How to add bleed in Photoshop: exact steps and sizes

Photoshop has no bleed setting, so you add bleed by making the canvas bigger: Image → Canvas Size, tick Relative, and enter twice the bleed (6 mm, or 0.25 in) for width and height. Then extend the background into the new edge, save as a Photoshop PDF and check that the page size equals trim size plus bleed. The sizes below cover business cards, CR80 cards, A4, A5, US Letter and 4 x 6 in postcards.

Working in Illustrator or Canva instead? Those have a bleed field or toggle; see how to add bleed in Illustrator and how to add bleed in Canva. For what the term means and why printers insist on it, read what is bleed in printing.

Step 1: Make the canvas trim size plus bleed

Open the image and choose Image → Canvas Size (Ctrl+Alt+C on Windows, Cmd+Option+C on Mac). Change the unit menus beside Width and Height to Millimeters or Inches, whichever your printer uses. Tick Relative, so the numbers you type are added to the current size, then enter 6 mm for both (3 mm on each side) or 0.25 in (0.125 in on each side). Leave the Anchor in the centre square so the extra space is split evenly, and click OK.

Starting from scratch instead? Use File → New and type the full size straight in, trim plus 6 mm, at 300 pixels/inch.

One detail: 3 mm at 300 ppi is 35.4 pixels, so Photoshop rounds to whole pixels. The error is below 0.05 mm, which no press will notice.

Step 2: Mark the trim and safe area with guides

Photoshop does not draw a trim line for you, so add guides. Choose View → Guides → New Guide Layout, tick Margins, and enter 3 mm (or 0.125 in) in Top, Left, Bottom and Right. The four guides now sit on the trim line, exactly where the cutter will go. Run New Guide Layout once more with 6 mm (or 0.25 in) to mark a safe area, so text and logos stay at least 3 mm inside the trim. If you prefer one guide at a time, View → Guides → New Guide takes a position such as 3 mm for a vertical or horizontal guide.

Step 3: Extend the background into the bleed

The canvas is larger, but the new band is empty: transparent on an unlocked layer, or the background color on a locked Background layer. Fill it so color runs to the edge. Pick the method that suits the artwork:

Flat color or gradient background. Sample the edge color with the Eyedropper and fill the band, or stretch a thin strip: select the outer few pixels with the Rectangular Marquee and scale them out with Edit → Free Transform. This fails on texture, because it smears.
Photo or flattened image, Content-Aware Fill. Unlock the Background layer, select the transparent band with the Magic Wand (Contiguous ticked), grow it with Select → Modify → Expand by 2 px so it overlaps the real edge, then choose Edit → Content-Aware Fill and accept the result.
Photo or flattened image, Generative Expand. Choose the Crop tool, drag a handle outward past each edge, leave the prompt empty and click Generate in the contextual taskbar. This is a cloud feature that uses your Adobe generative credits, so check you have them. Zoom to 100 percent and inspect each edge.

Either automatic method can invent detail where it does not belong, such as a half letter or a stray line right at the edge. Because the bleed is only 3 mm and is cut away, small flaws are harmless, but anything that touches the trim line is not.

Canvas arithmetic for common sizes

This is what to type into Canvas Size (Relative) and what you should see afterwards. Metric rows use 3 mm bleed; inch rows use 0.125 in.

Finished (trim) size	Bleed per side	Type in, Relative	New canvas	Pixels at 300 ppi
Business card, 85 x 55 mm	3 mm	6 x 6 mm	91 x 61 mm	1075 x 720
Business card, 3.5 x 2 in	0.125 in	0.25 x 0.25 in	3.75 x 2.25 in	1125 x 675
CR80 card, 85.60 x 53.98 mm	3 mm	6 x 6 mm	91.60 x 59.98 mm	1082 x 708
A4, 210 x 297 mm	3 mm	6 x 6 mm	216 x 303 mm	2551 x 3579
A5, 148 x 210 mm	3 mm	6 x 6 mm	154 x 216 mm	1819 x 2551
US Letter, 8.5 x 11 in	0.125 in	0.25 x 0.25 in	8.75 x 11.25 in	2625 x 3375
Postcard, 4 x 6 in	0.125 in	0.25 x 0.25 in	4.25 x 6.25 in	1275 x 1875

The pixel counts are rounded to the nearest whole pixel. For card sizes in more detail, see bleed size for business cards; the CR80 row is the plastic card standard, also on the CR80 card template. Always start by asking your printer for their own bleed, which can be larger than 3 mm.

Why 300 ppi matters here

Adding bleed does not change resolution, but a wrong resolution ruins the file anyway. Open Image → Image Size, untick Resample, and check that the Resolution reads 300 pixels/inch at the full canvas size. If an image reads 72 ppi and the width is far too small, never raise the number with Resample ticked: that only stretches pixels. Go back to a larger original. The pixel table above is the target. More in image resolution for print.

Step 4: Save as a Photoshop PDF and check the size

Choose File → Save a Copy (or Save As), set the format to Photoshop PDF and pick a print preset such as High Quality Print or PDF/X-4 in the dialog that follows. Photoshop PDF has no crop-marks option, so the page is simply the whole canvas, bleed included. Open the saved PDF in Acrobat or Reader and check File → Properties: the page size must equal trim plus bleed, for instance 216 x 303 mm for A4. Tell your printer the file already has 3 mm bleed on every side, and where the trim sits.

Already have a flattened PDF with no bleed?

Open the bleed and safe area calculator, drop in the PDF, PNG or JPEG, enter the bleed (3 mm is the default, in millimeters or inches) and download. The tool adds the bleed margin around your artwork and continues the design past the edge from the artwork itself, with a choice of mirroring the edges or extending edge pixels. It then returns a PDF with bleed, trim and crop marks on separate named layers, and a plain version of the artwork with the bleed and no marks. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded. For a raster file it also reports the effective resolution. It continues the artwork already at each edge, so the bleed carries your own design; text and borders close to the trim are worth one last look before you send it.

Common mistakes

Enlarging without Relative. Typing 6 mm with Relative unticked sets the canvas to 6 mm wide and crops the picture away. Tick Relative first, or type the full trim-plus-bleed size.
Stretching the image to fill the bleed. Scaling the whole picture up changes the layout and the resolution. Extend the edge instead.
Text inside the bleed. Keep text and logos on the safe-area guides, not just inside the canvas.
Saving a JPEG. A JPEG carries no trim information, so the printer cannot tell where the cut falls. Send a PDF and state the trim size.