Page Margins

Margins represent an inward boundary from the physical edge of the printed page. They establish a "safe zone" that protects critical typography and important graphics from being compromised during the mechanical cutting process.

Why Margins are Required

Because physical paper shifts slightly during high-speed printing and guillotine trimming, the blade rarely strikes the absolute mathematical edge of a design. If text is placed too close to the trim line, minor shifts can result in characters being partially sliced off. Margins act as a protective buffer and enforce consistent visual whitespace throughout a document.

Configuring Margins

In the Create tab, toggle the Margins section on.

Input fields are available for the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right edges.

• Linked State: By default, the chain link icon connects all four inputs. Typing a value into one field applies it universally to all edges.
• Unlinked State: Clicking the chain link allows asymmetric margins. This is required for documents like bound booklets, which need a wider "gutter" margin on the inside binding edge and standard margins on the outside edges.

Common Margin Allowances

• Corporate Documents (Letter/A4): 1 inch or 25 mm all around.
• Flyers and Postcards: 0.25 inches or 6 mm all around.
• Business Cards: 0.125 inches or 3 mm all around.

Margins vs Bleed

It is critical to distinguish between Margins and Bleed.

• Margins move inward from the final cut size to protect content.
• Bleed moves outward from the final cut size to stretch background artwork. A professional print file frequently utilizes both mechanics simultaneously.

Visualizing Margins in Figma

When you generate the layout using Print for Figma, the plugin creates a Figma Layout Grid to represent the margins. These visual guides typically render as blue translucent blocks on the frame. They serve purely as visual guardrails for the designer and will automatically be ignored when exporting the final PDF. You can toggle their visibility using Figma's native shortcut (Shift+G or Ctrl+G depending on your OS).