The margin is the blank band left around the printable area of every tile. Options are 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 inch, set in the export preview.
Use 0.50 in unless you have a reason not to. The rest of this page is that reason.
Why a margin at all
Consumer inkjet and laser printers cannot print to the physical edge of the paper. They reserve an unprintable border of roughly 0.25 in, and usually more at the bottom edge where the feed rollers grip the sheet. Anything inside that border is dropped by the printer — not by Docuslice.
A margin of 0 puts your artwork right into that band. A margin of 0.25 in merely matches it. 0.50 in clears it on effectively every consumer printer, which is why it is the recommended value.
If content is already coming out cut off, this is the fix: printed pages are cropped.
What the margin band holds
The margin is not wasted space. It is where everything that helps you assemble the poster is drawn:
- Cut lines and scissor marks — where to cut.
- Page numbers — which sheet is which.
- Overlap strips — the duplicated slice of the neighbouring tile that makes a short cut forgiving.
At margin 0 all three disappear. There is no band to draw them into. Page numbers and scissor marks are hidden, and overlap becomes zero regardless of the percentage you selected, because overlap is measured as a fraction of the margin.
The trade-off, stated plainly
A bigger margin means less printable area per sheet. Less area per sheet means the same poster needs more sheets.
In size mode this is arithmetic you can watch happen: the sheet count is computed against the usable area, so raising the margin can add a whole row or column. A poster that fitted 4 x 3 at 0.25 in may want 5 x 3 at 0.75 in.
In grid mode the sheet count is fixed by you, so raising the margin makes the finished poster smaller instead.
Neither is a bug. Note that the app does not show you the adjusted sheet count before you export — the page counter only appears while the export is running, so a surprising total is something you discover at that point rather than in advance.
Choosing a value
| Margin | Use when |
|---|---|
| 0.00 | You have a borderless printer, or you are going to trim every sheet on a guillotine. Overlap is unavailable, and the cut guides behave differently between grid and size mode. |
| 0.25 | You know your printer's unprintable border is smaller than this. Risky as a default. |
| 0.50 | The safe default. Clears the border, leaves room for guides and overlap. |
| 0.75 | Content is still being lost at the bottom edge, or you want a wider overlap strip. |
| 1.00 | Very cautious, or you want a deliberate white border on the finished piece. |