# Arrange business cards with crop marks

I have a single business card as PDF (paper size is 85mm x 54mm). Does anyone have a solution to arrange copies along an A4 paper with crop marks?

Here's an example:

With pdfpages, arranging works fine, but I can't get cropmarks. One could probably achieve something like this using Tikz, but I'd prefer something more out-of-the-box.

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Please post a Minimal Working Example. For example, post the code you use to arrange the cards using pdfpages so people don't have to start from scratch! Maybe ctan.org/pkg/ncccropbox? – cfr Mar 23 '14 at 22:30
@cfr I did not provide a minimal example because I know that pdfpages does not support crop marks (according to the manual), so a minimal example using pdfpages would not help. I did not try solutions using TIkz yet, as I'd hope for a solution as automated as possible ;-) – Marcus Bitzl Mar 24 '14 at 17:23

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[scale=.95,landscape]{geometry}
\usepackage{ncccropbox,graphicx,multido}
\begin{document}
\noindent
\multido{}{3}{%
\multido{}{3}{%
\cropbox{\includegraphics[angle=90]{54x85}}}\\}
\end{document}


will produce

Note: The text is only the wrong way around because I used a 85x54 image rather than a 54x85 one so turned it.

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When I run your code exactly as given, I get a very small grid/set of crop marks at the bottom of my sheet of business cards. Why does yours look larger here? And, what does the 54x85 represent? – Michael Mar 25 at 15:49
@Michael I guess it is a file with those dimensions, but I don't honestly remember. If your image is that size, you should get similar output. If your image is smaller, you'd get much more compressed marks as the size of the image is determining the sizing, I think. – cfr Mar 25 at 20:22
@Michael That is, the questioner has a PDF with the appropriate sized card. I just substituted one with the same dimensions. If your cards are smaller, you'd get the crop marks compressed into a smaller space. So you'd need to adjust things appropriately for the image size and layout you need. E.g. you might want 5x3 or 4x4 or something - whatever is appropriate for the paper size and card size you're working with. – cfr Mar 25 at 20:26

Not very dynamic, but this it can be achieved with \rule.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[landscape,textwidth=275mm,textheight=182mm]{geometry}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\clap{\rule[2mm]{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule[2mm]{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule[2mm]{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule[2mm]{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}\\[-1pt]
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\textcolor{lightgray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{gray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{lightgray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}\\[-1pt]
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\textcolor{gray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{lightgray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{gray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}\\[-1pt]
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\textcolor{lightgray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{gray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\textcolor{lightgray}{\rule{85mm}{54mm}}%
\hspace{2mm}%
\smash{\rule[-0.5pt]{8mm}{1pt}}\\[-1pt]
\hspace*{1cm}%
\rule{0pt}{1cm}%
\clap{\rule{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule{1pt}{8mm}}%
\hspace{85mm}%
\clap{\rule{1pt}{8mm}}%

\end{document}

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This doesn't really answer the question, though, does it? It does reproduces the image posted to illustrate the desired layout. It doesn't show how to include the business card or produce crop marks. – cfr Mar 23 '14 at 22:54
I understood the question as that he knows how to add the business cards, but not the crop marks. The code adds crop marks around the edge like his example. – Jonas Granholm Mar 24 '14 at 1:50
Yes but the OP is using pdfpages to add the card. That won't work straightforwardly with this solution because pdfpages will put the card on a new page. It is possible to address that, but it is not trivial to do so. And I don't understand why the checks at all. – cfr Mar 24 '14 at 1:53
Hi, maybe I was a bit unclear: I statet that pdfpages does not support crop marks. A solution using \includegraphics (or anything else) like this is as fine as well. – Marcus Bitzl Mar 24 '14 at 17:20