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Add margins to current document size


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I'd like to have the option to add a margin to an existing document. Right now, when I want to add margins, I have to increase the size of the document (by the margin size) and then add the margins. It would be nice to have an option below the checkbox "include margins", to add the margins to the current dimensions. Or is there already an easy option to do this?

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Hi Flo-rian,
Welcome to Affinity Forums :)
You are probably using the Bleed section/tab in the document setup? That's for adding bleed not setting up margins. To add margins click the Spread Setup button in the context toolbar with the Move Tool selected and select the Margins tab. Add the value you want there.

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4 hours ago, Flo-rian said:

Ok, I think I didn't express myself well. When I add margins this way, the usable document size gets smaller. It would be nice to add margins, that append on top of the document size.

You need to think about the paper size when you setup your document. If you're starting with, for example, an 8.5x11" piece of paper (or A4, or whatever) and you work all the way to the edges, then your only way to add margins is to either (a) use a physically larger sheet of paper or (b) reduce the space available for the work you've already created.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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28 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

You need to think about the paper size when you setup your document. If you're starting with, for example, an 8.5x11" piece of paper (or A4, or whatever) and you work all the way to the edges, then your only way to add margins is to either (a) use a physically larger sheet of paper or (b) reduce the space available for the work you've already created.

The document should really be set up to match the finished size of the page, which may or may not match the size of the paper that it is printed on.

 

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Ok, I just asked, since I created some posters to print them and figured out I had to add margins after I finished the poster. The printing service offered the final poster size in big and I had to dig into the description to get the margin size.

Now that I added the margins, is there a way to export to pdf, ignoring everything that is outside of the margin? Since I want to have a print version with margins and a pdf for online sharing without margins.

It maybe would be good to add an option to add a white margin area to a pdf during the export of the document.

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I suspect you are going about this backwards.

Instead of a margin inside the page you should probably eliminate the margins and export with that amount of bleed instead to send it to the printer.

Does the printer really want these "margins" in the PDF rather than adding those themselves where needed?

I'm assuming those are going to be cut off so they are not actually part of the design - and those cutoff parts would usually have the design extended into them rather than being blank, so that if the cut is not 100% accurate you don't wind up with an unwanted white border around the poster?

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On 1/12/2019 at 3:09 AM, fde101 said:

I suspect you are going about this backwards.

Instead of a margin inside the page you should probably eliminate the margins and export with that amount of bleed instead to send it to the printer.

Does the printer really want these "margins" in the PDF rather than adding those themselves where needed?

 I'm assuming those are going to be cut off so they are not actually part of the design - and those cutoff parts would usually have the design extended into them rather than being blank, so that if the cut is not 100% accurate you don't wind up with an unwanted white border around the poster?

Ah cool, a bleed was exactly what I was looking for. For me personally it's a bit confusing that bleed and margin have totally different names, but the terminology ist probably well known for experts in this field.

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1 hour ago, Flo-rian said:

it's a bit confusing that bleed and margin have totally different names, but the terminology ist probably well known for experts in this field.

Knowing the right term is a large part of solving many problems, especially when one tries to search for an answer (either in a Library, on the web, in Help files, etc.).

 

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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