Trim marks with Distiller

Hi,
I've just ordered Distiller for Solaris Unix for our publishing system. We've been using a 10-year old version for years. The question I have would pertain to the Windows version of Distiller I have as well. I just want to know if there's any way in Distiller to add trim marks to the generated PDFs. I know it's available in Acrobat itself, but, isn't there a way to make finished, print-ready PDFs in Distiller without having to open them up in Acrobat?
Thanks,
Peter

Thanks, Aandi. Well, this is a bit depressing. I have a product called Onevision Asura on Windows. It's able to create PDFs with trims. But, our company publishing system is on Unix. I'm just now buying the latest version of Distiller for them. I'd thought that the newest Distillers were able to create trims. How can a product claim to make print-ready files if it can't even put in trims? This means that I have to take the finished PDF from Unix and put it through my Windows Asura. The Unix geeks will freak.
Thanks,
Peter

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Adding trim marks with tiled printing

Hi,
I'm trying to print a large sized document to tile, but I'd like each page printed to have a boxed border around it (trim marks) instead of just the small "+" in each corner. Is this possible? I have searched online over and over and can't seem to figure it out! I've tried all the options I can find in Illustrator, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro.
Thanks!

The only automatic marks you get when tiling are the ones you've seen. Anything else would need to be added manually -- a real challenge to get right on a tiled piece.

Crop/Trim Marks Wrong Position: Quark 6, PS File, Distiller 8 (Poster Sizes)

I am having a similar problem as a Quark 7 user making PDFs of posters:
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx?128@@.3c05836f
Acrobat Distiller 8 is moving my document's bottom trim marks into the wrong position. They appear too high on the PDF instead of all the way at the bottom.
1. Create 24"x36" document in Quark 6.52
2. Choose "File -> Export Layout as PDF"
3. Select crops and bleeds in Export Options
4. Save Postscript file to desktop
5. Drag and drop the .ps file onto Distiller 8
The resulting PDF has the bottom crop marks (trim marks) in the wrong position. If I drop the .ps file onto Distiller 4, Distiller 5, or Preview, the crop marks show up in the correct position.
Adobe Tech Support verified that the problem occurs in Distiller 8. They recommended that I upgrade to Distiller 9, which appears to be fixed.
My own workaround so far is to Print from Quark to the Adobe PDF 8.0 "printer" that gets installed with Acrobat. I can then manually set my page size to 25"x37" to fit the crop marks.
If anyone would like to see examples of the issue, or try it out for themselves, I have uploaded sample files to my web server.
Distiller 8 PDF:
http://www.jwgdesign.com/files/Poster-Test/Poster-Test-v8.pdf
Distiller 5 PDF:
http://www.jwgdesign.com/files/Poster-Test/Poster-Test-v5.pdf
Postscript File:
http://www.jwgdesign.com/files/Poster-Test/Poster-Test.ps
Quark File:
http://www.jwgdesign.com/files/Poster-Test/Poster-Test
ZIP archive of all files:
http://www.jwgdesign.com/files/Poster-Test.zip
If anybody else has ideas, please share them. I was hoping that there would be an update that addressed the issue, but it appears that Adobe will never fix this in Distiller 8 because they consider it "fixed" in Distiller 9.
For reference, I am using a Powermac G4 "Sawtooth" with a 1.2GHz G4 CPU, 1.25GB RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.11 "Tiger", Quark 6.52, and Creative Suite 3 Design Standard (CS3) with Acrobat Professional 8.1.2.

Indeed, if fixed in 9 then it will not be included in 8 ...
Jon
PS - have you thought about leaving off the marks from Quark and then
adding inside Acrobat within Print Production / Add Marks / ?

When placing a PDF created with Distiller, I only get Crop and Media as import options -- I need it to crop to the Trim! PLEASE HELP!

I'm having a MAJOR problem placing PDF files in InDesign CS4...
When I try to place a PDF that has been created in Distiller, the ONLY import options I can choose are CROP and MEDIA. I need it to crop to the TRIM, but that option is grayed out. The PDFs I'm trying to place were created in-house, and converted from Post Script files to PDFs using Distiller. We use PDF/X-1a equivalent settings when creating our PDFs.
If I export the file as a PDF and then try to place it into a CS4 file, I am able to select Trim as an option.
ALSO, if I open the Distiller PDF in Acrobat and then save it (without changing anything), I am able to select Trim as an option. A workaround I have found is to open all of the PDF files in Acrobat, save them to my desktop, and then save over the ones I need to place. Here's the problem with that: I work for a publishing company, and need to place hundreds of ads for each issue of our publications, and it adds a lot of time if I have to go and re-save everything just to be able to place all the ads.
Does anyone know how to fix this problem? I need to get this figured out so we can use CS4 for all of our publications again. -- We've gone back to using CS3 until I can get this figured out...
- Valerie

