Print file guide
Every print job is trimmed, and the cut can shift slightly from sheet to sheet. This page shows you — in about three minutes — when your file needs a little extra color around the edge, when it doesn't, and exactly how to set it up.
Quick specs
01 — Start here
Ready to print
The design floats inside the page. Because no color, photo or shape runs off the side, there is nothing for a slightly-off cut to expose.
Ready to print
The color keeps going past where we cut, so the blade always lands on ink. The corner ticks — placed by the export, never drawn by you — tell us exactly where the finished edge is.
Send it back
Same artwork, but the PDF is exactly 8½ × 11 and stops there. A slightly shifted cut could leave a thin white line at the edge.
Rule of thumb If any color, photo, box or shape touches the edge of your design, you need bleed. If everything stops short of the edge, you don't. That's the whole decision.
Remember: the cut can shift slightly, so artwork that touches an edge needs extra color beyond that edge.
02 — Where the marks go
Crop marks should show the intended finished size. If your document was built at a different size, the marks may be placed around the page instead of around the piece you want printed.
Wrong
Right
Your PDF will be bigger than your finished size, and that's correct. Export a 6 × 4 postcard with bleed and crop marks and the file opens at roughly 6½ × 4½. Nothing has gone wrong — the marks inside it still say 6 × 4, and that's what we cut to.
03 — The vocabulary
Crop marks are the little corner ticks your design app adds outside the bleed when you export. They tell our cutter exactly where your finished size begins. You never draw them yourself — you tick a box and the software places them perfectly.
04 — Your numbers
Pick what you're printing — or type your own size — and we'll do the arithmetic. Which number you use depends on your app, so we give you both.
If your app has a bleed setting Illustrator · InDesign · Canva · Publisher
8.5 × 11 in
Make the document this size, then set bleed to 0.125 in on all four sides and drag your background out to the bleed line.
If your app has no bleed setting Photoshop · Word · Google Slides
8.75 × 11.25 in
Build the canvas at this larger size at 300 ppi, run the background right to the canvas edge, and tell us the finished size so we know where to cut.
Keep all text and logos inside
8 × 10.5 in
Centered on the finished size — that's 1/4 in of clear space at every edge. Content placed closer can look uneven or be clipped.
05 — The clicks
Heads up: Canva's dotted bleed line sits inside the canvas edge, which trips people up. The canvas edge is the bleed; the dotted line is where we cut.
Don't tick Registration Marks, Color Bars or Page Information — we add those ourselves, and they can crowd small pieces.
Multi-page booklets: export Pages, not Spreads. We impose the pages for you.
Never draw your own crop marks inside the artwork. They'd print as part of the design.
Publisher's PDF export changes between versions. If the options above aren't there, just send us the .pub file and we'll set it up.
Word, Google Docs and Google Slides can't produce real bleed or crop marks. You have three honest options:
Whichever route you take, export a PDF — File → Save as PDF in Word, File → Download → PDF in Google. Never send a screenshot.
06 — The last gotcha
07 — Before you hit send
Run down this list. If all six are ticked, your file can go straight to the press.
Send us what you've got. We'll open it, check it properly, and tell you exactly what — if anything — needs to change. No charge for that.