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Question

Adding fold marks to flat pieces

Forum|Forum|16 years ago
March 12, 2009
27 replies
50417 views

Is there a way in Indesign CS3 to indicate a fold so that when you export with crops and bleeds, there is a registration mark indicating a fold? I frequently do two-sided flyers with off-center folds. I can't do them as page spreads because the pages would be different sizes, but since I upload press-ready PDFs to my printer, it would be nice to have registration marks indicating where the fold should be on each side. Any ideas?

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Sandee Cohen

Legend

Richard,

You are working too hard and not efficiently.

You can keep the original ID file at the trim size and add fold marks without oversizing the document.

It feels like you are using 1970's mechanical workflows to do what could be done using modern electronic layouts.

And while I know your heart is in the right place, I worry about newcomers coming to this board and taking your suggestions as efficient ways to work.

You are so clever with certain things and so strange with others.

Mr. Met

Inspiring

The final file I remit for press is to size but I often send a 2nd PDF with the fold marks on it. Depends on the client. I have a digital printer and send to printer and correct at the rip until it folds just right.

Sandee Cohen

Legend

Richard,

You don't have to layout a trifold on a larger sheet. There are many ways to avoid that confusion.

Mr. Met

Inspiring

What Dan says. I always layout a trifold on a larger sheet so I can show fold marks.

A

Anonymous

Often, I'll create a new layer named "Trim" or "Fold" and indicate with a Magenta dashed line or something of the sort the fold or die-cut line. Sometimes I mark "die-line do not print" just to be safe.

You can send a low-res pdf along with your high-res to the printer with this layer turned on to indicate the folds to them.

Sandee Cohen

Legend

This is a job for a larger bleed or two slug areas.

Any marks that are in the bleed or slug areas will print when the bleeds and slug are selected when making the PDF.

A trick we used to do from my old XP days, was to draw the rule right across the live document area but then cover that area with a paper knockout.

That way the rule would definitely be correct on both sides of the page, but not be visible.

BobLevine

Community Expert

Draw them by hand.

Bob

bhanx23

Participant

Four words—not very helpful. How? Where?

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Try this:

In InDesign, set your slug area to be at least 0.5 inch around all four sides.
Hold down the Cntl/Cmd key when dragging out guides to mark the folds. This will make them go off the page edges.
Draw a small, dashed line from outside the bleed (typically 0.125 inch) to the outside edge of the slug area on the This will make the guides 0.375 inch long.
When you export your PDF, include the bleed and slug areas.
Make sure the printer knows that there are fold marks in your PDF. Supply a hand-folded example if possible.

Another option is to see if you can get a free template to your specs at:

https://foldfactory.com/template-builder/

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)

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