Steve,
Thanks for the reply, but my PDFs all have trim boxes on them. If I try to place the same PDF in InDesign CS3, it gives me Trim as an option. Also, if I open the PDF and save a copy to my desktop, I am able to select Trim as an option when placing the PDF, and I didn't change anything about it.
I've been trying to see if it's something with the Print Preset settings I'm using, but I can't find anything that seems like it would affect how InDesign would read the Trim area of the PDF.
I've attached 2 PDF files. One that was created with Distiller, and one that was exported from InDesign CS4. The Distiller one doesn't show Trim as an option in CS4, but the exported one does.... but they started out as the same ad. Ugh! Help me please!
- Valerie

Printing with trim marks AND elements outside of the artboard

hello, i am using Illustrator CS3. lets say i have a 4x6" artboard with my artwork contained in that space. i also have an adkey just outside my artboard. My goal is to be able to print both the trim marks (equal to my artboard size, 4x6) and my adkey. I cannot get the adkey to print by chaging the bleed settings, since i cant go over 1" bleed. i cant make my artboard bigger, since the trim marks wouldn't be 4x6 anymore. And i dont want to have to put trim marks by hand, since it is too time consuming.
can anyone help?
thank you.

Yes, pretty much the only solution is to work on a larger artboard and use the crop mark filter. Personally, if I find myself having to work to a net size document, I slap it into Indesign and proof it out from there.
Yours
Vern

Trouble with Crop and Trim Marks in Illustrator CS3

Hi,
I'm creating a print document (in Illustrator CS3, using Windows Vista) and sending to a professional printer who requires trim marks. I've created my document so that there is 0.125" trim area on all sides to bleed. Here is what I'm doing to create trim marks:
Artboard is set at desired print size (5.5"x8.5") + 1/8" trim= 5.75"x8.75"
Object>Crop Area>Make This give me crop marks at the edge of my artboard
then I do
Object>Crop Area>Release This allows me to change my crop marks to my desired, 0.125" size
Then i do
Filter>Create>Crop Marks This shows me my crop marks exactly where I want them in a red retangle
then I save the file as a PDF and select the following settings:
Press Quality
Marks and Bleeds: I select the "Trim Marks" box to print the trim marks
If I tell it to show bleeds, it only shows up on the top and bottom, not left and right, even though there is "0.125" in all fields.
(Although these have only showed up for me once, I cannot get it to show up again)
When I select "Save" and then view the file, the trim marks are there, but not were I specified them to be. They show up at the edge of the artboard.
When I change the Artboard to letter size (8.5x11), THEN the crop marks show up where they're supposed to be. Why is this happening???
Any thoughts?? Thank you!

I can get crop marks by using the "Print" menu and printing to PDF. My question is: How do you handle bleeds when printing crop marks in the "Save" or "Print" stage? Aren't the crop marks placed at the file extents?

Trim marks positioning incorrect for files that have a larger crop box than trim box

