Crop marks and bleed, onto an existing PDF
Print shops ask for two things a word processor never exports: trim marks so the guillotine knows where your page ends, and bleed — usually 3 mm — so the cut never reveals a white hair. This adds both: the page re-mounted on a larger sheet, corner marks drawn outside the trim in the trade's style, short strokes offset from the blade line so no ink sits where the cut falls. In your browser, the file uploaded nowhere.
Adding bleed re-mounts the page; it cannot invent artwork that was never there. Nothing uploads.
Bleed honesty
Bleed is artwork running PAST the trim; a tool can make room for it, but it cannot invent art that was never drawn. This re-mounts your page on a larger sheet — art that already overflows the page size flows into the bleed naturally, art that stops at trim shows the added margin as blank. If your cover must run to the edges, extend it in the layout tool first; then bring it here for marks. Files that only need marks can switch bleed off entirely.
| You're sending | Bleed | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| A text block, printed to trim | 0 — marks only | Yes — the shop cuts to your page size |
| A cover with background art | 3 mm | Yes — art must run past every trim edge |
| A full wraparound cover | 3 mm + spine | Yes — and the spine calculator sizes the flat |
The common bleed is 3 mm (an eighth of an inch); big presses ask for 5. Ask the shop, not the internet — the box takes any figure.
Questions people actually ask
Does my PDF get uploaded anywhere?
No. Marks are drawn and pages re-mounted in your browser's memory; the marked file is handed straight back. Nothing crosses a network.
Why are the marks offset from the page edge?
So the blade line stays clean: ink on the cut itself can chip into the sheet. Half a millimetre of offset is the trade's own habit, and the strokes run 4 mm — visible to a press operator at arm's length.
Fold marks — spine, cross-fold?
Not in this tool: fold marks belong where the fold layout is known, and pretending to know it would guess. Your print shop will tell you where they want them, and most prefer their own marks entirely.
Will this fix my PDF for KDP / IngramSpark?
It adds what those services ask for mechanically — trim size plus bleed plus marks — but their upload validators also want specific sizing, safe areas and sometimes no marks at all (they draw their own). Use their template where one exists; use this for the shops that ask for marks.
The studio's print-ready files carry their marks from the render.
Make one — freeThis is one of the tools — or see everything we’ve written.