Create crop marks quicker with the Crop Area command (CS/CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5)

Not every commercially printed project you produce is finished to a standard size of 8½ by 11 inches. Many other items, such as business cards, business envelopes, and monarch note cards, are finished to a variety of different sizes. As such, they require crop marks to indicate exactly where you want the post-press bindery to cut your printed pieces. Although you can draw individual crop marks in your document, you have to be very careful to accurately place them, as well as not accidentally move them as you work. A simple solution to the problem is to let Illustrator do this task for you.

For example, follow these steps to set up the crop marks for a standard monarch-size envelope with dimensions of 7.5 by 3.875 inches:

1. Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle tool.
2. Set the Rectangle’s width to 7.5 in. and the height to 3.875 in.
3. Choose Object > Crop Area > Make, and you’ve created crop marks.