Bleed always white

[KoPi]

I try to export a PDF with 2mm bleed but it always has an white border an not the actual content. I tried to make a new document and all possible export options. Nothing has changed. Any ideas?

[Old Bruce]

The white border is the cut paper size.

[KoPi]

16 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

The white border is the cut paper size.

I know. But it should have my background for the printshop. Indesign and QuarkXPress do it this way and I have seen Affinity tutorials with the same effect and no white border. 

[GarryP]

I’ve just exported a simple page with bleed to PDF from Designer and the page looks as I would expect, see attached images.
Have you checked that your PDF viewer can display the bleed area correctly?
Have you tried viewing the PDF in another PDF viewer, or a browser?
Which Affinity application are you exporting from?
It looks like you might be using OS X but can you say which OS you’re using?
Have you made sure that the “Include Bleed” option is set in your Export dialog?

[KoPi]

My setup: macOS 10.15.3, Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher 1.8.1

After some testing I have found the problem (bug?): I created the original file (my background image) in Affinity Photo and then I used file>edit in Affinity Publisher to work on the .aphoto-file directly in Affinity Publisher for text etc.  By doing so, I couldn't get the bleed right. After placing the .aphoto background image in a new Affinity Publisher document the export to pdf with bleed works as it should.

In Affinity Photo the layer with the background image is only visible in the canvas and not in the bleed. When opening the file in Publisher it is visible in the bleed.

 

 

[GarryP]

Interesting.
I don’t know if this is a bug, or expected behaviour, or it just needs an extra step to get what you want.
I think it needs an expert in this area to look at it further.

[Old Bruce]

17 hours ago, KoPi said:

In Affinity Photo the layer with the background image is only visible in the canvas and not in the bleed. When opening the file in Publisher it is visible in the bleed.

I think the inclusion of the bleed property in Photo is a mistake. This is my opinion only. It comes from the way I work with photos and/or pixel art. When I work on a photo that is on a document size of 4 x 5 inches I want the image to be 4 x 5 not 4.25 x 5.25 inches.

Others will disagree with their own valid reasons which may make me change my mind.

[GarryP]

Having a bleed area in a Photo document sounds a little bit strange to me but I don’t use bleed in my work so I’m not the best person to have an opinion on it.
However, I would say that if Photo does allow for a bleed area then it should deal with it as the other Affinity applications do, just to be consistent.
I wonder if someone can come up with a good reason why it must, or must not, allow for a bleed area. Maybe there’s a very good argument for or against that might sway ‘fence sitters’ like me.