Setup panel
The Setup panel defines the relationship between the page and the output media in terms of size, orientation, and position.
The Setup panel controls the size, orientation, and placement of pages on the output media.
Paper Size area
Paper Size menu: By default, InDesign uses the paper size specified in the default printer style.
The selections available here depend on the type of output you’ve targeted at the top of the Print dialog box:
• If you targeted a device-independent PostScript file (Printer: PostScript® file; PPD: Device Independent), no paper size is available because it will be specified by a post-processing application later in the workflow.
• If you targeted a device-dependent PostScript file (Printer: PostScript® file; PPD: <device name>), you can choose from the paper sizes defined in the selected PPD. The Custom paper size option may also be available if it’s enabled by the selected PPD.
• If you targeted a printer set up through the OS (Printer: <printer name>; PPD: <preset with printer>), you can change the driver-defined paper size by clicking Page Setup to choose a paper size provided by the driver. Or you can choose from paper sizes in the menu supplied by the PPD. The Custom paper size option may also be available if it’s enabled by the selected PPD.
Note: The Custom paper size option is not available for non-PostScript output devices.
Width and Height: Displays the dimensions of the selection in the Paper Size menu. These options can be edited only if Custom is selected. You can specify separate Width and Height values for anamorphic printing, such as flexography. If you select Auto from the Paper Size pop-up menu, Width or Height displays values in parentheses, which indicate that InDesign automatically calculates the minimum paper size needed to output a page with all marks and the bleed and slug areas (if selected), with the goal of conserving continuous roll media.
Orientation: Sets the orientation of the page on the media. This option doesn’t rotate the media.
To rotate media, select a Transverse paper size; or for custom paper sizes, select the Transverse option. If you select the Transverse option, it’s a good idea to switch the proxy to custom/cut sheet view (by clicking the proxy) to verify that the orientation will produce the results you want.
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The following options are available only when Custom is selected in the Paper Size menu. The range of values for these options is specified by the selected PPD so that they are within the limits of the output device.
Offset: Sets the distance between the left edge of the media and the left edge of the page.
Gap: Sets the distance between pages on continuous media.
Transverse: Outputs as if the media were rotated 90 degrees, which is useful for tall pages being printed to roll-fed devices that have wide media sizes, such as imagesetters. This option doesn’t change the Orientation, Width, or Height options.
Options area
Scale: Width and Height: Specifies page scaling from 1 to 1000% to a precision of 1/100th of a percent. Width and Height aren’t available if Scale To Fit is selected.
Scale To Fit: Automatically calculates the scaling factor needed to fit the page size within the media, including all enabled page marks that will enlarge the required print area. The original page proportions are maintained. The percentage determined by InDesign is displayed to the right of the Scale To Fit option, except when Spreads is selected in the General panel, because the automatic scaling percentage may vary with the number of pages in a spread.
Constrain Proportions: Maintains the original aspect ratio of the page as you change the Scale
Width or Height. As you change the scaling percentage of one dimension, InDesign automatically adjusts the other dimension to match. The original proportions are maintained when you select Scale To Fit.
Page Position: Specifies where the page and its marks appear on the media. By default, a page is positioned at the upper left corner of the media. By selecting options in this menu, you can also center a page along the horizontal or vertical dimension of the media, or along both dimensions.
The page position is relative to the entire media size, not its imageable area. This option isn’t available when tiling, thumbnails, or Scale To Fit is on.
Thumbnails: Outputs from 2 to 49 pages on a single media page, for the purpose of reviewing a document. In most service provider scenarios, this option should be turned off.
The orientation of the thumbnail pages may not match the orientation of the document because
InDesign automatically uses the orientation that most efficiently fits the thumbnails on the media. For example, when the 1x2 option is selected for a document with tall pages and the original orientation is Tall, the pages will fit best if page orientation is Wide.
A B C
To conserve media, InDesign automatically chooses the orientation for thumbnails. In this example, 1x2 thumbnails laid out as tall pages (A) will print more efficiently with wide orientation (B) than with tall orientation (C).
Tile: Enables printing a page that is larger than the largest available media size, by printing portions of the page on each of multiple sheets of media. Tiling marks are added to each sheet.
When Tile is selected, the Tile menu provides the following options:
• Auto. Automatically calculates the number of sheets required to print the document, using the
Overlap value. Tiles are aligned to the top and left edges of the total imageable area of all sheets that need to be printed.
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• Auto Justified. Automatically calculates the number of sheets required to print the document, using the Overlap value as a minimum. Tiles are aligned to all edges of the total imageable area of all sheets that need to be printed, which may result in a larger overlap than specified. The advantage of this option is that you won’t have to trim excess empty space from the tiles along the right and bottom sides of the complete print area.
• Manual. Prints a single tile. You set the top left corner of the tile by positioning the zero point of the rulers. The Overlap value isn’t available for Manual because only one sheet is printed.
• Overlap. Specifies how much of each tile edge is repeated along the edge of any adjacent tiles.
This option defaults to a value of 9 picas.
Auto Auto Justified Manual
Tiling options: Auto tiles from the upper left corner using the Overlap value. Auto Justified fits to outer printable edges of media by increasing overlap. Manual lets you set the position of each tile individually.
Note: Tiling adds tile marks to each sheet. This adds to the total print area required to output all sheets.
Creating a custom page size
The unit of measure for a custom page size is the one specified in the InDesign Edit > Preferences dialog box. You can override the units by using standard abbreviations as described in the online
Help file (for example, enter 12i or 12" for 12 inches, or 612pt for 612 points).
To create a custom page size:
1 In the Print dialog box panel list, click Setup.
2 Choose Custom from the Paper Size menu. The Custom option is available only if custom paper sizes are enabled in the device’s PPD.
3 Specify a Width and Height if needed. The default Auto setting is useful for continuous media, such as a roll of film or paper. It will use only enough media to print the page and any page marks that are turned on.
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4 Specify the following options as necessary:
• Orientation, to rotate the page.
• Offset, to specify the distance between the left edge of the media and the left edge of the page.
• Gap, to specify a space between pages on continuous media.
• Transverse, to rotate both the page and media for devices that have wide media sizes, such as imagesetters.
To see a visual indication of these options, click the proxy in the lower left corner of the Print dialog box until it displays the custom size/cut sheet view. The thumbnail updates automatically as you change the values.
Offset Gap Transverse All
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