Defining crop marks

Normally, when you print or export your document, Expression Design prints or exports everything within the document frame and everything else is cropped out. However, you can define any rectangular area in your document as the area to print or export by using crop marks. You can place crop marks in your document in three ways.

• Dragging  To define crop marks by dragging out an area in your document, point to Crop Marks on the File menu, and then click Set. Drag diagonally across the area, as though you were drawing out a rectangle.
• Precise coordinates  If you know the exact size and position that you want your crop marks, point to Crop Marks on the File menu, and then click Set . Click anywhere in the view window. Then, type or select the coordinates of any two diagonally opposite corners of the crop area.

• Bounding box  If you point to Crop Marks on the File menu, and then click From Bounding Box, Expression Design creates the crop marks for you based on the bounding box of any currently-selected object or objects. You also have the option to add some space around those objects by typing a value in the Extra border width field. Note that this bounding box always includes attributes that extend past the edge of the paths themselves. For example, if you have a thick stroke, Expression Design includes all of the visible areas within the crop marks so that the edges don't get clipped.

Once you have added crop marks to your document, you can change them at any time with the options listed above. Or, you can delete the crop marks by pointing to Crop Marks on the File menu, and then clicking Remove. Note that crop marks don't actually print out; they only appear on screen and can affect how your document prints or is exported.

Note that crop marks only apply to printing and exporting bitmapped images.