I'm having trouble getting the printer trim marks to take my bleed into account in Illustrator CS3. My project is an A4 sheet, so I've got an A3 artboard and I'm printing to an A3 PDF for the moment (CUPS-PDF printer). I need to include the trim marks for the printer, and I'm using a 3mm bleed.

However, I can't seem to get the print dialog trim marks to place themselves on the right size. If I set my crop area to be perfectly A4, then the final trim marks are A4, but the bleed doesn't get printed. If I set my crop area to be the A4 + 3mm, then the bleed is printed, but the trim marks line up to the edge of that, and not the A4 area. Essentially, the trim marks are always right up to the edge of what's printed, whereas I think they need to be within the bleed. I'm aware I can create my own trim marks, but I'd like to be able to do this just from the print dialog.

How do I get the trim marks to be the right size, but also have my 3mm bleed printed?

I've got an A3 artboard and I'm printing to an A3 PDF for the moment.




Why? Just Save as PDF.

I think I've been really stupid here. I've just tried it on my friend's Mac, and I get the trim and bleed exactly right when I save as PDF.

Must have been smoking something last night...

I apologise to the world :)

Must have been smoking something last night...




Maybe, but sometimes a key neuron takes a nap at an inopportune moment. Happens to us all.