How to Set Crop and Trim Marks in Illustrator

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By eHow Contributing Writer

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Crop and trim marks in Adobe Illustrator indicate where artwork is to be cut and trimmed after printing. For example, if you are printing a page that you're going to cut into sections, such as labels for a diskette, the crop marks indicate where the cutting will be done. These instructions apply to Adobe Illustrator 8. Procedures for other versions may vary.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Adobe Illustrator

Set Crop Marks Directly in the Object

Step 1

Create your artwork.
Step 2

Draw a rectangle to define the boundaries where you want the crop marks to appear.
Step 3

Select the rectangle with the Selection tool.
Step 4

Choose Make under Crop Marks in the Objects menu. Crop marks will appear at the corners of the selected rectangle.

Create Trim Marks Around an Object

Step 1

Create an object.
Step 2

Select your object with the Selection tool.
Step 3

Click Trim Marks under Create in the Filters menu. Trim marks will appear around the object.

Tips & Warnings

If no rectangle is selected, Illustrator will place the crop marks at the corners of the artboard.
To use Japanese crop marks, choose Japanese Crop Marks in General Preferences under the File menu.
You cannot edit crop marks. You can remove them (choose Remove under Crop Marks in the Object menu) and remake them.

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