Bleed, Crop Marks and Fold Marks: Printing a Funeral Program at a Print Shop

You have finished the funeral program, it looks right on screen, and you call a local print shop. The person at the counter asks, "Is it print-ready? Does it have bleed? Do you want it scored?" If those words leave you unsure, you are in good company. Print-shop language is unfamiliar to almost everyone who does not work with it daily, and nobody should need to learn it under the pressure of arranging a funeral.

This guide explains each term in plain language, shows how the pieces fit together on a funeral program in particular, and gives you a short script for talking to the print shop so the job comes back right the first time.

Why print shops ask for "print-ready" files

A print-ready file is one the shop can send straight to its press or production printer without having to fix anything. In practice, that means:

• It is a PDF, not a Word document, a Canva link, or a phone screenshot
• Its page size matches the paper the shop will print on (or the trim size, plus bleed)
• Any color or photo that should reach the edge of the paper extends past the edge by a small amount (bleed)
• It includes crop marks showing where to trim, if trimming is needed
• The pages are in the right order to be printed on both sides and folded
• Images are at a high enough resolution to print sharply
• Fonts are embedded, so the text looks exactly as you designed it

If any of those are missing, a good shop will either fix it (sometimes for a design fee) or ask you to resend. Under time pressure, each round trip costs hours. Sending a print-ready file the first time is the single best way to get programs back the same day.

Trim size: where the paper will be cut

The trim size is the finished size of the printed piece after cutting – for a folded Letter program, the flat sheet is 11×8.5 inches; for an A4 program, 297×210 mm. Everything else on this page is measured relative to the trim line.

Bleed: why the design has to go past the edge

Commercial printers, like home printers, cannot reliably print ink right up to the very edge of a sheet. To get color or a photo that runs edge to edge – a full-bleed design – the shop prints on a slightly larger sheet and then cuts it down to the trim size.

Cutting is precise but never perfect. A guillotine may cut a fraction of a millimetre to one side. If the design stopped exactly at the trim line, that tiny drift would leave a hairline of white paper along one edge. To prevent that, the design is extended past the trim line on every side. That extra strip is the bleed.

The usual bleed is 1/8 inch (0.125 inches) in the US and 3 mm in the UK and Europe. So a full-bleed Letter program sheet, which trims to 11×8.5 inches, is supplied as an 11.25×8.75 inch PDF. An A4 sheet that trims to 297×210 mm is supplied as 303×216 mm.

Some practical points:

• The bleed area will be cut off. Never put text, a signature or a face in it.
• The bleed should contain a continuation of the background or photo, not a white strip or a mirror line.
• If your design has a white border all the way round, you do not technically need bleed – but many shops still prefer to receive files with bleed and crop marks, because it lets them trim several programs from a larger sheet.

Safe area: keeping important things away from the edge

Just as the cut can drift outward, it can drift inward. The safe area (also called the safety margin or live area) is a margin inside the trim line where nothing important should sit. A common safe margin is 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3–6 mm) inside the trim.

On a funeral program, "important" means the person's name, dates, service times, the order of service text, and faces in photos. If the cover photo is a close portrait, make sure the top of the head and the chin are not right at the edge.

The fold line and the gutter

A folded program has a second line to think about: the fold. On a four-page half-fold, the fold runs down the middle of the sheet. Anything that crosses the fold will bend, and text set too close to it will disappear into the crease.

Keep text at least a quarter inch from the fold on each side. The space either side of a fold is called the gutter. If the inside spread uses one photo across both pages, position it so no face sits on the fold.

Crop marks: telling the shop where to cut

Crop marks (also called trim marks or cut marks) are short thin lines printed in the corners of the sheet, outside the trim area, that show exactly where the cutting should happen. They sit in the margin beyond the bleed, so they are trimmed away with it.

A file with crop marks is therefore larger again than the bleed size: for a Letter program, the PDF page might be around 12×9.5 inches, with the design at 11.25×8.75 inches including bleed in the middle, and marks in the corners pointing to the 11×8.5 trim line.

