Summary: A themed puzzle book has a few things a plain one does not: art that has to reach the paper edge, art that must stay clear of the spine, colours that turn grey on a black-and-white printer, and image files that can move. This checklist walks through each one in Puzzle Book Studio, so the printed copy looks like the preview.
Overview
Most printing surprises with themed books come from four places, plus one setting worth a second look (art drawn in front of the puzzle):
- The edge of the page. Art that should reach the paper edge stops short and leaves a thin white line, or art that should not be cut off gets trimmed.
- The spine. Corner art or a frame disappears into the fold in the middle of the book.
- Black and white. A cheerful colour background prints as a dark grey wash that buries the puzzle.
- Missing files. An image was moved or renamed after the theme was made, and a page prints without it.
Each one takes a minute to check in Puzzle Book Studio. Work through them in order before you export the final files.
The same page in colour (left) and through the Theme Editor’s black-and-white preview (right).
Required Modules
Puzzle Maker Pro with Puzzle Book Studio, plus any puzzle module you make books with. Book Themes is part of Puzzle Book Studio, so it comes with every edition that includes the Studio (Creative and Productivity) at no extra cost. If your edition builds books with Instant Puzzle Books, you can upgrade at any time to an edition with Puzzle Book Studio Creative or Productivity. See Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
Preparation
Have your themed book open in Puzzle Book Studio. If you have not made a theme yet, start with How to Add Your Own Background Art to Every Page of a Puzzle Book.
Know your printer. Print-on-demand services such as KDP print on a slightly larger sheet and cut each page to size. Home, school and office printers print on the final paper size but cannot print right up to the edge.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Get the Page Edge Right
For KDP and other print-on-demand books with art to the edge:
- In Puzzle Book Studio, open Book Settings → Page Trim Size and Margins and tick Bleed. Each page then gets an extra 0.125 inch strip on its top, bottom and outer edge, which the printer cuts away. That is the bleed KDP asks for.
- In Book Themes…, set full-page backgrounds to Area Bleed (whole page) with Size Cover. The background now runs past the cutting line, so no white sliver is left after trimming.
- Keep everything that must not be cut, such as corner art, a logo or a frame border, at least 0.375 inch in from the finished page edge. The cut can wander by a fraction of an inch, and KDP checks that important content stays inside this safe zone. The easy way: place that art in Inside margins and keep your page margins at 0.375 inch or more.
- When you upload the interior to KDP, choose the bleed option there too, so KDP expects the larger pages.
For home, school and office printers:
- Leave Bleed off.
- Place backgrounds in Inside margins with Size Cover. The printer’s blank strip then lands in the margin, and the art keeps a white border around it.
Keep Art Out of the Spine
In a bound book, the inner margin next to the spine (the gutter) disappears into the fold. Set it in Book Settings → Page Trim Size and Margins → Page Margins: tick Mirror Margins, so left and right pages mirror each other, and enter the spine-side width in Left/Inner (at least what KDP asks for, below) and the outer width in Right/Outer. Check a facing pair in Spread view afterwards. The Inside margins area follows the margins automatically on left and right pages alike.
For KDP, the inner margin depends on the page count. KDP’s minimums are 0.375 inch up to 150 pages, 0.5 inch for 151 to 300 pages, 0.625 inch for 301 to 500, 0.75 inch for 501 to 700, and 0.875 inch above that.
Two habits keep art out of the fold:
- Put corner art on the outer edge. Use Mirror on left-hand pages, or separate Left pages only and Right pages only layers, as shown in the background art tutorial.
- Check a facing pair. Set the Studio’s View to Spread to see left and right pages side by side, the way the open book will look.
Printing loose worksheets or stapled packets? Skip this step: there is no spine to lose art in.
Choose Behind or In Front
Each layer is Drawn either Behind content or In front of content.
- Behind content is right for almost everything: backgrounds, frames, corner art. The puzzle, its title and the page number are drawn on top, so they always stay readable.
