Dieline Help
What is a Dieline
A dieline (or die) is used to cut media that has unusual shapes. Dielines for some projects, like pocket folders might be available as pre-built templates. Otherwise a dieline can be created in Adobe InDesign or Illustrator.
How to Create a Dieline
1. Create a new document or open an existing one in Adobe InDesign or Illustrator.
2. Create a new layer and name it "DIELINE" or "DIE". This layer should be the topmost layer.
3. Create a new color swatch with these settings.
Name: DIE
Color Type: Spot
Color Mode: CMYK
Color Values: Cyan 0, Magenta 100, Yellow 100, Black 0
4. Using this color as the stroke color and [None] as the fill color, create a single, closed shape for the outside of the page in the desired shape.
5. Open the Window -> Output -> Attributes (InDesign) or Window -> Attributes (Illustrator) panel, and with the DIE stroke selected, click to check the "Overprint Stroke" box.
6. If the page has any folds, add additional DIE strokes for the folds. Set these strokes to overprint and change the line type to Dashed instead of Solid.
