Page Boxes

The Page Boxes window allow you to manage the page boxes in Adobe Illustrator.

To open the Page Boxes window, go to Window > CLOUDFLOW > Page Boxes.

What are page boxes

There might be up to five different descriptions in a PDF that relates to its size. These are called the page boxes:
  • Media Box

    The Media Box is the largest page box in a PDF. The other page boxes can be equal to the Media Box but they should not be bigger. The Media Box is used to specify the width and height of the page. This probably equals the actual page size for the average user. For prepress use, this is not the case as pages are defined slightly oversized so that the bleed, the crop marks, information panels and other useful information may be visible as well. This means that PDF documents used in graphic arts usually have a Media Box, which is bigger than the trimmed page size.

  • Crop Box

    The Crop Box defines the region to which the page contents are to be clipped. Adobe Acrobat uses this size for screen display and printing. For prepress use, the Crop Box is irrelevant.

  • Bleed Box

    The Bleed Box determines the region to which the page contents need to be clipped when output in a production environment. Usually the Bleed Box is 3 to 5 millimeters bigger than the Trim Box. Most prepress systems allow you to define the amount of bleed and ignore the Bleed Box.

  • Trim Box

    The Trim Box defines the intended dimensions of the finished page. Contrary to the Crop Box, the Trim Box is very important because it defines the actual page size. Most imposition programs and workflows use the Trim Box as the base for positioning pages on a press sheet or labels and packaging on a step and repeat.

  • Art Box

    The Art Box can define a region within a page that is of special interest. It is rarely used by applications.

Use PDF page boxes in Illustrator with CLOUDFLOW Plug-in suite

You can perform the following actions:
  • View or hide the page boxes in the artwork.

    Select or deselect the checkbox next to a page box to show or hide the page box individually. Select or deselect the Show All checkbox to show or hide all page boxes at once.

  • View and change the dimensions of the page boxes.

    All the page boxes have a Width and Height input field. If you enter a value, the concerning page box will be created. If you change a value, the dimensions of the page box are changed. In Reference point you can select an anchor that defines in which direction the page box is changed.

  • Set the dimensions or position of a page box to another page box.

    Select the page box of which you want to change the position or dimension. Next to that page box, select a page box from the From... drop-down list to which you want to set the page box.

  • Copy the dimensions or position of a page box to another page box.

    Select the page box of which you want to copy the dimensions or position. On the right side of that page box, select a page box from the To... column to which you want to copy the dimensions or position.