HOWTO: Get printer’s marks and correct bleed sizes in PDFs output from Illustrator CS3
GRRRRR!
Sometimes stupid software bugs just burn my bu**.
For one of my clients, I designed a 8.5×11″ flyer that’s going to a real printer. It’s a full-bleed piece, so the printer requested that I give them an eighth-inch bleed, with trim marks. I thought, “Oh. No worries. I’m using my brand-spanking-new-hot-off-the-presses copy of CS3, which will surely be able to handle this sort of thing. Well, you can see where this is going — it doesn’t. If you make an 8.5×11″ documentin Illustrator CS3, and then save it as a PDF with the appropriate bleed size and trim marks, you don’t get what you wanted. Illustrator crops the document at the artboard limits, which are 8.5×11″.
Some quick googling turned up a discussion of the problem, but not the solution I wanted.
But there is a work-around. I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t involve CS3’s new crop area tool.
If you use the crop area tool, you get the same bug, so it’s no help.
The solution:
- Add ¼” of width all the way around the artboard, making your document 9×11.5″
- Save the document as a PDF
- Open the new PDF in Acrobat 8
- Go to Document > Crop Pages…
- Set the TrimBox (shown below) to ¼” all the way around — to compensate for the ¼” we added before. You’ll see the bright green line in the preview window that now delineates the original 8.5×11″ document size.
- Go to Advanced > Print Production > Add Printers Marks
- Check “Trim Marks”
You should now see the trim marks! Don’t forget to save…
Fritillaria lanceolata (Liliaceae); Chocolate lily
Hey Brent,
I’m desperate… is there a way to do this with Acrobat 5?
Don’t ask why I’m working in Acrobat 5… long, sad story…
Thanks!
Jackie
Oh, I’m so sorry! I wish I knew, but I haven’t used Acrobat 5 in … years. Have you tried looking at the Adobe forums?
Good luck!
Howdy. I saved in the target size (A3) in Illustrator, then in Acrobat enlarged the page in Advanced -> Print Production -> Crop Pages, then put the marks in Advanced -> Print Production -> Add Printer Marks. I think this way you’ll accomplish the same thing(?).
Yes, Illustrator CS3 will save a PDF with proper bleeds. You just have to tell it to do so when saving the PDF. It’s in the marks & bleeds options when doing Save-As.