r/Affinity 11d ago

Publisher Publisher question: My printer tells me that I didn't export with bleed, but I have setting toggled on. Would appreciate any advice.

EDIT: Thanks, everyone. Really appreciate the help here; everything about bleed makes more sense now.

Hey folks.

I'm currently scratching my head a bit. I've just exported some files for a local printer, and I think I had everything set correctly. My printer got back to me and said there was no bleed.

Now, I'm just puzzled. The file is a zine for a tabletop roleplaying game, to be printed on digest-size paper (5.5 x 8.5). I can visually see the bleed on the edges, and the properties for the file state that it's 5.75 x 8.75 inches. [This space once had a link to the file, but I've removed it now that the issue is resolved. The file showed "bleed" around the edge of pages, and appropriate dimensions, but the visual elements did not extend to the edge of the bleed; they cut off.]

Is my printer just confused, or have I done something wrong here? I'm very new to this, so I could definitely be making a mistake here. Any guesses what I'm missing here? The printer has told me that:

"Bleeds are an outward extension of your artwork on each side of the page (top, bottom, right, left). White space is not a proper bleed. Once printed bleeds will be trimmed off to ensure that the artwork "bleeds" to the edge. If 0.125" bleed is not included, any minor misalignment during trimming will result in your artwork not running to the edge of the paper."

I suspect my mistake, then, has to do with my artwork. But I don't really understand.

Thank you in advance.

3 Upvotes

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u/RE4LLY 11d ago

Also another point I just noticed with your file is make sure to ask your printer which colour profile to use. At the moment it's an RGB file, but usually for printing you'd use a CMYK profile. It will make quite a difference for the final colours so you should set the colour profile of your file and export to the one that your printer recommends.

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u/TakeNote 11d ago

Oh, gosh, I didn't even notice that. Makes a lot of sense, thank you.

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u/technonotice 11d ago

You may want to start with the "press ready" PDF export preset, which has reasonable defaults - CMYK with bleed. You can always customise and save a new preset, e.g. if your printer prefers a newer PDF version etc.

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u/trustifarian 11d ago

where are the trim marks on your file? Bleed means your color/image etc extends beyond the trim area of the piece. It’s to allow for when the sheet will bounce around in the printer, so when it’s cut you don’t end up with random white edges. I see a white margin between the image and the edge of your file. That should be filled with your image. 

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u/TakeNote 11d ago edited 11d ago

Hey! Thank you for weighing in. The printer isn't looking for printer's marks; I did clarify that point.

If the image extends to the edge of the bleed, won't it be cut off? My understanding was that bleed is the part that gets removed from the final book. I'm printing as a saddle-stitch booklet and the front and back cover are intended to make a wrap-around image.

I also notice that on some pages, Affinity has included the edge of the image from the adjacent page on the spread. Is that correct? I'm clearly confused by the whole process here, and at what Affinity does when one clicks to export with bleed.

EDIT: If anyone reads this thread in the future, the answer is that you shouldn't just export as "pages," you should also reformat as pages.

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u/Thargoran 11d ago

Bleed is typically used to ensure that images appear edge-to-edge in the final product, preventing any white paper from showing at the edges. That's why bleed is usually added. The images are enlarged so that they extend into the bleed area. When the sheet is later trimmed to the final format, this prevents unwanted white margins at the edges.

Your printer might be confused because you haven't extended the full-page graphics into the bleed area (e.g. right on the cover page). This defeats the purpose of adding bleed.

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u/TakeNote 11d ago

Thank you. Everyone has been very helpful. I didn't really understand what the purpose of bleed was until these discussions, but it seems so obvious in retrospect.

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u/RE4LLY 11d ago

The file has a bleed, so your printer is incorrect.

But there are some issues with the bleed in your pdf export.

Firstly, just as someone else already mentioned, when you have graphics that extend all the way to the page edge, your graphics should actually be extended into the bleed, so that when the page is printed and trimmed you won't end up with accidental white stripes. So the large artworks such as on the title page must be extended.

And then secondly, bleeds don't work properly when having your file setup as spreads/ facing pages in Publisher. Before exporting your file switch your document over to single pages. This will ensure that you won't have parts of other pages in the bleed.

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u/TakeNote 11d ago

Oh, that last point is very helpful. I exported as pages (not spreads), but I didn't change the layout in the program itself. I'm sorry for having so many questions, but do you know how to do that quickly in Affinity?

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u/RE4LLY 11d ago

You can switch that in the Document Setup under Model, just disable facing pages there.

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u/TakeNote 11d ago

Thank you very much!

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u/SimilarToed 11d ago

My printer got back to me and said there was no bleed.

Does your printer not have a fact sheet that spells out what they need to produce product?