Expert: Candice Anderson - 6/19/2007

Question
Hi! I've designed a custom brochure, double sided that fits on A3 page. It folds down to a small brochure, so there are about 3 folds on it. In InDesign I've lined up all the fold exactly on both sides, measured them all seperately so each page is the same size as on the other side.......but when I print it, or send it to the printers - there is always about 2-3mm mismatch, which is a big problem when I have an imagine ending on one page and something else starting on the other. How come when I look at it on InDesign or even when i export it to .pdf it is all lined up perfectly, side by side, but when I print it - there is this difference in folding.
Hope you can help. Thanks!

Answer
1. change your printer because they should have told you this (or never go to Kinkos again if that's where you went, they suck).

2. there's no way to fix this. It's because printers are never perfectly lined up. 2-3mm is actully pretty good --- I don't understand the problem you are having...but there should never be writing .125 inches near the boarder, or the fold - having it so near is bad to depend on for even if the printer could make it perfect, there's always goofs that you will have to pay for when they do the final print - and it's much less obvious when you have done your margins right.

what I would do is ask your printer on how off it will be. (and stay away from Kinkos)

as for you printer at work and at home,  don't even try. Print both sides and staple. :)