PUB2002: How to Print Printer's Marks

This article describes how to print printer's marks in a publication in Microsoft Publisher 2002.

Printer's marks are marks printed outside the printable area of your publication that help you or your commercial printing service trim, align, and control color in your publication. You can add printer's marks for either desktop or commercial printing. Printer's marks include:

• Crop marks to show the final page trim edges.
• Registration marks to precisely align color separations for commercially printed publications.
• Color and density bars to monitor color on color separations.
• Job information that includes the publication name, page, date and time of printing, page number, and plate name.
• Bleed marks to show where the edge of images, objects, or text extend beyond the trim boundaries of the page.

To print printer's marks, use the following methods in the order in which they are presented.

Prepare Your Publication for Printing Printer's Marks

Determine the Size of the Printer's Unprintable Area

The size of the printable area depends on the printer and the paper size you have selected. Most printers, such as laser printers, cannot print to the edge of the printed sheet. The small area around the outer portion of the sheet on which the printer cannot print is the unprintable area.

If you know the size of your printer's unprintable area, you can design a publication that is contained within that area. If you do not take the unprintable area into consideration when you design a publication, your printed output may be truncated.

To determine the unprintable area for the printer you want to use:

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
2. Right-click the name of the printer you want to use, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Paper tab.
   
   If the Paper tab does not exist, click the other tabs until you find one that contains information about the unprintable area. If you do not find one, consult the printer manual for the printer you want to use, or contact the printer manufacturer.
4. Click Unprintable Area.
   
   The numbers in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom boxes specify the size of the unprintable area in inches. If you want to see the measurements in millimeters, click Millimeters under Units.
5. Click OK, and then click OK again.
6. Close the printer dialog box.

Create Sufficient Space for the Printer's Marks You Want to Print

To create sufficient space for the printer's marks, make sure that the dimensions of your publication are small enough to fit on the printed sheet with sufficient margin space to print the printer's marks. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Page Setup.
2. Click the Printer & Paper tab. Under Paper, select the proper page size for your actual paper size or plate size. For example, if you want to print on a letter-size sheet of paper, click Letter 8 1/2 x 11 in.
3. Click the Layout tab.
4. Under Page Size, type appropriate dimensions in the Width and Height boxes. To determine the appropriate dimensions, subtract the printer's unprintable area and the amount of space required for the printer's marks that you want from the width and height of the sheet size you selected in Print Setup.
   
   The following list shows the minimum amount of space you need for each set of printer's marks:
   
   
   • Crop marks require .75 inches.
   • Registration marks require .75 inches.
   • Job information requires .5 inches.
   • Color and density bars require 1 inch.
   • Bleed marks require 1 inch.
   
   NOTE: Registration marks, density bars, and color bars are only available when you select one of the color printing options in Publisher 2002.
5. Click OK.

Print the Printer's Marks

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. Click Advanced Print Settings.
3. On the Publication Options tab, click to select the printer's marks that you want.
4. Under Printer's marks, click any of the following that is appropriate and available:
   • Crop marks
   • Registration marks
   • Job information
   • Density bars
   • Color bars
   
   
5. Under Bleeds, click to select both of the following options if you want to print bleed marks:
   • Allow bleeds
   • Bleed marks
   
   
6. Click OK, and then click OK again.

Imposition

Publisher 2002 allows you to impose small publications, such as business cards, books, and small booklets. If the publication page size is half the size of the sheet on which you want to print, you can print multiple copies of the page on each printed sheet. For example, if the publication page size is 8.5 x 11 inches, you can print two copies on an 11-by-17-inch sheet.

NOTE: You cannot impose any publication with a page size that is more than half the size of the printed sheet in Publisher 2002.

If the publication page size is larger than the sheet size, you can tile the publication. When you tile a publication, you print multiple sheets for each page of the publication, and then assemble the sheets together to create the page. For example, if you want to print an 11-by-17-inch page to a printer that prints only letter-size sheets, you can print two sheets per page, and then tile the sheets together.

NOTE: Even though you can print two pages per sheet when the pages are exactly half the size of the printed sheet, or print two sheets that are exactly half the size of the publication page for tiling, you may not want to do this. Remember, you need to account for your printer's unprintable area as well as any printer's marks you want to print when you design your publication. Otherwise, your output may be truncated.

Page Options

Page options are available in the Print dialog box when the page size is no more than half the size of the sheet on which you want to print. You can print one page per sheet or multiple pages per sheet.

To create space for printer's marks on a print job involving multiple pages per sheet, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. Click Advanced Print Settings. Under Printer's marks and Bleeds, click to select the printer's marks you want to print.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Change Copies Per Sheet.
5. Click Print multiple copies per sheet.
   
   Note the number of pages you are able to fit on a single sheet. Depending on the dimensions of your publication, you may want to close the Print dialog box, open the Print Setup dialog box, and change the Orientation of the printed output to Landscape, if Portrait is currently selected, or vice versa. Return to the Print dialog box to see which orientation allows for the most pages to be printed on a single sheet. When you determine the best orientation, proceed to the next step.
6. Type the following margin and gap settings in the appropriate boxes:
   • In the Side Margin box, type .75 if you only want to print crop marks, or 1 if you want to print any other printer's marks.
   • In the Top Margin box, type .75 if you only want to print crop marks, or 1 if you want to print any other printer's marks.
   • In the Horizontal Gap box, type .38.
   • In the Vertical Gap box, type .38.
7. Click OK, click OK, and then click OK again.