How to export a print-ready PDF

In short

In the top-right corner of the editor, click Download, then Print PDF (CMYK). The editor checks your book against KDP's print rules while it makes the file, and tells you what to fix if anything would get it rejected.

KDP prints your paperback from the interior PDF you upload, and it turns a file away when content sits too close to the edge or the pages are the wrong size. You usually hear about it a day or two later, in an email. Exporting from the editor runs those checks while the file is made, so you fix the problem before you upload, not after a rejection.

A print PDF with no watermark, checked against KDP's print rules, comes with the Creator, Publisher, Studio and Founders' Lifetime plans. On the free plan the same menu makes the file with a watermark and without the checks. The KDP PDF Checker in step 4 is free on every plan and needs no account.

Export your print PDF#

1. Open the Download menu

   Open your book. In the top-right corner of the editor, click Download. The menu lists every file the editor can make, under Book, KDP and This page.

   On a book you write in Write mode, the same button reads Publish and opens the Publish panel, where the Print PDF card makes the same file.

2. Choose Print PDF (CMYK)

   Under Book, click Print PDF (CMYK), marked For printed books. The button reads Exporting… while the editor makes the file and checks it. When it's done, Print PDF downloaded appears in the bottom-right corner with the file's name and page count, and the file is in your downloads folder.

3. Fix what blocks the file

   If something would get the file rejected, Not KDP-ready yet opens instead and nothing downloads. Each item names a check and says how to fix it, and Show me opens the full readiness report. Fix the items in your book, then choose Print PDF (CMYK) again.

   Download anyway makes the file past the open checks once you confirm. KDP may reject it, so keep it for when you know why a check fails.

4. Check the file in the PDF checker

   Open the free KDP PDF Checker, click Choose a PDF and pick the file you downloaded. The checker reads it in your browser, so nothing is uploaded, and the heading above the results says what there is to fix.

   To tighten the page-count, trim and bleed results, set Interior type, Paper and Trim size you set up in KDP to match your book.

5. Look at every page

   Scroll down to Pages. Every page of the file is drawn with KDP's margin as a dashed line, problem pages first. A page marked Fix or Check has something crossing that line. Click any page to see it larger, with whatever crosses the margin outlined.

Reading the download message#

The editor checks your book as it makes the file, and the PDF checker checks the file it became. Both follow KDP's published print rules; KDP's own review is still the final word.

Make the file again after a change#

A file you downloaded earlier doesn't update when you edit your book. After any change, click Download and Print PDF (CMYK) again, and upload the newest file.

For everything KDP looks at in an interior file, read What KDP checks in an interior PDF.