- In front of content is for art that should overlap the page on purpose, such as a thin decorative border or a small sticker in a corner.
When a layer drawn in front overlaps the puzzle area or the page number, the Studio’s Warnings panel tells you, for example: Theme layer ‘Sticker’ is drawn in front of the content area on page 12. That is a check, not an error: if the overlap is what you want, leave it. If not, move the art with Anchor and the offsets, make it smaller, or switch it to Behind content.
Check Black and White Before You Print
Many puzzle books are printed in black and white, by KDP or on an office printer. Colours you can tell apart on screen can turn into the same grey on paper.
- Select a puzzle page in the Studio and click Book Themes….
- Tick Preview in black and white (as on an office printer). The preview shows the page in grey, as a black-and-white printer turns it.
- If a background competes with the grid, lower its Opacity % (for a bold background, start around 30%), choose a lighter image, or put a white panel behind the puzzle. Click Apply to book.
- Close the editor, select a solution page and then the title page, and repeat. The black-and-white tick starts unticked each time you open the editor.
To save ink, especially on classroom sets you print many times, keep the art light and untick Solution pages under Page kinds on every layer, so answer pages print plain (see How to Choose Which Puzzle Book Pages Get Which Art).
The preview is a close guide; paper is the final word. KDP’s black-and-white printing usually comes out a little darker than a screen, so order a proof copy before you publish, or print two or three pages on the school printer before you print the whole class set.
Read the Export Report and Fix Moved Images
A theme remembers where each image file is. If a file is moved, renamed or deleted afterwards, the book still exports: that image is simply left out, and Puzzle Book Studio tells you which one.
- Before you export, the Warnings panel lists each page whose theme image cannot be found or read: Theme image not found or not a readable image: … or, for art set to Original (300 dpi), Theme image left out (not found or not a readable image): …, followed by the file’s full location.
- After you export, the completion message lists anything that was left out, under Artwork that could not be read was left out:, with each file’s full location and the pages it was meant for.
To fix it:
- For theme art: open Book Themes…, select the layer, select the missing image under Images, click Remove, then Add… the file from its new location. The new file goes to the end of the list; use Up to put it back in its place if the layer shows its pictures in order. Click Apply to book, and Save to library if the library copy should be fixed too.
- For a single page’s own image: select the page and click Browse… on its Page Art card to choose the file again.
- Export again. The completion message no longer lists the image.
To avoid it altogether, keep the art for each theme in one folder that you do not move or rename, for example Documents\BookPublisherTools\Theme Art, with one subfolder per theme. When you move a theme to another computer, copy that folder along with the theme’s .json file, and re-add any image whose location is different there.
Outcome
Your themed book now prints the way it previews: art to the edge where you want it and a safe margin where you do not, nothing lost in the spine, puzzles that stay readable in black and white, and an export with every image in place. Run the same checks on every new themed book, since a new trim size or printer changes the answers.
FAQ
Should I turn on bleed for a themed puzzle book?
Turn it on when your art runs to the edge of the page and the book is printed by a print-on-demand service such as KDP. Leave it off for home, school and office printing, and keep the art inside the margins instead.
Why does my background look so dark in black and white?
Colours become shades of grey, and a mid-tone colour can become a mid-grey that competes with the grid. Lower the layer’s Opacity % or use a lighter image, and check the result with Preview in black and white (as on an office printer).
What happens if one of my theme images is missing when I export?
The book still exports. The missing image is left out of the pages that use it, and the completion message names the file and the pages, so you can re-add it and export again.
Can I put art over the puzzle?
Yes, set the layer to In front of content. The Studio’s Warnings panel lists each page where that layer overlaps the puzzle area or the page number, so you can check that every overlap is one you meant.
Do I need to set the bleed on every layer?
Bleed is turned on once, for the whole book, in Book Settings. Each layer then chooses its Area: only layers placed in Bleed (whole page) reach the outer edge.