[elle1013]

Thanks for your reply. I'm printing to A4 sheets and the document is set to A4. Can A4 print a bleed?

 

[jimoblak]

You should check the manual for what a bleed is.

You cannot design an A4 document with a bleed and expect it to print on an A4 sheet. Bleeds are for oversize sheets.

 

[kandsuk]

The whole purpose of bleeds, as you have correctly guested, is to allow for printing (graphics, colours, etc), to extend to the edge of the page. The way it works is this: If you're printing an A4 document (or letter-size, in the State, which is *roughly* the A4 equivalent), you create your A4 page and add a bleed of, say, 3-5mm. Draw your images out to the bleed lines and then package the document for printing. When you send the document out to a printer, they don't use A4 paper to print it on; they use larger stock and then cut it down to size, so in effect they are cutting off the 3mm of your images that extend beyond the page edge. This cannot be recreated on a normal printer in your office or home -- UNLESS you have a printer that can print to page-edge (in which case you don't need a bleed, just draw your images to the edge of the page and hit print). Hope that clarifies...

_____________________________
(ignore my "Vendor" status... I clicked the wrong thing when I signed up and can't figure out how to change it!)

 

[elle1013]

Thanks so much for your help guys. That has cleared it up! I've being trying to figure it out for days but find the help option and visual guide book very confusing. Your help is very much appreciated.