Seperation setup disabled?

[raznov]

I totally forget.. or maybe I never learned.. how do you set up the document bounds correctly and add a bleed. I looked in the help files... I can not get to seperation setup because it is disabled. Is it my printer, but I know I have done it on a simple bubble jet before. Everytime I print.. (I have a trifold brochure, and I need to set the margins exactly)...I get cut off on one side or another and the bleed does not print. I set crop marks.. but it does not see them, instead it sees the page tiling bounds and I tried to change them, but it still looks wrong.

What am I doing wrong?

K

 

[Eggles]

How does the page size you have set the document up in compare to the size paper your printer can print on?

 

[raznov]

My printer is just a regular bubble jet.. I have 8.5x11 paper in there, there are no other settings in the printer preferences that control document size, it is set to letter. The think I don't understand is why the "page seperation" link is disabled... I need to setup a bleed.. that is the real problem. It must be someting I am doing because I checked on my other computer that I have Illustrator on and it is not connected to a printer at the moment, but the link is disabled there as well.

k

 

[Evegenia]

Are you trying to print separations?
If so, you have to have PS printer selected to be able to see Sep. Setup.

 

[raznov]

Thanks for the reply.. I am not trying to print seperations, just get to the bleed dialogue. I get a very wide border around my finished work.

 

[Eggles]

Two issues here - bleeds and separations.

Bleeds:
You haven't yet said what size page your document is set up to. Assuming it is also letter-size - and your printer can print up to letter-size - then there is no way you can print bleeds and crop marks as these will extend beyond the max paper size your printer can handle.

So in order to print bleeds, your document must be set up on a smaller size page than 8.5 x 11. After printing, you will have to trim down the paper so that the printing appears to bleed off the edge. You need to determine the minimum margins you must allow for your printer to pull the paper through. Draw a rectangle on a letter size page and fill with 5% grey (to use less ink/toner). Print it and see how much white border is left all the way round. It may not be equal, but at least you will know the unprintable margin size you must allow for.

Say for example, your printer can print to within 0.5" from the edge all the way round. All your designs must be within a 'box' of 7.5" x 10". You should allow around 0.25" for bleeds all around, so that the whole design must fit within a 'box' of 7" x 9.5", and you will need to trim off the 0.75" around all edges to give the appearance of bleed.

Separations:
You need to be printing to a postscript printer for the separation menu to be enabled.