Silhouette Studio V4 vs V5: What Changed for Print and Cut

If you upgraded to Silhouette Studio V5 and tried to follow a print and cut tutorial made in V4 - you might be confused.

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Before we go any further though - unless you have a CAMEO 5a or an MK II you ~~do not~~ should not be using Silhouette Studio V5. I would highly recommend anyone with an older model (including a CAMEO 5) revert to Silhouette Studio V4 immediately.

Now if you have to be on V5 to print and cut, you probably noticed the tool panels look different and the process is a few different steps. Some tools - including the registration marks - have moved. Here's what's different and what stayed the same.

What Stayed the Same

The core print and cut process is still the same: design your file, add registration marks, print, load the sheet, and cut. The Silhouette CAMEO still reads the registration marks and uses them to precisely contour cut around the printed image.

The Page Setup panel, where you set up your page design and where you added registration marks in V4, is the most significant change.

What actually changed for print and cut specifically

In Silhouette Studio V4 the Page Setup panel (accessed from the right sidebar) including three tabs - the third of which was the registration marks.

In Silhouette Studio V5 that registration marks tab has been moved to it's own new panel. This makes the workflow and print and cut page set up a little more cumbersome, but overall it's not a huge deal.

You'll also notice that when you add registration marks in Silhouette Studio V5 for a CAMEO 5a, you'll get four registration marks instead of three.

And finally, in the Send panel, the cut line management is significantly different in V5. In V5, the cut line management was moved from the Send panel's settings area on the right to directly below the work area. In addition the "Cut", "No Cut" and "Cut Edge" were relabeled to Cut Selected Shapes, "Ignore Shapes", or use selected cut lines.

Workflow for Stickers with White Borders

White border stickers are one of the clearest examples of a print and cut workflow that looks noticeably different between V4 and V5 - not because the end result is different, but because the steps and the interface to get there have changed enough that following an old V4 tutorial can be confusing.

The full V5 white border sticker design process - including how to set your background to transparency so you can actually see the white border while you work, how to use the Offset panel, how to handle offset islands, and exactly how to set up your cut lines in the Send panel - is covered step by step in the latest Silhouette U video for intermediate members.

If you're already a member, watch the White Border Stickers V5 video here. If you're not yet a member, Silhouette U is Silhouette School's premium membership - 700+ tutorials, same-day support, and no more digging through outdated V4 tutorials trying to figure out what changed. Learn more here.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I receive a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine!

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