Trim size
The trim size is the finished size of the printed piece after cutting: 90 × 50 mm for a business card, 148 × 210 mm for an A5 flyer. In a PDF this is recorded as the TrimBox.
Bleed
Bleed is artwork that extends beyond the trim line, so that when the guillotine cuts slightly off-line there's no white edge. The standard is 3 mm per side in metric countries and ⅛ inch (3.175 mm) in the US. In a PDF this area is the BleedBox.
A PDF can declare a BleedBox without real artwork in it. Always check visually that backgrounds and images really extend past the trim.
Safe area
Keep important text and logos at least 3–5 mm inside the trim line. Anything closer risks being cut off or looking cramped.
Crop marks
Crop marks (trim marks) are thin lines outside the printed area that show where to cut. When many items are imposed together with shared cuts, one set of marks around the whole grid shows every cut line. They must sit outside the bleed, so they never print on the finished piece.
Checking a customer's PDF before imposing
- Size: does the trim size match what was ordered?
- Bleed: is there at least 3 mm of real artwork beyond the trim on every side?
- Crop marks in the file: customer-added marks must be excluded; impose using the bleed area only.
- Colour and fonts: CMYK or spot colours as expected, fonts embedded.
Do it in seconds with ImpoGrid
ImpoGrid reads the PDF's trim and bleed automatically, uses only real bleed, ignores the customer's own crop marks, and tells you when a file has less bleed than you asked for. Then it adds clean crop and registration marks to the press sheet.
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