Pages per Sheet Side
Once you’ve decided on the Sheet Size you’re printing on, you can also pick how many pages you want on each side of the sheet. This is also called n-up, where n is replaced with the number of pages on the side — for example, 2-up, 4-up, 6-up, 8-up… The combination of the Sheet Size and how many pages you put on the sheet gives you the Trim Size.
Printing 2-up is very common. You just fold it in half and staple (or otherwise bind the pages together) and you have a booklet.
Change the Pages per sheet side dropdowns to select the number of pages and the orientation of the grid.
For example, for 8-up, you can have the pages arranged in several different ways, giving you different options for the page size and orientation.
If you have an odd number of pages per sheet side (3 or 5), you’ll only be able to print perfect bound, since booklet printing needs an even number of pages on each side of the sheet to make the folds.
By changing the Pages per sheet side, you can format the pages of your book so that different numbers of pages fit on the bigger press sheet of paper you’re printing on. Then you cut them apart and get smaller pages. For example, you might print 8-pages on each side:
When you print zines and booklets on a printer that can print on bigger paper, you’ll change the Sheet Size to the size you’re printing on, such as A3 or Ledger/Tabloid (11x17”). For example, with a printer a risograph machine, most of the time you’re printing more than one page of the book on the sheet of paper.
For each size of paper you’re printing on, this chart shows some of the maximum Page Sizes for printing with 2, 4, 8, or 6 pages per side. (There are also many other layouts you can make in Layout Department; just change the settings around and it will tell you the max page size.)
| - | 2-up | 4-up | 8-up | 6-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A4 | A5 (148 x 210mm) | A6 (105 x 148mm) | A7 (74 x 105mm) | 105 x 99mm |
| A3 | A4 (210 x 297mm) | A5 (148 x 210mm) | A6 (105 x 148mm) | 148.5 x 140mm |
| A2 | - | A4 (210 x 297mm) | A5 (148 x 210mm) | 210 x 198mm |
| Letter | 5.5 x 8.5 in | 4.25 x 5.5 in | 2.75 x 4.25 in | 3.67 x 4.25 in |
| Legal | 7 x 8.5 in | 4.25 x 7 in | 3.5 x 4.25 in | 4.67 x 4.25 in |
| Ledger | 8.5 x 11 in | 5.5 x 8.5 in | 4.25 x 5.5 in | 5.67 x 5.5 in |
You can print custom sized by making your PDF the dimensions you want your book to print (it needs smaller than the maximum page size in the layout you have selected, so that it can fit), and setting “use PDF size” for your scaling option. You can also change your settings to resize the PDF to fit the max page size, so that it grows bigger (or smaller) to fill the space available in the page grid.
Or you can use any size PDF, and use the Resizing feature in the Pages view to change the trim size, bleed, and document size.