Now here’s something that has always annoyed me (which… doesn’t annoy me anymore, because I just figured out Googled a fix)…
Whenever I have formatted an ebook in Word, I’ve always had a problem with the borders when I save to PDF. For instance, I’ll have a nice beautiful ebook cover that will appear to be edge-to-edge in Word, but when I save to PDF, I get a super ugly white border around the edge. (That’s the non-printable area, BTW. It’s where your typical home printer just can’t put ink.)
HOWEVER, when I’m developing an ebook, most people will view it online, so I want the pretty appearance of a bleed. Here’s how you fix it (in Word 2010… I’m sure it’s similar for the Windows version).
- Select File > Page Setup
- In the Paper Size dropdown menu, chose Manage Custom Sizes
- Click on the “+” sign and type a descriptive name, like “Edge to edge”
- Under Non-Printable Area, choose User Defined
- Enter zero for all margin values
Wa-la! Fixed!
P.S. – Thanks to Daniel G. Grau (whoever you actually are…) on the Microsoft forum for your post!
AWESOME!!!!! This has been a thorny issue at work for years. Now my letters of rec look great as pdfs! Thanks!
I’ve been searching for how to create a document bleed in MS word for a few days. These steps were super easy to follow and best of all they actually worked. My PDF file looks perfect now.
Thank you.
Amelia 🙂
You’re welcome! Glad it was helpful.
Thanks for this! Exactly what I needed.
PS – it’s voilà , not “wa-la” Pet peeve of mine.
thank you you are not the only one
Client just asked me for this and it was great I was able to help them out – thank you!!
THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!
I usually use InDesign for page layout projects, but this particular rush project had to be created in Word (yuck!). I have been looking for a workaround to this bleed problem and this worked perfectly the first time. I read other suggestions elsewhere and none of those worked. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Awesome suggestion… thanks!!!
NICE!! Huge help. That border was killing me.
Can’t thank you enough!
This has bothered me for years! Thank you so much for posting this fix. : )
Thank you so much!!! I thought this was a lost cause. Much appreciated share.
can’t find “page setup” in FILE
YES!!!! So happy I found your answer…my thesis will look SO much better now. I just KNEW there HAD to be a way, thanks for showing me!
Thanks for the tip. However, this makes the word document full bleed but not the PDF. Maybe is the version of word I’m using (Mac OS 2013) but I tried using Adobe Acrobat with the Full bleed Word document and I still get the white box in each page in the PDF just like I would when printing it at home. Any ideas on why an dhow to fix it? Many thanks for the tip anyway!
Well, I finally figured it out. It was the settings on the “whole document” in MS Word. Once you have followed up the initial tip on this page of setting the custom page size and margins in the Page Setup menu, make sure to do the next two steps: 1- Select Any printer and 2- select the pulldown where it reads “Page attributes” and select “Microsoft Word” and make sure to select then “Apply setup settings:” to the “whole document”. Then click OK and save. That got rid of my problems. Thanks again for sharing!
THANK YOU! I was having this exact issue, this fixed it 🙂
I’m glad it was helpful!
YAS! The original instructions only worked for a certain page, and after I did this the whole document could bleed now. THANK YOU!
OK, I wish this worked, but the version of Word I’m using (2010) doesn’t have Page Setup under the file menu. It’s in the Layout menu, and while I can CHOOSE a custom size and enter its dimensions, there’s no “Manage Custom Page Size” option anywhere that I can find that allows me to make the changes you described.
how do you do this on a windows computer?
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
headslappingly easy fix, thank you!
Fabulous..many thanks!!
Awesome! Thanks a million 😀
I suggest a change to your article title and the term ‘bleed’ within your article, as it’s coming up in Google searches for ‘full-bleed’, which is misleading:
Full Bleed is where you set design elements beyond the paper edge, so that a document can be printed and cut to size. For example 3mm or 5mm bleed in the print industry is standard.
An ebook with graphics to the page edge is not using bleed, it’s edge-to-edge.
Hope that helps.
Claps. Claps. Claps.
THANK YOU! This was a life saver. Now my pdf looks so much better.
I’m glad it was helpful! Thanks for your comment.
Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 dbssw
What the hell does “wa-la” mean? Do you mean “voila”?
Americans…
I know… we can’t help ourselves. But also, your comment isn’t very helpful to anyone. However, I hope making fun of the word I chose to use gave you great satisfaction and made you feel better about yourself.
I did what you said and under “File” there is no option for “Page Set-up!!!!!”
what version of word are you using, and which operating system?
OMG THANKYOU SO MUCH YOU REALLY ARE SAVIOUR
Thank you very much. This saved me from going insane.
YOU ARE THE BEST !!
I’m creating PDFs for a course and want the printouts to appear as nice as the digital w/ the bleed. Is it always going to come down to the end user calibrating their printer settings for the printed out PDF version to look as nice as the digital?
Hi Jessica, I don’t know of any home printers that can print to the edge of the paper. The only way I know to do it is if you print and then cut the edges. With so many different programs, you never really know exactly what users are seeing on the other side. It depends on what operating system, fonts, and if they regularly update their computers. But if you use standard fonts and deliver your item as a PDF, then *most* of the time it will be seen as intended. Hope that helps.
You are doing an e-book, but I am doing a book that needs to be converted from Word to a pdf and then printed. So I have text pages that need margins and then pages with images which I want to go to the edges. But if I set the whole doc as edge to edge, then my text goes to the edge and will get cut off when it is bound.
CAn you suggest anything I can you suggest anything I can do to selectively get full bleed on photo pages in Word??
Christine, I would think that you can set the entire document to bleed because you should be typing the text within margins, so those pages will be safe because the text will stay within the margins even though the printer can print all the way to the edge of the page. Make sense?
Oh, duh, I just noticed the date on your original post. I’m sure you’ve figured out the answer by now. LOL!!
I just tried and it didnt work for me! the bottom is cutting off for some reason.