I've seen this question in one other place on the forum, but it doesn't look like it ever got answered. It's been driving me nuts for months, so I'm going to try to do a very simple walkthrough for this problem to find out if this is a glitch in the software, or I'm doing something wrong.
When telling Acrobat XI Pro to print a PDF with "Trim Marks," the marks are applied to the "CropBox" instead of the "TrimBox." As far as I'm concerned, this is incorrect behavior. Acrobat 9 Pro, on the other hand, applies the Trim Marks to the TrimBox. Since I receive files with bleed and need to print out a sample on the printer on a regular basis, I have found it necessary to leave Acrobat 9 installed just to print these files. I've done a very simple walkthrough on how to generate a very simple mockup file from InDesign and output it to better illustrate the problem.
I've created a new InDesign document that is 5x7 inches with 1/8" bleed. To make it easier to spot the applicable boxes in the file, I've made a box with a 1/2 point stroke. I made a magenta stroked box that's 5x7 inches to signify the trim, and a cyan stroked box that's 5.25 x 7.25 inches to signify the bleed. I then output it to a high resolution PDF. For the purposes of this example to make sure this can be replicated easily, I'm using the built-in [PDF/X-4:2008] preset to start off with. The only adjustment I'm making to this preset is going to the "Marks and Bleeds" section to check the "Use Document Bleed Settings."
When opening the resulting PDF in Acrobat XI Pro, you can see that the various "Page Boxes" have been applied properly. "CropBox" is set to 0 to include all of the artwork in the file, "BleedBox" is set to 0 since there's nothing outside of the bleed area in this pdf, and "TrimBox" is set to 0.125 in since we gave this file 1/8" bleed. When going to print the file, you can go to "Advanced" and then "Marks and Bleeds" to enable printing with the "Trim Marks." Once you click ok, you can see in the preview image that the trim marks are lining up to the cyan box instead of the magenta box.
As an extra step, it's possible to confirm that the trim marks are going to the crop box and not the bleed box or trim box. If you add a slug to your InDesign document and reoutput the pdf (being sure to include the slug area in the "Marks and Bleeds" section), you will find that the Trim Marks are even further outside of the cyan box. If you output your PDF from InDesign with Trim Marks already applied, you can turn on the Trim Marks option when going to print in Acrobat to see that Acrobat's Trim Marks are going outside of the crop box as well instead of overlapping the ones generated by InDesign.
Is there any fix for this behavior aside from opening the files in Acrobat 9 and printing from there instead?

yes, in the pure definition of the word in the world of print, Crop DOES equal trim...in the exact concept of what YOU see it as.
in Adobe's little bubble, they decided to call the outer box the "Crop" so that they could differentiate between trim and crop in the page box model.
These pictures should help, if not, I'm not going to continue to explain something that you don't want to grasp.
Each picture shows what Acrobat is calling each page box line. since they felt the need to call one trim and one crop, you have to widen your concept of what Adobe is defining "crop" as. Not saying its right, but it is what they are doing, and what is causing the whole issue.
All that aside, if you are not understanding the page box model, then your PDFs are probably not set up this way, so you probably wouldn't even notice the change... So why are you posting on this thread?

Unwanted rubbish in a PDF file with Distiller 9

I made a program to automacally generate a technical catalogue (I use ole automation to draw the drawing in Autodesk inventor, I export the drawing to PDF and insert it in an indesign document). Everything worked perfectly with Indesign CS1 and Acrobat 7.0. Now I upgraded to Indesign CS5 and Acrobat 9.3.
So I have to insert drawings form Autodesk Inventor in an indesign file.
Therefore I print the drawing to a PS-file with the printer 'Adobe PDF' (through ole automation, but that isn't the problem)
Then I convert the PS-file to PDF with acrobat distiller 9.3 (I used ole automation, and also tried it manually in Acrobat Distiller)
This PDF looks good in the PDF reader. But when I import the PDF drawing in an indesign file, I get extra vertical and horizontal lines (I marked a few of them in yellow)
I use Distiller version 9.3. When I use Distiller version 7, I don't have this problem.
- I compared the distiller settings in both versions -> no difference
- I tried to import the file with Indesign CS1 and CS5 -> no difference
- I took the PS-file made with acrobat 7, and converted it with distiller version 9 -> same problem
- I took the PS-file made with acrobat 9.3 and converted it with distiller version 7 -> it's okay
- I manually print the drawing in Inventor with the Adobe PDF printer directly to an PDF file (so no distiller needed) -> it's okay
So it definitely is a problem with actobat distiller 9.
Who can help?
Message was edited by: Philippe Requilé

Use the forum for InDesign or Acrobat.

Why are trim marks not printing correctly in Acrobat 9?

I just upgraded from Acrobat Pro 7 to Acrobat Pro 9. In 7 when I had a document with bleed I could indicate that I wanted trim marks and they would print and I could see where the page would be trimmed. In 9 no matter what I do it puts the trim marks on the media edge not the trim edge. To test this I printed the same document in Acrobat 7 and 9 and the marks were correct in 7 and not in 9.

I updated my printer driver and now all is good. Still don't understand why the driver was good for Acrobat 7 and not Acrobat 9, but problem solved so I'm happy.

