How can I keep content of other pages off my spine's bleed?

[Stephen_H]

Okay, this is an issue I have had for 30 years going riht back to Quark Express 3 - I've just never thought to ask how everyone else gets around it.

When I design a brochure, I work in spreads (as I should). I place an image on the left page up against the spine. This image does not extend over to the right hand page. When export the single pages as PDFs with 3mm bleed, I end up with 3mm of the picture from the left page appearing in the bleed of the right hand page. (I've attached a screenshot of the extra content in my bleed.

This creates several problems...

1 - The bleed on the right hand page is now ruined (The point of bleed is to give a little wiggle room for the printer to align/cut)

2 - The image of the left hand page never extended past the spine so it does not appear in its bleed. (Also ruining the bleed by not using it)

 

How is everyone else dealing with this problem? Is there a setting that allows me to exclude content on other pages from my bleed?

In years gone by, I was required by printers to do full pagination and deliver final artwork as spreads which  never had this problem. Now, printers want the artwork as single pages for their software to do the pagination. I used to separate every page out of its spread, manually add the bleed etc producing clean pages using bleed to its fullest. This is enormously laborious to do and doesn't work when images cross the spine.

[MickRose]

Hi @Stephen_H I understand what you are saying but I think you are seeing a problem that doesn't really exist. Any imposition software that a printing company uses will remove any inner bleed and keep any outer bleed. It doesn't matter what the exported PDF looks like - I agree it can look a bit messy with bits of  facing pages appearing in the bleed area.  Also, printing companies might normally provide an electronic PDF proof for you to check.

[Hangman]

Hi @Stephen_H,

Have a read of this Stack Exchange on the subject which covers the topic pretty well...

https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/84069/purpose-of-indesign-spread-bleeding-onto-facing-page

As mentioned in the Exchange, if you wish to export your spreads with bleed and avoid the bleed appearing on the opposite page the easiest way to achieve this is to temporarily change your Publisher document to non-facing pages prior to exporting it to pdf.

[Stephen_H]

3 hours ago, MickRose said:

Hi @Stephen_H I understand what you are saying but I think you are seeing a problem that doesn't really exist. Any imposition software that a printing company uses will remove any inner bleed and keep any outer bleed. It doesn't matter what the exported PDF looks like - I agree it can look a bit messy with bits of  facing pages appearing in the bleed area.  Also, printing companies might normally provide an electronic PDF proof for you to check.

Yup, I've never had any problems in the final printed pieces - I'm just a bit old school. We used to give the printers artwork that was perfect in every respect and I still like handing over artwork that makes my printer raise his eyebrows in surprise and appreciation, rather than have their in-house lacky rework my stuff in Corel Draw to force it to suit their systems.

[Stephen_H]

Ha-hah! Allow me to present a solution that took me 2 minutes to figure out. (and 30 years of gritting my teeth)

In "Document Setup", change the bleed to have 0mm for the inner bleed setting.

 

Then the exported PDF ignores the content in that inner bleed, like this:

 

You're all welcome. Boo-yah!

 

 

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, Stephen_H said:

Allow me to present a solution that took me 2 minutes to figure out. (and 30 years of gritting my teeth)

In "Document Setup", change the bleed to have 0mm for the inner bleed setting.

Though it may satisfy your current idea it doesn't solve / avoid the "issue" but now may cause unwanted white page areas ("flickering") if cut with less than 100 % perfection. – As you noticed before:

7 hours ago, Stephen_H said:

The point of bleed is to give a little wiggle room for the printer to align/cut

So, if you export without inner bleed this "little wiggle room" is lost – apart from possible issues in automated workflows that may miss / require inner bleed as an area of the according PDF page box. Means, you just should clarify with the print provider what bleed is required to work with their process correctly.

[Catshill]

It’s something I ignore. The end result is printed as expected regardless of which printing company I use.