Participant

Question

Wrong document size

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
June 18, 2024
4 replies
693 views

Hi, I have ADOBE INDESIGN 2023, and I need to create a book cover. I set the exact dimensions but when I export to PDF and open the document with ADOBE ACROBAT READER the cover is a little larger than the ones I chose. Why?

I am Italian and would prefer to receive support in my language, but if it is not possible otherwise, I will try to use an online translator. Thank you.

Import and export

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James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

(First, I suggest you try the Translate feature built in here — it's very good, especially with the limited vocabulary we use here. Feel free to post in Italian if that allows you to express yourself more clearly.)

It's important to understand that for print layouts, actual or trim size is specified by the document size, and bleed is an element and value added separately. You lay out your cover (or other print layout) to exact dimensions, then, if bleed is needed to allow elements to flow right to a trimmed edge, add bleed as a separate layout setting. It's usually 1/8 inch or 3-4mm.

You can view the document without bleed by switching from Normal to Preview view.

You can include the bleed in a PDF export by selecting either "Use Document Bleed Settings" or entering different values, including 0 if you want no bleed added to the layout. But if the bleed is added, the net document size in PDF will be that much larger — usually 2 times the bleed, or 1/4 inch, or 6-8mm.

Does that make sense?

Luke Jennings3

Community Expert

No need to use a tape measure on your screen, Acrobat has a measure tool (Tools> Measure object). Here is a link to a related discussion that shows how to check trim size in Acrobat:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/indesign-discussions/indesign-page-size-in-file-is-8-5-x-11-in-but-in-acrobat-exports-as-size-of-8-75-x-11-94/td-p/14689541

Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

If you have included bleed (and crop/trim marks) in your export, yes, your overall PDF page size will be larger as it expands to accommodate those items. This doesn't mean your final trim size has changed.

Where are you seeing the dimensions? (can you show us a screen example)

A

Alessio25266150pukhAuthor

Participant

Bye thank you! I noticed the imperfection I described above because I sent a cover made with InDesign to the printer and it came out badly. At a later stage (I know, it's a bit rudimentary) but I noticed the difference in size between the document exported to PDF and opened with ADOBE ACROBAT READER, manually measuring it on the screen with a tape measure.
The size of the document appears to be about 0.25 pt larger than the final book (I have a copy of the same size).

Unfortunately I don't know which screen to show you in order to better understand my problem. Thanks bye!

Derek Cross

Community Expert

When setting up your InDesign document select the trimmed page size for the flat cover then add 3mm to each edge.

When you export to PDF, tick "Use Document Bleed Settings".

E

ELPrepress

Known Participant

Check the "Marks and Bleeds" section on the Adobe PDF output screen. Under Bleeds you can set a value other than 0 which will cause the result you experienced.

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