Trim Marks Not Printing from Acrobat 9 Pro

I work at an envelope printing company, and we have recently
upgraded my computer (Windows XP Pro SP 3) to Creative Suite 4.
When I try to print a customer's PDF file with trim marks to show
our typesetting department how to place the art, the trim marks
don't print. I have tried every option I can find in the Advanced
section of the Print dialog box. What worked for Acrobat 8 doesn't
work for me anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

Hello,
I'm sorry I'm not able to address your question. These forums
are specific to the
Acrobat.com website and its set of hosted services, and do
not cover the Acrobat family of desktop products.
Any questions related to the Acrobat family of desktop
products would be best suited in the Acrobat User Forums:
Link to
Acrobat Forums
Thanks!
Michelle

Indesign to PDF trim mark issue

I have a business card file in InDesign and exported it to a PDF last week with trim marks for bleed with no issues. Now I export the same file with the same export settings and there is a white trim space.
Last week's export:
This week's export:

If you hold down the SHIFT key when placing your PDF you will get different options.
In your top screenshot you had the BLEED option selected and it only shows the part of the crop marks that intrude into the bleed area.
In your bottom screenshot you have the import option set to something else like BOUNDING BOX or CROP.
This will show you the complete crop marks, not just the part that are in the bleed.
This setting is sticky and will remain the default until you change it.
The full crop marks are more useful when cutting than the way you normally have it, with just partial crop marks.
Depending on the vendor that is printing the business cards they may even not want crops at all, but they will definitely need the bleeds.

Trim Mark problem. CS5 Any suggestions?

I am setting out A4 front and back covers as one piece of (A3+bleed) artwork to be reproduced by digital printing. After printing, the covers will be trimmed on four sides then wire bound.
I set up artwork with covers side by side with 10mm in centre to allow 5mm trim for each spine. My problem is that Illustrator CS5 adds trims on the proof which do not include a facility to specify centrefold trims or even a centreline. AI assumes all artwork will be an single rectangle and only puts trims on the four corners.
I can create two covers as two separate pieces of artwork with suitable bleed and trims, but then I must proof front and back separately and the printer must re-position each cover side by side arranging trims with his pre-press software. That is inefficient.
I simply want to hand over a facsimile proof and a complete .pdf fiIe with correct trims. I tried drawing the spine trims I required, but AI ignored them for proofing, even with the desk top enlarged to accommodate the trim marks. The Print dialogue box trims take priority. Has Adobe missed a trick here or am I overlooking a set-up requirement?
I considered taking the artwork into InDesign but ID also treats my artwork as one page with or without a centrefold, according to how I specify the pages.
But for the fold facility, the ID Print dialogue behaves the same as AI, as you might expect.
Can anyone offer suggestions other than the separate artwork option I have described?

Dear TerraAustralis,
I work in CS5 and I am trying to create trim marks so that I can manually adjust it after and create more of them since I have a multiple itmes to trim.
I get an error message when I try to create the mark:
I have a rectangle with or with stroke or fill (it does the same error), I selct Object-Trim marks
and I get this: <The filter cannot complete because of an unknown error>
NESS
what can I do to be able to edit the marks without making them all manually like before...
since the Crop marks command does not allow us to manipulate the marks?
Thank you in advance for your help.
cc

Trim Mark Problem. AI & ID CS5. Any Suggestions?

I am setting out A4 front and back covers as one piece of (A3+bleed) artwork to be reproduced by digital printing. After printing, the covers will be trimmed on four sides then wire bound.
I set up artwork with covers side by side with 10mm in centre to allow 5mm trim for each spine. My problem is that Illustrator CS5 adds trims on the proof which do not include a facility to specify centrefold trims or even a centreline. AI assumes all artwork will be an single rectangle and only puts trims on the four corners.
I can create two covers as two separate pieces of artwork with suitable bleed and trims, but then I must proof front and back separately and the printer must re-position each cover side by side arranging trims with his pre-press software. That is inefficient.
I simply want to hand over a facsimile proof and a complete .pdf fiIe with correct trims. I tried drawing the spine trims I required, but AI ignored them for proofing, even with the desk top enlarged to accommodate the trim marks. The Print dialogue box trims take priority. Has Adobe missed a trick here or am I overlooking a set-up requirement?
I considered taking the artwork into InDesign but ID also treats my artwork as one page with or without a centrefold, according to how I specify the pages.
But for the fold facility, the ID Print dialogue behaves the same as AI, as you might expect.
Can anyone offer suggestions other than the separate artwork option I have described?

TerraAustralis wrote:
I can create two covers as two separate pieces of artwork with suitable bleed and trims, but then I must proof front and back separately and the printer must re-position each cover side by side arranging trims with his pre-press software. That is inefficient.
Have you asked your printer about this? I'm a printer and if you gave me a file laid up on a page with your trim marks from Illustrator the first thing I'd do it place it in Indesign to strip them off and give me individual pages so I could impose it with my pre press software!
Check first...Adobe hasn't missed a trick, it's how the printing world expects it's files.

