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Specifying the printing bounding box in the separation


    The printing bounding box is represented as a gray rectangle surrounding the artwork in the Separation Setup preview window. The bounding box sets the position of the crop marks on your separations and defines the printable boundaries of the artwork, as well as nonprintable boundaries such as direction lines.

    You can define the printing bounding box either by using the Object > Crop Marks > Make command, or by using the Separations Setup dialog box to set the bounding box at the artwork boundaries. You can also modify the current bounding box dimensions in the Separations Setup dialog box.

    The numbers in the Margins text boxes show where the image lies within the page. These numbers measure the distance from the 0,0 point in the imageable area to the edges of the bounding box. The 0,0 point is in its default position at the bottom left corner of the page boundary.

    If you select a different page size, the margin numbers change as Illustrator calculates the distance of the bounding box from the edge of a new page size.

    Note: The Margins numbers for a given page size (such as Letter) may vary by PPD file. This is because printers and imagesetters may differ in how they define the size of an imageable area.

To specify the printing bounding box using crop marks:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Draw a rectangle to define a customized printing bounding box, and then select the rectangle.
    • Choose Select > Deselect to set the printing bounding box around the artboard.
  2. Choose Object > Crop Marks > Make.

To define the printing bounding box boundary using the Separation Setup dialog box:

  1. Do not set any crop marks in the document, or remove existing crop marks by choosing Objects > Crop Marks > Release. If the existing crop marks were created using a rectangle, delete that rectangle.
  2. Choose File > Separation Setup. The printing bounding box is placed by default as tightly as possible around all the artwork.

To modify the existing printing bounding box:

  1. In the Separation Setup dialog box, do one of the following:
    • Enter values in the Left, Right, Top, and Bottom margin text boxes. Press Tab to go to the next text box.
    • Drag any of the size handles in the preview.
    • Select Revert to cancel any changes and revert to the previous bounding box settings.
  2. Specify another separation option, or click OK.