How do I use the dieline in Illustrator?

Our PDF is at true size, with each kind of line (cut, crease, info and safe) on a layer of its own, which Acrobat shows. Illustrator may keep those layers or bring everything in on one; either way the lines keep their colours, so sorting them takes a minute.

These steps are general advice for Illustrator: menus move between versions, and your printer may want things done their way. Other programs that open a vector PDF can use the file too.

Step by step

1. Download the PDF and open it with File › Open. Don't scale it: the drawing is already at true size, and the die is made from it.
2. Open the Layers panel. If you see CUT, CREASE, INFO and SAFE, lock them and go on to step 4.
3. If everything sits on one layer, click a red cut line and choose Select › Same › Stroke Color: every cut line is picked at once. Move them to a new layer, name it, lock it. Do the same for the green creases, the gray marks and the blue safe line. If a click picks a whole group, ungroup it or release its clipping mask first.
4. Add a new layer for your artwork and drag it below the dieline layers, so the lines stay on top.
5. For a background, unlock CUT for a moment, copy the cut outline onto your artwork layer and lock CUT again, then fill the copy. Every outline is one closed shape, so one click fills it.
6. Let background colour and images run a little past the cut line. That's bleed; ask your printer how much they want.
7. Keep text and logos inside the safe line.

What's on each layer of the PDF

The block under the drawing

Under the drawing, on the INFO layer, sits a small block: every size you typed, the blank size, the scale, the date and a link that reopens this dieline with the same sizes. It's for you and the printer, not part of your artwork; hide or move it when you want a clean view.

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