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IngramSpark’s file requirements for a print book

By Lukas · 4 November 2026

IngramSpark prints what you upload. Its guide says files are processed as received and not preflighted, so a mistake that KDP’s previewer would show you ends up on paper. Below is what IngramSpark asks of the interior and the cover of a black-and-white paperback, from its own File Creation Guide and trim size list, what differs from KDP, and a checklist for the finished files.

What kind of PDF does IngramSpark want for the interior?

IngramSpark wants the interior as one PDF of single pages, not spreads, at the trim size, with every font embedded and no crop or registration marks. For black-and-white interiors its guide names PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002 as the way to make that PDF; for colour interiors and for covers it says the file must comply with one of the two. Fonts count as embedded when Acrobat’s document properties list each one as “Embedded” or “Embedded Subset”. The guide warns that Acrobat’s “Standard” setting leaves out the 14 base fonts, which is enough to have a file rejected.

Leave spot colours and ICC profiles out of a black-and-white interior: the guide notes that a profile applied to black text can turn it into a grey. A revision has to be the whole file again, not the pages that changed.

What margins and bleed does IngramSpark need?

IngramSpark recommends at least 0.5 in (13 mm) of margin on every side of the text block, running heads and page numbers included, because its printing can vary by 1/16 in (2 mm). Unlike KDP, it has no inside margin that grows with the page count: the half inch applies all round, at any thickness.

Bleed is 0.125 in (3 mm) on the top, bottom and outside edge, never on the bind side. A 6 × 9 in book with bleed is a 6.125 × 9.25 in PDF; one without bleed is built at exactly 6 × 9 in. Anything that should print to the edge has to reach the full 0.125 in beyond the trim. Colour interiors get one more recommendation: a 0.125 in white strip at the bind side, on top of the half inch.

Which trim sizes and page counts does IngramSpark print?

IngramSpark’s trim size list has about 30 sizes for black-and-white books, from 4 × 6 in to 8.5 × 11 in. The usual novel sizes are all there, 5 × 8, 5.25 × 8, 5.5 × 8.5, 6 × 9 and 6.14 × 9.21 in, and so are A5 and 4.72 × 7.48 in, which is the 12 × 19 cm of German paperbacks. Custom sizes are possible within limits. Which size suits which book is in the guide to trim sizes.

A paperback has at least 18 pages. The paper sets the maximum: 1,200 pages on 50 lb white, 1,050 on 50 lb crème, 900 on 70 lb white and on 38 lb groundwood. IngramSpark stores every interior with an even page count and keeps the last page blank for the printer’s manufacturing details, adding pages where it needs to.

What does IngramSpark want from images, lines and black?

In a black-and-white book, photos should be 8-bit greyscale at 300 ppi and line art 1-bit at 600 ppi, measured at the size they print. Convert colour pictures to greyscale yourself: IngramSpark converts RGB and CMYK images when it prints, and the guide warns that the result can shift. Rules and lines should be at least 0.125 pt and 100 % black, and text of 24 pt or smaller should be 100 % black too, not a mix of inks. Across the page, the total of all inks should stay under 240 %.

How do you make the cover for IngramSpark?

The cover is built on IngramSpark’s own template: request it from the Cover Template Generator under “My Tools” in your IngramSpark account, with the trim size, paper, binding and final page count, and it arrives by email. The template already has the spine width for that paper and page count, so order it once the interior is final. Design on it at the size it comes in and don’t move anything except the barcode.

• Bleed is 0.125 in on all four sides, and text should stay 0.25 in inside the trim (the template allows 0.125 in).
• A barcode is required. The template has one; you may move it on the back cover but not resize it. A barcode of your own has to be 100 % black on white, or leave a white area of at least 1.75 × 1 in for IngramSpark’s.
• A paperback under 48 pages may have no text on the spine. On a spine 0.35 in or wider, keep spine text 1/16 in from the folds.
• The file is CMYK, pictures at least 200 ppi, PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002, with the template’s pink and blue guide areas removed or covered.

Kernsetzer doesn’t make covers. It does tell you the final page count, which is what the template needs.

Can I use the same files for KDP and IngramSpark?

The interior, often yes; the cover, no. One interior PDF works for both if it meets both sets of rules: at least 0.5 in on every side for IngramSpark, and an inside margin at least as wide as KDP’s gutter for the page count, which goes beyond half an inch from 301 pages (0.625 in up to 500, 0.75 in up to 700). The trim size must be on both lists and the page count within KDP’s 24 to 828. Both want the bleed on the same three edges.

The cover has to be made twice. The spine depends on each printer’s paper, so the same page count gives two spine widths, and each cover goes on its printer’s own template. Spine text is allowed from 48 pages at IngramSpark and from 79 at KDP. And the ISBN: the free one KDP gives you works only on KDP, so a book that is also printed by IngramSpark needs an ISBN of your own.

What if the book is in Word?

IngramSpark’s guide lists Microsoft Word among the programs it offers no help with file creation for and no cover templates in. You can still export a PDF from Word, but it won’t be PDF/X, and the margins, bleed and fonts are yours to check against the list below. The guide to preparing a manuscript in Word covers getting the text clean first.

What does Kernsetzer do for IngramSpark?

In Kernsetzer you choose IngramSpark as the printer: it then keeps at least 0.5 in on every side, adds the 0.125 in bleed on the three trim edges when a picture runs to the edge, and checks the page count and the margins before it exports. To send the same book to KDP, choose KDP and export again. One thing Kernsetzer doesn’t do yet is PDF/X. Its PDF has every font embedded, but it is a standard PDF. Before uploading to IngramSpark, convert it to PDF/X-1a, for example with the PDF/X fix-up in Acrobat Pro’s Preflight, and check the result.

The checklist

• The interior is one PDF of single pages at the trim size, or 0.125 in wider and 0.25 in taller with bleed.
• It is PDF/X-1a:2001 or PDF/X-3:2002, with every font embedded.
• Text, running heads and page numbers stay at least 0.5 in inside the trim; a book also going to KDP has KDP’s gutter for its page count.
• Bleed reaches the full 0.125 in on the top, bottom and outside edge, and none is on the bind side.
• No crop marks, spot colours or ICC profiles.
• Photos are greyscale at 300 ppi, line art at 600 ppi, at their printed size; lines are at least 0.125 pt; text is 100 % black.
• The page count is between 18 and the maximum for your paper.
• The cover is on a template ordered with the final page count, CMYK, PDF/X, with bleed on all four sides and the pink and blue areas covered.
• The barcode is on the cover, unchanged in size, or a white 1.75 × 1 in space is left for it.
• There is spine text only if the book has 48 pages or more.
• You have your own ISBN if the book is also on KDP.
• You have ordered a proof copy and read it.

IngramSpark is the printer I’d check most carefully on paper, because nobody checks the file before it prints. Kernsetzer’s alpha sets the margins and bleed for it already; it’s on the download page.

Sources: IngramSpark’s File Creation Guide (the edition marked 8.24.26) and its trim size matrix, read on 4 November 2026, and the KDP figures of the KDP paperback guide. IngramSpark changes its requirements from time to time; its guide is the one to follow if it says something else.