Troubleshooting
Missing bleed
How you'd notice this
A full-page image or edge-to-edge design element shows a thin white sliver along one or more edges after printing or trimming, or the printer/KDP rejects the file for insufficient bleed.
Why it happens
Bleed is extra artwork extending past the trim edge so that small variations in the physical trimming process never expose a white gap. It's not automatic, text-only books usually don't need it, but any full-bleed image needs artwork deliberately extended past the trim line by the required bleed amount (commonly 0.125").
How to fix it
You haven't picked a formatting program yet, so every program's steps are shown below, pick a tab for the one you're using.
- Word has no dedicated bleed feature. If you have full-bleed images, set your page size larger than trim size by your bleed amount (Layout > Size > More Paper Sizes) and extend artwork to fill that larger page, letting the printer trim to true size.
- If bleed pages are more than a handful, consider handling just those pages in Atticus or InDesign instead, since both support bleed natively.
- Google Docs has no bleed support at all. Don't attempt full-bleed pages in Docs, export your text and handle bleed pages in Word (via the workaround), Atticus, or InDesign.
- Select the image block and enable its "Bleed" / "Full bleed" toggle in the block's settings. Atticus extends it to the correct amount automatically.
- Use the print preview to confirm the bleed image visually extends past the trim edge before exporting.
- Go to File > Document Setup and set your Bleed amount on Top/Bottom/Inside/Outside (commonly 0.125").
- Extend the image to the red bleed guide, not just the black trim guide (View > Screen Mode > Bleed to check).
- When exporting to PDF, open the Marks and Bleed panel and check "Use Document Bleed Settings", otherwise the exported file won't actually include the bleed area even though your layout does.
- Scrivener has no bleed feature at all, don't try to solve this inside Scrivener.
- Compile your text out and build any full-bleed pages in Atticus or InDesign instead.
- Apple Pages has no bleed feature of any kind, no version supports it, don't attempt full-bleed pages in Pages.
- Export your text (File > Export To > Word) and hand full-bleed pages to Atticus or InDesign.
- We could not verify a documented manual bleed control for arbitrary images in Reedsy Studio's editor, if a bleed page looks wrong, don't assume it's correctly extended.
- For multiple full-bleed images, build those specific pages in Atticus (explicit per-image bleed toggle) or InDesign instead.
- We could not verify a documented manual bleed toggle for images in Vellum, Vellum's help materials cover margins, font size, and headers, not a bleed control comparable to Atticus's.
- For multiple full-bleed images, build those specific pages in Atticus or InDesign instead.
- LibreOffice Writer has no dedicated bleed feature. If you have full-bleed images, set your page size larger than trim size by your bleed amount (Format > Page Style > Page tab) and extend artwork to fill that larger page.
- If bleed pages are more than a handful, hand those pages to Atticus or InDesign instead, since both support bleed natively with a visual guide.