You do not need to draw crop marks by hand. Design software adds them when exporting a "print" PDF, and our funeral program maker includes them automatically in the print-shop PDF.

Fold marks: showing where to fold

Fold marks look like crop marks but are usually dashed, and they sit at the top and bottom of the sheet, in the margin, in line with the fold. They tell the person running the folder (or the scoring machine) exactly where the fold belongs. They are especially useful when the inside and outside of the program have different designs, because they make it obvious which way the sheet should be folded.

Imposition: putting the pages in folding order

On screen, you design a four-page program as pages 1, 2, 3 and 4 in reading order. But the printer prints a single sheet, front and back. To fold correctly, the pages have to be arranged like this:

• Outside of the sheet (side A): page 4 on the left, page 1 on the right
• Inside of the sheet (side B): page 2 on the left, page 3 on the right

This arrangement is called imposition. It catches people out because the back page appears first in the file. Get it wrong and the back page ends up on the front, or the inside spread is upside down relative to the cover.

For an eight-page booklet made of two nested sheets, the imposition is:

• Outer sheet, outside: pages 8 and 1
• Outer sheet, inside: pages 2 and 7
• Inner sheet, outside: pages 6 and 3
• Inner sheet, inside: pages 4 and 5

Many shops can impose a reading-order PDF for you, but it takes time and depends on someone getting it right on a busy day. If you supply an imposed file, label it clearly ("imposed, 2 sides, flip on short edge") and tell them.

Our print-shop PDF arrives already imposed in folding order, with bleed, crop marks and fold marks. The separate home-printer PDF stays in reading order for printers with a booklet setting and for viewing on screen.

Duplex orientation: flip on the long edge or the short edge?

When a sheet is printed on both sides, the second side can be oriented in one of two ways. For a landscape sheet that folds into a portrait booklet – which is what a half-fold program is – you usually want flip on the short edge. If the shop prints with long-edge flipping instead, the inside will be upside down relative to the outside.

Shops know this, but it is worth saying explicitly: "It's a landscape sheet that folds in half to a portrait booklet, so it should flip on the short edge." Ask for a single proof copy and fold it before approving the run.

Resolution: will the photo print sharply?

Print needs more detail than a screen. The usual target for photos in print is 300 pixels per inch at the size they will be printed. A photo printed 4 inches wide should ideally be about 1,200 pixels wide.

In practice, photos from recent phones are more than large enough. The problems usually come from:

• Photos saved from social media, which are often compressed and resized
• Old prints photographed at an angle, in poor light
• Screenshots of photos rather than the original files
• Images pasted into a word processor, which may silently compress them

If a photo is lower resolution, it can still be used at a smaller size, or on the back page rather than the cover. See choosing and preparing photos for a funeral program for scanning and enlarging tips.

Color: why it can look different on paper

Screens produce color with light; printers use ink or toner. A few consequences:

• Very bright, saturated blues, greens and purples on screen often print slightly duller.
• Dark photos can print darker than expected, particularly on uncoated paper.
• Cream or ivory paper will warm every color, and white areas in the design become the color of the paper.

Professional shops sometimes ask for files in CMYK (the color model printers use). For short-run digital printing, which is how most funeral programs are printed, a well-made RGB PDF almost always prints fine and the shop's equipment converts it. If a shop insists on CMYK, ask them to convert it for you, or ask whether they can print a proof first.

The surest way to avoid color surprises is a single proof print on the paper you have chosen.

Fonts and text

A PDF exported properly embeds the fonts, so text appears exactly as designed on any printer. Problems arise when a word processor document is sent instead of a PDF, and the shop's computer does not have the same fonts. The text then reflows, often pushing lines onto the next page. Always send a PDF.

Very thin script fonts can also break up when printed small. Keep decorative scripts for the name or a heading, and use a clear serif or sans-serif for the order of service and life story.

