How to print a booklet double-sided at home

Printing a booklet double-sided takes two steps in Publish by Zaweba. First use File > Export booklet PDF, which arranges your pages two to a side in saddle-stitch order and pads the document with blanks to a multiple of four pages. Then print that PDF double-sided, flipping on the short edge, and fold the stack in half. Publish is free, offline Windows software.

The tricky part of booklets is page order. When you fold a sheet in half, page 1 ends up next to the last page, not page 2. Working that out by hand for a 12-page programme is fiddly, and the booklet export does it for you.

How the page order works

In saddle-stitch order, an 8-page booklet prints as four sides: 8 with 1, 2 with 7, 6 with 3, and 4 with 5. Two sheets of paper, printed on both sides, folded together and stapled in the fold, give you pages 1 to 8 in the right sequence.

Every sheet carries four pages, so a booklet must have a multiple of four pages. If yours has, say, ten, the export adds blank pages to make twelve. Plan for that by using the spare pages for notes, a back cover or a list of contacts rather than leaving them empty.

Exporting and printing the booklet

Lay out your booklet as ordinary pages in reading order. Facing pages are useful here, because they mirror the margins so the inner edges near the fold match. Master pages can carry page numbers and a footer so every page is numbered correctly.

When the layout is finished, choose File > Export booklet PDF. Open the result and flip through it. The pages will look out of order on screen, which is right; they're arranged for folding.

Print the PDF double-sided, with the printer set to flip on the short edge. Booklet printing is by PDF only, so the order always comes from that export rather than from the normal print command.

If your printer can't print both sides automatically, print the fronts, turn the stack over as your printer requires, and print the backs. Do a test with two sheets first.

A tidy finish

Fold the whole stack together, not one sheet at a time, and crease it firmly with a ruler. Staple through the fold with a long-reach stapler, two staples spaced evenly.

With thick booklets, inner pages push out further than outer ones when folded. If that bothers you, keep important text a little away from the outside edge.

Check the first test copy before printing the full run. Make sure the page numbers read in order, the cover faces outward, and nothing important sits in the crease.

When to use a print shop

For a large run, or a booklet with colour to the edges, you may prefer a print shop. Send them the ordinary print-ready PDF in reading order, with bleed and crop marks; most shops do their own imposition. Ask them which they want.

Publish is a good fit for parish magazines, school play programmes, order of service booklets and club handbooks. Once you've printed one, the next issue is mostly a case of changing the words.