Document setup (where KDP files are really decided)
- Page size = trim size, facing pages on for interiors. Bleed lives in Document Setup, not in the page size: set bleed 0.125″ on top, bottom, and outside (inside bleed 0 for bound interiors) if the book bleeds; 0 everywhere if it doesn't.
- Margins: inside margin ≥ KDP's gutter for your page count (table in the margin guide); ≥ 0.5″ everywhere for IngramSpark.
- Covers are a separate, single-page document at full wraparound size (bleed + back + spine + front + bleed) — never a spread inside the interior file. Spine from page count via our spine calculator. KDP hardcover covers use their own, larger template; build those separately.
The export path
- File → Export → Adobe PDF (Print).
- Preset: [High Quality Print] is the safe default — it embeds fonts, keeps image resolution, and doesn't downsample your art into the 300 DPI error. [PDF/X-4] is equally acceptable to KDP and required by some Ingram workflows; PDF/X-1a is the conservative choice when Ingram asks for a flattened file. Avoid [Smallest File Size] — it's a screen preset.
- Pages: All. Export as: Pages, NOT Spreads. A spreads export is the classic pro-tool rejection: KDP interiors must be single pages in reading order. (This one setting accounts for a shocking share of “my designer sent it and KDP refused it” cases.)
- Marks and Bleeds tab: turn all printer marks OFF — crop marks, bleed marks, registration, color bars. Print-on-demand printers trim to the PDF's own geometry; marks add size and offset errors. Then check “Use Document Bleed Settings” so the bleed you set up is actually in the file.
- Output tab: for black-ink interiors, no conversion concerns. For color, “Convert to Destination” with a CMYK destination shows you the honest print colors; leaving RGB is accepted by KDP but converts on their side, unseen. Pick your poison knowingly.
- Advanced tab: subset fonts threshold is fine at defaults — InDesign embeds fonts in every PDF preset above. Transparency flattener: High Resolution.
Fonts: embedding vs outlining
InDesign embeds fonts on export as a matter of course, so the fonts error from InDesign usually means a placed PDF or EPS inside your layout carried an unembedded font of its own — check placed files, not just your text. Outlining (Type → Create Outlines) is the nuclear option for cover titles: it makes text un-rejectable and un-editable in equal measure. Use it on covers if a license-shy font is involved; never on a 300-page interior (file size explodes, text stops being text).
Exported carefully and still rejected? Send us your interior and cover PDFs and we'll run the full 13-point check and tell you in plain English what the file actually contains — spreads, marks, and all. The check is free. Get the free check →
Preflight before you export (60 seconds)
- Window → Output → Preflight, with a profile checking: missing fonts, images below 300 ppi effective, overset text, and page size consistency.
- Links panel: every image “OK” — no missing or modified links. Effective resolution is what counts: a 300 ppi image scaled to 200% is a 150 ppi image wearing a costume.
- Package (File → Package) before archiving — the summary lists fonts and images in one place and catches the placed-PDF problem above.
Verify the exported file
Open the PDF in Acrobat: page size uniform and correct (trim for no-bleed; trim + bleed dimensions for bleed books — remember InDesign exports bleed into the page size), page count exact, fonts all Embedded in Properties > Fonts, and a flip through the pages at 200% for any image that went soft. The exported PDF — not the .indd — is the only thing KDP ever sees.
The honest limit
InDesign gives you enough control to satisfy either platform completely — and enough control to violate their specs in ways simpler tools can't even express: bleed on the wrong edges, spreads, marks, mixed page geometry across sections. The failures we see from InDesign are almost never “the tool couldn't do it”; they're a single checkbox (Spreads, usually) three dialogs deep. Export deliberately, verify the artifact, upload once.
Or send us the files — the check is free
Email your interior and cover PDFs and we'll tell you exactly what's wrong — in plain English, free, within 48 hours. If it does need fixing, the by-hand fix is $19 and we redo it free if the platform rejects it for a formatting issue we were hired to fix. We rebuild files to be compliant with the platform's published spec — that's the promise we can keep.