Confused about "bleed"

[jayUSA]

Hello,

I am designing a square brochure that will ultimately measure 27cm by 27cm. The printer has asked us to supply an InDesign file that is 28cm by 28cm. In the printing process, they will remove .5 cm from all sides resulting in a 27X27 final product.

So.. in the Document Presets I have set the page size to 28X28, the margins to zero, and the bleed to .5 cm on all sides.

However, no matter what Screen Mode I select (even "Bleed") I can never see my document as it will look with this extra area on all sides trimmed away! What am I doing wrong?

Also, how can I generate a PDF that will also show how the document will look with these areas trimmmed away? I've played with various settings, but with no success.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Jay

 

[jimoblak]

You need to have a better dialog with your printer - or a smarter printer. The printer should know about how bleed is handled in a page layout app.

If you are expecting a 27x27cm product, create an InDesign document to that size. When you print or export PDF, you can define the bleed area.

As you design, just extend elements off the page. Dealing with bleeds is not rocket science unless you have neglected to read the InDesign manual or help files.

 

[Ekwoman]

Also...when you set up the document at 27 x 27, set a bleed amount of .5 in the Document Setup dialog (you can do this in the doc you've already created, by choosing Document Setup from the File menu)...that way, you'll get a bleed line that you can "snap" your objects to (those that have to bleed). Also, in the preview modes (bottom two icons in your Tools palette), choose Bleed mode (click and hold the icon on the right and you'll get the fly out menu..choose the one with the red outlines). Now, you can see where the bleed goes out to, as well as where your document will trim. If you're making a PDF (or when the printer goes to print the file), simply choose Use Document Bleed Settings from the Marks and Bleed pane of the Print dialog. That way, you don't have to type in a bleed amount...it already knows where the bleed is. Hope that helps.

 

[jayUSA]

jimoblak and Ekwoman,

Your advice and suggestions are working well for me. Thank you sooo much!

However here is the remaining problem that I'm having:

- my document presets include a .5cm bleed on all sides
- I can toggle this .5cm bleed on and off depending on the view mode that I select (great!)
- but when I export the document as a PDF, the bleed area is viewable in the PDF even though I tell it to use the bleed area as defined in the InDesign document
- I have the same problem if I manually define the bleed are as .5 cm on all sides during the export; the bleed area is still viewable in the resulting PDF

What's going on here? What elementary mistake am I now making??

Thanks for your response!!

Jay

 

[apepp]

...if you want the export without bleed (without 0.5cm set in document bleed) then you need to overide your document bleed settings in the export settings...

...this is done by turning off 'Use document bleed settings' in the 'Marks and Bleeds' section of the Export dialog, and setting the 'Bleed and Slug' to zero cm in all the input fields...

...also turn off any printers marks in this same dialog...

...the file you need to send to your print provider is to include the bleed (and marks too which are helpful)...

Andrew

 

[Ekwoman]

(and marks too which are helpful)[/quote}

Just make sure that if you have .5cm bleed that you set your crops to be at least .5cm offset...that's in the Marks sections of the Marks and Bleed pane in the Print dialog.

I often receive PDFs from other designers who have given me 1/8 inch bleeds, but the crops are set at 1/16 inch...which puts the crops right in the printable area and defeats the purpose of crops. I do wish that if you choose 1/8 bleed (or .5 cm or whatever) that InDesign wouldn't let you put crops any closer to your page than that. Good luck!