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Image bleed shows up in PDF if image is aligned to page edge.

Forum|Forum|22 days ago
July 23, 2026
19 replies
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I have a 8.5 x 11 facing page document where some of the pages have a full page image which bleeds on (for example) the top, bottom and left if a left side page and I have a 1/8 set on top outer and bottom sides and 0” bleed on the inside. The image is aligned to the page edge on the inner gutter with no image bleeding to the right side. Verifying the alignment the right edge is at 8.5”. If I make a pdf there is a teeny sliver of the image showing up on the right hand inner margin of the facing page. I have one client that always flags this issue so I have to fix this by setting the image to 8.499”. This seems like a bug and once it is pointed out to me it really bothers me. It only seems to do this for photos and not coloured boxes. Is there something I am doing wrong?

I have attached screen shots from the pdf. First image shows a 2up display where you can see the teeeny slice. Image 2 shows the single page view where the slice is more obvious (not big but it is there and my client hates it).

2up view showing image just slightly going over the gutter.

single page view showing the slice of image on the side of page edge

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

@Exuberant_intuition5549 I deleted the blue box underneath the image and “reseated” the objects on the inside edge (by moving the right-middle handle back and forth). The problem disappeared but not consistently.

If you adjust the width a 0.5 pt shorter, the problem goes away. You could try 0.25 pt too. Creating an Object Style would make it easier. It’s not noticeable. Below is the PDF at 3200%:

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

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Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

Yeh I inspected that too - it’s all aligned correcty to the page. Nothing is overlapping the page.

It looks like a bug to me.

rob day

Community Expert

Hi @Eugene Tyson , I wonder if this is because with Facing Page documents it is assumed that the facing pages will be folded at the inside spine and not trimmed. If the facing pages spread is folded, the right edge of the left page and the left edge or the right page share the same position. You can’t pull apart facing page spreads for this reason.

If I set up a spread in a Non Facing Page doc, pull the pages apart, and export a PDF, the image on the left page does not crossover to the right page. I’ve attached the ID and PDF file

The exported PDF Preflight:

Non Facing.pdf

Non Facing Pages.indd

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

Does it change any outcome if the pages are dragged apart to gap them? As when you turn off document page shuffle and manually drag the pages?

Mike Witherell

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Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

I’ve tried your file several ways - and you’re right it leaves a small artefact on the page it butts up against. You can see when you open it in Illustrator (I never do it only for testing) or editing in Acrobat - that you can select an object on the left hand side of page 3.

https://indesign.uservoice.com/forums/601180-adobe-indesign-bugs

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Exuberant_intuition5549Author

Participating Frequently

This is the right hand page when viewed as a single page view in Acrobat. See the thin slice of image on the right hand side? Not big but my client notices it every single time.

Here is my setup. The right hand edge of the image is at 8.5” alignment (circled in red) which I used align to page edge.

This is the pdf view with a slice of the image on the left page showing up on the inside margin of the right hand page.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

I’m not seeing this on my end.

Can you upload a sample spread?

What is the green box you have highlighted? It does not appear to be the graphic itself.

Also, if you can’t upload a spread, please show your:

Document Setup showing page size and bleed settings.
Spread with BG image selected.
PDF settings, particularly the bleed settings.

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

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Exuberant_intuition5549Author

Participating Frequently

Sorry the green selected I had selected a white transparent gradient overlay that I had to lighten the sky because the actual file has copy there. I meant to select the photo. New screen shot.

This document is being printed cerlox bound so I will eventually have to add bleed to all edges but it will also be web posted and that is where this issue is being flagged as I am proofing as pdf and my client keeps noticing this tiny bit of bleed. I have cleaned out most of the information in the file since this is an Annual Report in progress. One image left in as well as attaching the pdf I export.

example.indd

example.pdf

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Exuberant_intuition5549Author

Participating Frequently

Seems like a big flaw to have to split a spread because an image touches the edge of the page but does not go past that page edge yet exports a tiny sliver in pdf. Your examples are not quite the same as the issue I have. I have a Full page image on one page only (bleed on top, bottom and outside) with the facing page having no image. Indesign exports a tiny sliver of image on the page without an image even though there is nothing on that page.

Also Saddle stitched jobs should not have a bleed on all 4 edges as the inner gutter does not need bleed because the pages butt up against eachother. Been in Design for 30 years and have never added a bleed to a saddle stitched job and the printer has never asked for it.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

Can you show a/some screen shots of your spread layouts? Your initial screen shots did not clearly show the layout.

It might be an interesting feature request to override the document bleed settings on a per spread basis.

Also, saddle stitch jobs should have inside bleed to account for shingling (except for the center spread).

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

Derek Cross

Community Expert

Set the 8.5 x 11” document up for Print with Facing pages plus .125 bleed on all edges. Just fit your images up to the inner edge as you want. When you output to PDF for your printer select single pages (not spreads) and tick Use Document Bleed Settings. Your printer will remove the inner bleeds during imposition.

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Exuberant_intuition5549Author

Participating Frequently

I have set the image to align with the inner edge but when I export a pdf for web a slice of the graphic shows up when it should not. See my screenshots and posts and do not worry about print at this point.

Dave Creamer of IDEAS

Community Expert

How is the job being printed?
For most saddle-stitch or perfect-bound print jobs, you should have bleed on all 4 edges of the page, typically 1/8 inch.

Generally, you will have three types of spreads:

The page BG or images do not go near the edge; no need to touch these pages.
The page BG or images cross over to the other page; no need to touch these pages.
ou need to split these pages apart by turning off Allow Document Pages to Shuffle.

Here is how you can do it (focus on the BG color, not the text):

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

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