Troubleshooting
Incorrect page size, margins, or gutter
How you'd notice this
Your print proof (or the KDP/IngramSpark previewer) shows text sitting too close to the edge of the page, an odd amount of extra white space, or the file simply doesn't match the trim size you picked. Text near the spine may look like it's about to disappear into the binding.
Why it happens
Page size, margins, and gutter are three separate settings in every formatting program, and it's easy to set one correctly while leaving another at a leftover default from a template. Gutter especially gets missed because it isn't part of a normal document's margin settings, it's an extra allowance added specifically for the spine side of a bound book, and thicker books need more of it.
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.
- Re-open Layout > Size and Layout > Margins > Custom Margins and confirm every value against your trim size and target margins, don't trust a template's defaults.
- Confirm "Mirror margins" is on and that a Gutter value is set (Layout > Margins > Custom Margins), especially if your book is over ~150 pages, which typically needs more spine allowance.
- Check "Apply to: Whole Document" was selected when you last changed these, a change applied only "From this point forward" leaves earlier pages on the old settings.
- Re-open File > Page setup and re-check paper size and margins against your trim size.
- Remember Docs has no true gutter/mirror-margins feature, if your spine-side margin looks uneven or too tight, that's expected in Docs; the fix is exporting to Word (or moving to Atticus) to add a real gutter.
- Open the Formatting panel and re-check Trim Size and the Margins section's Inside/Outside values against the live preview.
- If Atticus is suggesting a larger Inside margin than what you have set, that's its automatic gutter guidance based on your current page count, increase Inside margin to match.
- Go to File > Document Setup and confirm Page Size matches your trim size and "Facing Pages" is checked.
- Open Layout > Margins and Columns and re-check Inside/Outside values, then open each Master Page (Window > Pages) to confirm its guides actually match, master guides don't always auto-update from the dialog alone.
- Scrivener's own page settings aren't reliable for a final print interior (some versions even ignore File > Page Setup values on export), don't try to fix this inside Scrivener.
- Compile to Word (.docx) and re-check trim size, margins, and gutter there, or move the manuscript to Atticus, which builds mirrored margins and gutter in automatically.
- Re-open the Format inspector's Document tab and re-check page size and margins against your trim size.
- Remember Pages has no true gutter/mirror-margins feature, if the spine-side margin looks uneven or too tight, that's expected in Pages; export to Word (File > Export To > Word) to add a real gutter, or move to Atticus.
- Reedsy Studio sets margins and gutter automatically from your chosen trim size, there's no manual field to check, if something still looks wrong, confirm the correct trim size is actually selected in your book's settings.
- If you need a specific non-standard margin/gutter value, Reedsy Studio doesn't expose that control, move the manuscript to Atticus or InDesign.
- Vellum sets margins automatically from the trim size chosen in File > Print Settings, re-check that the correct trim size is actually selected there.
- There's no manual gutter field to inspect in Vellum, if you suspect it needs adjusting for an unusually long book, verify in Atticus or InDesign instead, which expose the exact value.
- Re-open Format > Page Style, Page tab, and confirm page size against your trim size.
- Confirm Page layout is set to "Mirrored" (relabels Left/Right to Inner/Outer) and that you've manually added your gutter amount on top of the base Inner margin, LibreOffice has no separate Gutter field the way Word does, the extra spine-side space has to be added directly into the Inner margin value.