The size of your project can affect the cost of your printing. When a commercial printer is able to fit a project on a pre-cut standard sized sheet of paper (example: letter, legal or tabloid), he potentially saves time and material cost, which can mean a savings to you.

For your project to fit on pre-cut standard sized paper, the graphic elements of your project must fit exactly within the margin boundaries of the page. Most small offset and many digital presses require page margins which contain no content, like text or graphics, so that the gripper and rollers of the press can process your sheets without damaging or losing document content.

Page Margins

The best way to allow for the text-free area surrounding your printed piece is to add page margin values in the New Document/Publication dialog box when you first create your new document. This will provide you with a page guide to restrict the placement of your text and graphics, allowing enough area for press handling without lose of content. Check with your printer for the their preferred margin requirements; however, a good rule of thumb would be to allow .25 in (6.35 mm or 1p6 pica/points) on each side of your document and .5 in (12.7 mm or 3p0 pica/points) on the top and bottom.

Adobe InDesign

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QuarkXPress

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Microsoft Office Publisher

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Of course, not all projects can be designed to fit exactly on pre-cut sized paper. But for those that do, discuss this possibility with your printer. By forgoing bleeds, and using enough margin around the live print area, you might be able to save time and money.

Return to the Page Setup menu for more page setup consideration topics.

Microsoft product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation.