Spine crop marks shorter than edge crop marks when exporting PDF

[adamh88]

Hi everyone,

I have this issue where if I have a cover spread set up in InDesign as 3 facing pages...the crop marks for the spine always get exported shorter than the crop marks on the outside. You can see they sit off of the trim more than the outer crop marks. I'm not manually placing these crop marks--they are being set in the export settings of the PDF. I can't figure it out for the life of me. I've attached some screenshots. Any help would be appreciated!

[Randy Hagan]

I think I can help.

The lines at the saddle/spine are not cutlines; they're folding lines. If you want cuts there, you'll have to either run them as single pages or manually draw them in.

Hope this helps you,

Randy

[adamh88]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the reply! Right, I get that they're folding lines...I just dont see why they are getting exported at a different size/distance than the other marks. It doesn't make sense to me that when InDesign places the marks on the spine--they come out shorter than the outisde marks.

[Randy Hagan · Accepted solution]

Specifically, to indicate they are not cutlines.

If you run those pages separately instead of in spreads, you'll get full cut/trim/bleeds on each corner. If you run them as spreads, you'll get the same — full cut/trim/bleeds on each corner, and the short lines where you're not supposed to cut in the spine/saddle of the spread.

[adamh88]

Hmm yeah that makes sense...you'd think they would just not export anything there though in that case. They show up because a person checks "Crop Marks" on the export settings. I think they should either be the same size as the other marks or not show up at all. The fact that it does, actually makes it more of a pain for me. The printer I use, actually prefers marks on the spine and they want them the same size/distance from the trim as the corner crops. I think it would make more sense to have them be exported at the same size/distance as the corner marks than the way they do now. If you're printing cover spreads--you would know not to trim the spine. Thanks for the replies!

EDIT

You'd think in 2020, there'd be a fold mark option for spreads in InDesign. 

[happie_97]

These are all good suggestions. You should submit them to Adobe's feature request form. https://www.adobe.com/products/wishform.html 

[tukusejssirs]

@adamh88, sorry for being a bit OT, but I have designed a hardcover and I need printer’s marks (incl crop marks) just you have in your first screenshot of the OP. Now I know how to export to PDF with the printer’s marks, but they tend to be inserted where the page should be cropped and thus the marks are within about 6 mm from the page edge, but that part will be visible on the hardcover (when glued to the board). Even an example document would help me very much. Anyway I have tried to design the cover using both single page for front cover, spine and back cover, and three pages with each page for one part of the cover. Thank you for your answer. (BTW, I have created a question/post for this, but it was marked as spam for some reason. You may want to answer me there.)

[rob day]

I have tried to design the cover using ... three pages with each page for one part of the cover.

For a 3 page cover include a slug to hold the fold marks, and export as a Spread.

Here my Document Setup includes a .5" Slug, and I have manually added the fold marks outside of the bleed and inside the slug

Export to Spreads with Include Slug Area checked:

The Exported PDF:

Even an example document would help me very much.

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/16bbba50-60ae-4fed-7bc7-7924cfa9225f

[tukusejssirs]

@rob_day, thanks for you time!

However, it still does not work for me, see cover_test_three_pages.indd and cover_test.pdf.

[rob day]

I can’t download your files. View them in your CC account and get the folder’s shared link:

[tukusejssirs]

I tried the links while not signed in and they work, but I don’t use the CC account storage. Anyway, here are the files hosted at mega.nz.

[rob day]

You are setting what I assume is the wrap area as the bleed (18mm, .7"), but the printer won’t be trimmig off the wrap area. I think you need to build the wrap area into the page and include a more typical .125" bleed. The 2nd example I posted does that CoverWithWrap.indd:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/16bbba50-60ae-4fed-7bc7-7924cfa9225f

[rob day]

Also, you only need the Slug if you are manually adding fold marks on the page’s pasteboard—without the slug they won’t export.

[rob day]

but that part will be visible on the hardcover (when glued to the board)

Also, when I design a hard cover that will be glued on boards, I include the wrap around material—check with your printer on the wrap dimensions. So it would be something like this where the gray area represents the part of the sheet that will wrap around the board but is not visible. I’ve included fold marks for the wrap:

Also FWIW the OP is not including a page for the spine, but is placing a gap between the two pages. The marks at the spine are really cut marks (because of the gap). Fold marks have to be added to a document manually and the convention is a dotted line.