Folding Templates

Since projects are laid out in the context of a flat page on the screen, it’s common to get overly-tight margins between the cut and graphic elements printed on the panel. It’s always a good idea to create a dummy from a printed laser while designing a project that has more than one fold. To help setup your margins, we’ve created a guide to the most commonly used folds.

It is important to know how much space you have to allow for panels that fold inside other panels. On every panel folded inside another panel, you’ll generally lose 1/16th of an inch in order to allow for a crisp, flat fold. The more folds there are in a printed piece, the less space there will be available on each panel for your printing. You generally want to leave 1/8th of an inch gutter (or margin) from the edge of the panel/fold to your printing or artwork (unless the artwork bleeds).

4-pg Parallel

8-pg Right Angle

8-pg Parallel

8-pg Accordion

Standard Letter

Closed Gate

“Z” Fold

Open Gate