Print Marks: Supported Types and Boundaries

Print marks describe cutting, folding, registration or process-control intent. Their presence in a preview does not prove that they were written to the output PDF or accepted by a finishing device.

Canonical planner support

The canonical imposition path supports seven mark types. The older claim that only crop marks are implemented is obsolete.

Type	Purpose and boundary
Crop	Trim corners; process-black strokes
Cut	Eligible facing cut edges in a gutter; not a generic line through a folded gutter
Registration	Alignment marks using /Separation/All
Fold	Fold-position marks
Collation	Signature-order marks
Colour bar	DeviceCMYK process-colour patches
Slug	Job/production text under the configured policy

Barcode and device-target generation are not implemented by this canonical mark path. A generic mark is not scanner-certified. Support in the planner does not mean that every public UI exposes every parameter.

Safe workflow

1. Obtain the provider's required mark types, colour policy, units, margins and finishing constraints.
2. Choose explicit mark settings and sheet margins. Keep source marks and new marks from being duplicated or silently removed.
3. Inspect the plan's warnings. Geometry and mark budgets apply; unsafe geometry can be refused, and marks without safe bleed clearance can be skipped with warnings. Do not assume every requested mark was emitted.
4. Verify the exact output PDF, its receipt and post-imposition findings. Check media bounds, live artwork, separations and the finishing device's requirements.
5. Obtain the required production release evidence. Preview geometry and supported mark syntax alone do not supply it.

There is no universal mark length or offset for every press. Registration colour belongs outside live artwork; crop/cut strokes and colour bars do not all use Registration colour. See imposition and bleed.