2026-10-28 · all guides

KDP Says "Insufficient Bleed" on My Canva Book? Canva's Bleed Setting Is the Problem

Why Canva and KDP disagree

Bleed is extra image past the trim line so there's no white sliver when the pages are cut. For a book's interior, KDP trims only three edges of each page: top, bottom and outside. The inside edge goes into the binding, so it gets no bleed.

KDP's rule for an interior with bleed: add 0.125 inches to the width and 0.25 inches to the height. A 6 x 9 book needs pages of 6.125 x 9.25.

Canva's print bleed is built for flyers and cards, which are trimmed on all four sides. It adds 0.125 inches everywhere, giving 6.25 x 9.25. KDP sees a page that's the wrong width, or art that doesn't reach the edges it expects, and flags it.

Path 1: keep the bleed (photos to the edge)

1. Make a new design at a custom size of your trim plus bleed. For 6 x 9 that's 6.125 x 9.25 inches. Copy your pages into it, or resize the old design if your Canva plan allows.
2. Stretch every image that should touch the edge all the way to the canvas edge.
3. Keep all text and anything important at least 0.375 inches from the top, bottom and outside, and further from the inside edge, which disappears into the binding.
4. Turn off Show print bleed.
5. Download as PDF Print. Leave Crop marks and bleed unticked. Tick Flatten PDF. If the file is very large, use the compress option.
6. In KDP, under Print Options, choose Bleed, and pick Premium Color ink if it's a photo book.

Path 2: drop the bleed (simpler)

If you don't need images to touch the edges, keep the design at the exact trim (6 x 9) and pull images in so they sit at least 0.25 inches from every edge, with text inside the same safe margin. Choose No bleed in KDP. Many photo books look better with a clean white border anyway.

The free KDP margin calculator gives you the exact page size and safe margins for your trim, page count and bleed choice before you start resizing.

The cover is a separate file

The bleed fix above is for the interior. The paperback cover is one wide image covering back, spine and front, and its size depends on your page count and paper. Get the cover size from the spine width calculator after the interior is final.

When the Canva file won't cooperate

Resizing a 100-page Canva book means checking every page by hand. If you'd rather hand over the files you have, our manuscript formatting service fixes the page size and bleed, keeps your images and layout, and builds the matching cover.

FAQ