In this article, you will learn
- which requirements must be met for this Fixup to be applied, and
- how you can apply the Fixup.
1. Introduction
In the Workflow, the Fixup Clip Print Item with Additional Bleed is available. The purpose of this Fixup is to clip the Print Item at a defined distance along an existing Dieline, either outside or inside the Dieline.
2. General
The Fixup Clip Print Item with Additional Bleed can be used if you want to clip the Print Item only to the minimum necessary Bleed, thereby reducing ink costs. In addition, this Fixup can be used to mask the Print Item so that it can be nested in the Imposition.
You can find this Fixup in the footer of the area Document Information under the tab Print Data of an Article, Order, or Production Job or in the tab Data Preparation.
3. Description of the Fixup
This Fixup allows you, on the one hand, to clip the Print Item along the detected Dieline at a defined distance. On the other hand, it can be used to set the TrimBox to the Dieline and the BleedBox to the selected distance. When executing the Fixup, both the MediaBox and the CropBox are additionally adjusted to match the size of the BleedBox.
3.1. Requirements and Functionality
For this Fixup to perform as intended, the following requirements must be met:
- The Dieline or Stroke along which the Print Item should be clipped is already defined in the Print Item as a Spot Color.
- Additional Dielines – e.g., for punching out handles – may also be present in the Print Item. Depending on the selected option, a filled area can still be clipped.
- The Dieline and the Stroke to be clipped should form a continuous path. Depending on the selected option, a filled area can still be clipped.
- The Spot Color to be used does not need to be set up systemwide as a Technical Color, as the user can apply this Fixup to any other Spot Colors.
- The Dieline and the Stroke to be clipped should be set to Overprint. A Knockout Dieline will not be converted to Overprint by this Fixup.
- The Bleed for the Print Item is already present; this Fixup does not generate any additional Bleed.
Figure 1: The dialog of the Fixup Clip Print Item with Additional Bleed
When clipping a Print Item with Additional Bleed, the following options are available:
- Templates [1] – settings selected in the dialog can be saved as a Template and applied to other Articles/Print Items. They can also be used in the process Apply Fixups.
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Clip at [2] – two options are available here, which must be selected depending on how the Dieline was created:
- Dieline (solid/dashed/dotted) – choose this option if the Stroke was created as a classic line. It does not matter whether the Stroke in the Print Item is solid, dashed, or dotted. The Stroke is treated as a vector path, so dashed or dotted Strokes pose no problem. When the option "Set TrimBox to Spot Color object" is selected, the TrimBox will be centered on the Stroke Width.
- Page Content or solid Dieline – choose this option if the Stroke was created either as a classic line or as a filled area. The Stroke must be a solid line in the Print Item. For dashed or dotted Strokes, the gaps in the Stroke would also be clipped. In this case, the Stroke is redrawn, so it must be solid. Note that for a filled area, the TrimBox would be placed on the outer enclosing boundary.
- Set TrimBox to Spot Color object [3] – enable this option if the TrimBox should be set to the selected Spot Color. If the current TrimBox position should be preserved, leave this option disabled.
- Outside only [4] – selecting this option uses only the outer Stroke of the Dieline. Inner areas that need to be punched out will not be clipped. Note that this option is only available, if Dieline (solid/dashed/dotted) is selected in the option Clip at.
- Spot Color [5] – select the Spot Color to be used for clipping.
- Bleed [6] – define the distance to be applied for clipping. For Variable Content [7], select the desired placeholder – Database Field or User-defined Field – from which the value for the Bleed should be taken.
3.2. Before / After
In the source file "Clip_Print_Item_Start.pdf", the Dieline "CutContour" is present and will be used for clipping.
- The printable areas of the Print Item extend well beyond the required Bleed.
- All PageBoxes are in the same position; the TrimBox does not reflect the exact size of the clipped object.
The Print Item should be clipped at a distance of 3 mm, the TrimBox should be correctly aligned to the Dieline, and the BleedBox should be applied to the clipped area. Additionally, the MediaBox and CropBox should be aligned to the same position.
Executing the Fixup created the corrected version "Clip_Print_Item_End.pdf". By doing so, a significant portion of the printable area has been removed, resulting in considerable savings in ink consumption.
Figure 2: Comparison of Source and Target File
Article Update: Workflow 1.20.2 – 09/2025