Print & Prepress Tools
Print-ready is a specific set of conditions, and meeting them by hand is fiddly. These tools add crop marks and bleed, work out spine and gutter positions, and reduce a file enough to send to a printer.
- Crop marks, trim lines and 3mm bleed added to meet printer requirements
- Saddle-stitch and spine calculators that work out where the fold falls
- Ink-saving mode and CMYK calibration bars for controlled print runs
All Print & Prepress Tools (8)
Print & Prepress FAQ
What is bleed and why does a printer ask for 3mm?
Bleed is the small area of colour or image that extends past the trim line, so that when the sheet is cut, a slight misalignment does not leave a white sliver at the edge. Three millimetres is the common allowance and covers the tolerance of most cutting equipment.
How do I work out the spine position for a saddle-stitched booklet?
It depends on page count, paper weight and whether the sheets are collated or nested. The spine calculator takes those inputs and returns the fold position and the innermost sheet count, which is otherwise a slow trial-and-error process with the printer.
Will CMYK calibration bars help if my colours print differently?
They help you find out whether the difference is in your file or in the output device. A consistent offset across the whole bar points at the printer profile, while an offset on one channel points at a colour in the document itself.