WD: How to Create Crop Marks with a PostScript Printer (111885)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0b
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 2.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
  • Microsoft Word 97 for Windows
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1a
  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q111885

SUMMARY

Word includes no automatic feature that adds crop marks to your document. This article contains instructions you can use to create crop marks in your Word document if you are using on a PostScript printer.

For additional information on how to create crop marks in Word on any printer, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

92600 How to Create Crop Marks in Microsoft Word

MORE INFORMATION

Crop marks are short lines at the corners of a page that show where the outer edges of the paper should be trimmed. On a PostScript printer, you can use a PRINT field to create crop marks on a single page or on each page of a section or document.

How to Create Crop Marks on a Single Page

To create crop marks on a single page, follow these steps:
  1. Position the insertion point on the page where you want crop marks to appear.
  2. Press CTRL+F9 to insert a field. In the field brackets ({}), type the following:

    PRINT \p page ""

    Important: The quotation marks must be straight quotes, not smart quotes.
  3. Between the quotation marks in the PRINT field, type or paste the PostScript code from the "PostScript Code" section later in this article.
  4. Print the document to a PostScript printer.

How to Create Crop Marks on Each Page of a Section

To create crop marks on each page of a section, follow these steps:
  1. Position the insertion point in the section where you want crop marks to appear.
  2. From the View menu, choose Header and Footer (choose Header/Footer in Word 2.x). In Word 6.0, the header becomes active. In Word 2.x, select Header and then choose OK.
  3. In the header, press CTRL+F9 to insert a field. In the field brackets ({}), type the following:

    PRINT \p page ""

    IMPORTANT: The quotation marks must be straight quotes, not smart quotes.
  4. Between the quotation marks in the PRINT field, type or paste the PostScript code from the "PostScript Code" section below.
  5. Print the document to a PostScript printer.

PostScript Code

Insert the following PostScript code as directed in Step 3 of the two preceding sections:

IMPORTANT: If you print the document on a non-PostScript printer, remove the PRINT field. If you do not remove this field, the PostScript code prints as text in your document. 
-----Start of PostScript Code----(Do not type this line)---------

 % Crop Marks

 .5 setlinewidth
 /markl 9 def
 /whitel 4 def
 /inch {72 mul} def
 /top 1 inch def
 /bottom 1 inch def
 /left 1.25 inch def
 /right 1.25 inch def

 %horizontals

 left markl sub whitel sub wp$y top sub moveto markl 0 rlineto
 wp$x right sub left sub whitel 2 mul add 0 rmoveto markl 0 rlineto
 left markl sub whitel sub bottom moveto markl 0 rlineto
 wp$x right sub left sub whitel 2 mul add 0 rmoveto markl 0 rlineto

 %verticals

 left bottom markl sub whitel sub moveto 0 markl rlineto
 0 wp$y top sub bottom sub whitel 2 mul add rmoveto 0 markl rlineto
 wp$x right sub bottom markl sub whitel sub moveto 0 markl rlineto
 0 wp$y top sub bottom sub whitel 2 mul add rmoveto 0 markl rlineto
 stroke

-----End of PostScript Code----(Do not type this line)---------

How to Set the Position of the Crop Marks

The following lines of PostScript code determine the position of the crop marks on a page: 
 /top 1 inch def
 /bottom 1 inch def
 /left 1.25 inch def
 /right 1.25 inch def
The PostScript code in the preceding section uses Word's default margin settings to position the crop marks. To change these settings, change measurements in the four lines above. For example, to place crop marks at 1.5 inches from each edge, change each measurement to 1.5, as shown below: 
 /top 1.5 inch def
 /bottom 1.5 inch def
 /left 1.5 inch def
 /right 1.5 inch def

REFERENCES

For more information about PostScript, refer to the "PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook" by Adobe Systems, published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/16/2005
Keywords:kblayout kbprint KB111885
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