A pre-flight checklist before you send the file

• File is a PDF
• Page count is correct (one sheet = two PDF pages if imposed, four if in reading order)
• Bleed included if the design runs to the edge
• Crop marks and fold marks included
• No text or faces within the safe margin or near the fold
• Photo looks sharp when zoomed to 100%
• Names, dates and times proofread by someone other than the designer
• File name is clear, for example "Smith-program-PRINT-imposed.pdf"

What to say when you call the print shop

Print shops are used to funeral programs and are usually kind and accommodating about timing. Being specific helps them help you. A script you can adapt:

"Hi, I need funeral programs printed for a service on Friday. It's a four-page program on a Letter sheet folded in half to 5.5 by 8.5. I have a print-ready PDF with eighth-inch bleed, crop marks and fold marks, already imposed. I'd like [quantity] copies on [paper], double-sided, flipped on the short edge, trimmed, and scored and folded if you can. Could I see one proof before the full run? When could they be ready?"

For an A4 program in the UK, swap in "A4 sheet folded to A5" and "3 mm bleed."

Things to ask:

• What is the turnaround, and is there a rush option?
• Can I approve a proof, and how (in person or by photo)?
• Will you score and fold, or should I fold them myself?
• What paper do you recommend for a folded program?
• Do you need anything else from me?

When you are printing at home instead

You can still use a print-shop PDF at home if your printer supports borderless printing on Letter paper, but generally the home version is simpler: no bleed, no crop marks, a small white border around the edge, and pages arranged for your printer's duplex or booklet mode. See how to print funeral programs at home.

Common print-shop problems and fixes

"There's a white line along one edge"

The design did not include bleed, or the bleed was white. Re-export with bleed, or ask the shop to trim slightly smaller (which will crop the design a little).

"The text is too close to the edge and got cut"

Text was outside the safe area. Move it inward and re-export. If there is no time, ask the shop to trim the sheet slightly larger, so long as the design allows it.

"The back page is on the front"

The file was in reading order but printed as if imposed, or vice versa. Tell the shop which it is.

"The inside is upside down"

The duplex flip was set to the long edge. Reprint with short-edge flipping.

"The photo looks blurry"

The image resolution was too low for the print size. Replace it with the original file, or print it smaller.

"The fold cracked"

Heavy or coated paper was folded without scoring. Ask the shop to score before folding.

Printing the cards at the same time

If you are also printing prayer cards or thank-you cards, send them to the same shop in the same visit. Small cards are almost always printed several to a sheet ("ganged up") and then cut, so the crop marks and bleed matter even more than on the program: a drift of a millimetre is very visible on a card the size of a playing card. Ask the shop:

• Whether they will print several cards per sheet and trim them, and what the minimum quantity is
• Which card stock they suggest for something that will be kept in a wallet or a Bible
• Whether rounded corners or lamination are available, and how much time they add

Keep the program and the cards in the same design, on papers with a similar tone, so the set looks like it belongs together. Label every file clearly – "program-print," "prayer-card," "thank-you-card" – and list the quantity of each in your email or on the order form. If you are short of time, prioritize the program, which must be ready for the service; thank-you cards can follow a few days later.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need bleed if I am printing at home?

No. Home printers cannot print to the edge reliably, so home designs normally keep a white border. Bleed is for print shops that trim.

How much bleed does a funeral program need?

1/8 inch (0.125 in) on each side in the US, 3 mm in most other countries. Check with your print shop; a few ask for more.

Can a print shop print from a Canva or Word file?

Often, yes, but it is safer to export a PDF yourself. With Word in particular, a different computer can reflow the text. With Canva, choose the PDF Print export and switch on crop marks and bleed.

What does "imposed" mean?

It means the pages are arranged on the sheet in the order needed for printing and folding, rather than in reading order.

The easy way

All of this is handled for you in our funeral program template. When you buy the print-ready program ($4.99 – see pricing), you receive a print-shop PDF with 1/8-inch bleed, crop and fold marks and correct imposition, a home-printer PDF in reading order, and 300-dpi PNGs of each page. You can hand the print-shop PDF to any copy center, use the script above, and expect it to come back right.