Setting bleed

To allow for inaccuracies in the trimming process in professional printing, it's a good idea to extend these elements beyond the 'trim edge' (TrimBox), i.e. the page dimensions defined in Document Setup.

Bleed guides are a visual aid only. They assist you in positioning 'bleed' elements (typically images) that you want to run to the edge of a trimmed page. With bleed guides switched on, you can display the printable area extended by the Bleed distance(s) you specify.

The Include bleed setting in the Export dialog includes the bleed area in the actual output page size.

Bleed on output — Bleed enabled on PDF export, extending over crop marks.

For single pages, the terms 'Left' and 'Right' bleed are used, while for facing-page spreads the terms 'Inner' and 'Outer' are used. For the latter, Inner bleed is only relevant for first and last single pages or when exporting (printing) as single pages (rather than spreads).

To set bleed for a new document:

On the New Document dialog, select the Margins and Bleed tab.
Do one of the following:
- For the same bleed value on all page edges, enable the Link symbol below the bleed values, and then set any bleed value.
- For different bleed values on page edges, disable the Link symbol below the bleed values, and then set Left/Inner, Right/Outer, Top and Bottom bleed values.
Tap OK.

To modify your bleed settings:

From the Document menu, select Document Setup.
In the Bleed section on the right, do one of the following:
- For the same bleed value on all page edges, enable Uniform (the link symbol to the right), and then set any bleed value.
- For different bleed values on pages edges, disable Uniform (the link symbol to the right), and then set Left/Inner, Right/Outer, Top and Bottom bleed values.
Tap OK.

To view bleed guides:

From the Toggle Preview Mode menu, select Bleed.

The guides are shown as a red outline that extends beyond the page edges by the chosen Bleed values.

To change the color of bleed guides:

From the Document menu, select Document Setup.
From the Bleed section on the right, tap the Color swatch to display a pop-up panel
Set the bleed color.
Tap OK.

To snap objects to bleed guides:

From the Snapping menu, select Snapping Options.
Turn on Enable snapping and Snap to spread.
Tap Done.

The Snap to spread option snaps to page edge and bleed equally.

To switch on bleed marks on export:

Do one of the following:

From the Document menu, select Export.
Choose a file format to export, e.g. PDF.
Enable Include bleed. See Export Settings for which file formats support bleed.

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