How do I add fold marks for a horizontal fold?

[-Tami]

Hi all,

I'm creating a folded document that has six panels. The flat is three panels across and two panels down. It'll be Z-folded with two vertical folds, then folded in half horizontally. When I export to a PDF with the Crop Marks turned on, the PDF shows marks for the outside trim and vertical lines for the vertical folds. But there are no horizontal marks for the horizontal fold in the middle of the page. Is there a way to make these show?

Thanks!

-Tami

[winterm]

Your best bet is to ask your printer, how / if they want to see this.

[-Tami]

The printer wants to see fold marks showing where to make the horizontal fold. How do I get InDesign to place those marks on my PDF? InDesign places marks for the vertical folds, but the marks for the horizontal fold don't show.

[winterm]

InDesign doesn't places marks for fold, just for cut, and centered Registration marks. That's logical: how could the app know where you want to fold the page?

All folds you must mark manually. Add slug area for this, or, for CMYK jobs, use any PMS color to draw a dotted line for fold... right over your artwork (with overprint enabled!). People do it different. I usually use pms with overprint for folding, some special fancy cut-outs, etc.

[-Tami]

Thanks winterm. It just seems strange that it places the two vertical marks top and bottom between the three panels vertically, but no horizontal marks right and left between the top and bottom three panels. So those vertical marks are not fold marks, but cut marks --that makes sense, it thinks I want to cut the sheet into three strips the width of the panels. But then I wonder why it wouldn't think I'd want to cut the strips in half horizontally to the height of the panels? That doesn't seem logical, to leave me with three strips of the correct width, but two panels tall.

[Bill Silbert]

Rather than using a PMS for the dotted fold lines InDesign actually provides a color called "Registration" for that purpose. The advantage of using registration is that it will automatically print on all plates just like that automatic crops do.

[winterm]

Registration should be used if you decide to use slug area. If you use some lines over an artwork to mark folding, you don't want to appear them on all plates, right?

[Bill Silbert]

The only time I would put a fold over artwork like that would be as part of a die strike for which I would use a spot color set to over print.

[-Tami]

Registration marks show where the horizontal fold goes, but they're not the lines I was hoping for to indicate the horizontal fold. Anyways, the doc is black and white.

I still don't understand why InDesign doesn't place the horizontal lines between the top and bottom sets of three panels. If I were cutting the sheet into 6 parts, instead of folding it, the flat would be missing the marks for the horizontal cut. I can add the lines myself, of course.

[winterm]

Registration marks are not intended to use as fold marks, they are for plates alignment and are just centered. Yes, folding marks should be added manually. Using slug area and registration color, or using overprinted spot.

Bill Silbert​: < for which I would use a spot color set to over print > just what was said above, in post 3. When to do this or not, it's best to consult with your printer. And sure, it depends on a complexity of your cuts and foldings.

[Scott Citron]

As others have said, add a generous amount to the slug area. Drag ruler guides to where the folds should go. Make sure to lock all guides (View > Grids and Guides > Lock Guides). Then draw dashed black (0/0/0/100) lines over the ruler guides that extend into the slug area. Once all the folds lines have been drawn, select them and choose Non-printing from the Attributes panel.

This is how I do it, although it's always a good idea to check first with your printer, if possible.

[-Tami]

Thanks everyone. My printer needs just a simple line for the fold mark, just like the cut marks. So I'll add that to my template.