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jmiteff
jmiteff
Participating Frequently
October 15, 2022
Question

Adobe Acrobat Pro Preflight tool Values

  • October 15, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1749 views

Hello:

 

Can someone explain the values that appear beside the TrimBox entry under Page Information? When you run a check to verify compliance with PDF/X-1a, an Overview item appears that drops a tree with various sub-items, including one called Pages. Under Pages, Page Information appears with entries and values for the MediaBox, CoprBox, TrimBox, BleedBox, etc.

 

I have a document that is supposed to have an 8x10 TrimBox and an 8.125x8.25 BleedBox. Those entries say exactly this:

 

TrimBox (Inch): 8.0x10.0 (0.0/.125/8.0/10.125)

BleedBox (Inch): 8.125x10.25 (0.0/0.0/8.125/10.25)

 

Why is the second value in parentheses of the TrimBox have a .125? Why does the fourth have a 10.125? 

 

On screen, the Trimbox measures and is positioned correctly as 8x10 on the pages. I am wondering why it is showing those .125 and 10.125 values. All my PDF files us the same bleed values, so it seems consistent in all of them, but I am running into a problem with a particular print job and they are pointing fingers at me. 

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

T
Test Screen Name
Brainiac
October 15, 2022

The first is the size (2 figures). The second is the coordinates (4 figures). Your trimbox is not centred in the bleedbox, which is legal but unusual.

jmiteff
jmiteffAuthor
Participating Frequently
October 15, 2022
Fascinating...

This may be causing some of the problems I might be facing. How can I
correct this? The file appears normally with the proper trim and borders on
the Acrobat screen, even when measuring. The Set Page Boxes also do not
show anything anomalous, so I never noticed until I scrutinized the Page
Information and saw that curious seeming inconsistency. I used InDesign to
generate the file and entered 8x10 for the document size. The PDF is
intended for Amazon KDP. All of the files I have generated to date,
including the last 9 books, all show the same coordinate shift but have
printed normally. The last one just will not and is consistently off at the
top by about .125... Although the last proof was off at the sides as well.

The bleed is supposed to be .125 on the outside, top and bottom of the
page. How would it know the center alternating from odd-even (recto verso)
pages? Is it the format smart enough to know that (just asking)?

What should the values be for the TrimBox to be centered? Is there a way to
correct this? This way I can try it and see if my files behave on KDP. I
don't know of a way to change this on output from InDesign or after the
fact in Acrobat.

Any thoughts?
T
Test Screen Name
Brainiac
October 15, 2022
The white line only appears after Amazon KDP processes the file, which
includes mating it with the cover, in their Previewer. I am still not
convinced that it isn't a visual display artifact, since white lines appear
in the expanded view, but disappear when you zoom in. I keep asking people
if they ever see white lines in the zoomed in view on the Previewer for
books that print fine. I have. All my other books show the same white line
along the right side edge, yet print fine, and those were files generated
months ago. Since the step for publishing requires Amazon to process the
files, I don't think adding the bleed on the inside will work. They
specifically require the files to be no more than 8.125x10.25 and even ask
that to be the actual page size when you submit, essentially the bleed
being bulit in, instead of adding the bleed on output.

Very frustrating.

If you go to the InDesign forum and search for KDP you will find many tales of frustration.

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