Set Trim Marks distance

Hi all!
I have a problem. I have to create an add for a magazine.
In the technical requirements they say that "the size of the ad file equals to the trim size of the magazine plus 15mm from each side (5mm of bleed box plus 10 mm for trim marks, file name, date and time). The trim box is to be centered strictly in the PDF file".
So I wonder how (and if) it's possible to set the 10mm-size for the trim marks.
Thanks in advance

ID will allow you to change the offset of the automatic crop marks when you export a PDF, but the automatic marks are shorter than 10 mm, so my inclination would be to use manually generated marks instead, and this is the workflow I would use:
Set up the new file with the document size at the trim dimensions. Click the more options button to show the Bleed and Slug field if they are not showing already, and enter 5mm in the bleed size fields (by default these fileds are linked, so you can enter the number in the first field then move on to the Slug and they will all fill) then ente 15 mm in the first Slug box and click the chainlink symbol to fill the other three. Press OK.
Your document will show boxes for the the page edge (and any margins you set), and outside that a red line indsicating the Bleed, and a cyan line indicating the slug area. Add a text box and type any page info you like into it in the slug area outside the bleed box, or you can use the Page Info automatic marks during export to add the filename, date and time.
Build your ad, being sure to extend any color that hits the page edge out to the bleed guide.
When you are finished, add a frame with no fill and no stroke the size of the page (trim) and select it. Open the Scripts panel and under Application find the Sample Scripts folder, then Javascript, and finally CropMarks.jsx. Double click the script. In the dialog, set the length of the marks to 10mm and the offset to 5mm (thpe in the units, ID will convert them to points), and click the "entire selection" radio button, and uncheck the Registration Marks box:
The script will add a layer with the marks.
When you export, go to the Marks and Bleeds screen and be sure you check the Include Slug Area box under bleed (the bleed size itself is now irrelevant). Also set the crop mark offset to 5mm and check the box for Page info if you didn't include that manually.

How to calculate Page Size that allows for Trim Marks?

I have made a Word document in 4.75" x 7' Page Size and the print company is demanding they have Trim Marks so they can
cut the document to the precise size.
I went to Save As in the Word doc and converted the Word doc to PDF, no problem.
Then I found how to insert Trim Marks onto the PDF using Adobe Pro 9.
The Trim Marks are L shaped but with the 90 degree corner bit missing so they look like 2 straight lines that would tell the
print company where the sides and the top and the bottom are to be cut if the 2 lines were extended to the intersection of the L.
Something like this for Top Left _I and this for the Top Right I_ and the mirror of those two for the bottom Trim Marks -
However when I use Acrobat Pro 9 to insert Trim Marks on a 4.75" x 7' Page Size, the Trim Marks themselves encroach on
the print area by about 9 mm or just under 0.375" because they are marking the corner of the page but it reduces the Page Size
by about 9 mm or just under 0.375" if I leave them there, ie, by the length of the Trim Marks themselves.
Is there a way to position Trim Marks where I want them?
If not then I presume I need to make my original Page Size bigger by the length of the Trim Marks all round?
If I need to up my original Page Size to accommodate the Trim Marks I need to know the exact length of the Trim Marks don't I?
Other wise if I get the length of the Trim Marks wrong they could either encroach slightly on the printed area or denote the
wrong Page Size.
Or perhaps I've got it wrong and it's not the 90 degree intersection that marks the Page Size but rather it is the other ends of the
Trim Marks where the Trim Marks touch the border of the 4.75" x 7' Page Size that denotes the Trim Size?
But that would mean the Trim Marks do not show up on the Camera Ready page and are not seen after printing but somehow I
don't think that's the case.
The attachment is a screen shot showing the Trim Marks on my 4.75" x 7' Page Size PDF.
Help would be very much appreciated.

Go to the Crop Pages command first and choose a page size bigger than the one you want. In Acrobat 8 it is at the bottom of the dialog box where it says change page sizes. Make sure to select for all the pages you want to have crops for. This will make the pages larger, but still no trim marks yet.
Next to to Advanced, Print Production, Add Printer Marks, choose trim marks. Make sure you have selected all the pages you wanted the trim marks to appear on. The trim marks will appear on your pages.
Kinda reverse of what you'd expect, but it will do it.
By the way this needs Acrobat Pro, not Reader.
Tom

Trim marks with Distiller

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