How to print a PDF as a booklet
- Choose your PDF and the paper you will print on. A4 paper makes an A5 booklet; Letter paper makes a 5.5 × 8.5 in booklet.
- Pick the reading direction. Left to right for English; right to left for Urdu and Arabic, so the book opens from the right.
- Download the booklet PDF. It has two of your pages on each side of every sheet, already in booklet order.
- Print on both sides, “flip on short edge”, at 100%.
- Fold the stack in half and staple along the fold. A long-reach stapler makes this easy; two staples are enough for most booklets.
Why the pages look out of order
When sheets are stacked and folded, the outer sheet carries the first and last pages, the next sheet carries the second and second-to-last, and so on. That’s why sheet 1 of a 12-page booklet has pages 12 and 1 on the front and 2 and 11 on the back. Printers call this rearranging imposition; the tool works it out for you and shows the order for every sheet before you download.
| Sheet | Front (left | right) | Back (left | right) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (outside) | 12 | 1 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 (centre) | 8 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
A 12-page booklet, left to right. For right to left, each pair is swapped.
Pages, blanks and sheets
Every folded sheet gives four booklet pages, so the page count is rounded up to a multiple of 4 with blank pages. By default the blanks go just before the last page, so your back cover stays on the back.
| Pages in your PDF | Booklet pages | Blank pages added | Sheets of paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | 12 | 2 | 3 |
| 22 | 24 | 2 | 6 |
| 37 | 40 | 3 | 10 |
| 100 | 100 | 0 | 25 |
Paper sizes and the booklet you get
| Print on | Folded booklet | An A4 or Letter page is printed at |
|---|---|---|
| A4 (297 × 210 mm) | A5, 148 × 210 mm | about 71% |
| A3 (420 × 297 mm) | A4, 210 × 297 mm | 100% |
| Letter (11 × 8.5 in) | 5.5 × 8.5 in | about 65% (Letter page) |
| Tabloid (17 × 11 in) | 8.5 × 11 in | 100% (Letter page) |
A PDF already made at A5 (or half-letter) size prints at full size on A4 (or Letter): choose the matching paper, or Twice the page size to keep every page at exactly 100%.
Thick documents: use signatures
A single folded stack gets hard to fold and the inner pages stick out at the edge (called creep). As a rule of thumb, more than about 10–15 sheets of ordinary 80 g/m² paper is too thick for one stack. Choose Signatures: the book is split into small groups of 3–8 sheets. Fold each group on its own, stack the groups in order, then staple, sew or glue them along the spine, as hard-bound books are made. The tool numbers the signatures on the page-order preview.
Printer settings that work
- Windows (most printers): Print → Properties → two-sided printing → “Flip on short edge”. Orientation: landscape.
- Mac: Print → Layout → Two-Sided → “Short-Edge binding”.
- Adobe Reader / Chrome: “Print on both sides” → “Flip on short edge”, and Size: “Actual size”.
- Backs upside down? Your printer flipped on the long edge. Set Printer flips on to “Long edge” and download again.
- No two-sided printing? Choose “My printer prints one side only”: the PDF then has all fronts first, then all backs, and the tool shows the steps.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the page count have to be a multiple of 4?
Each sheet of paper, folded in half, makes 4 booklet pages (2 on the front, 2 on the back). If your PDF has 22 pages, the tool adds 2 blank pages to make 24 = 6 sheets. Blanks go at the end, just before the back cover, unless you choose otherwise.
Which printer setting should I use?
Print on both sides with “Flip on short edge” (sometimes called “short-edge binding”). Print at 100% / Actual size. If your printer can’t print on both sides, choose “My printer prints one side only” and follow the steps the tool shows.
My back pages come out upside down. What went wrong?
Your printer flipped the paper on the long edge. Either choose “Flip on short edge” in the print dialog, or set “Printer flips on” to “Long edge” here and download again: the back sides are then pre-rotated to match.
Can I make an A5 booklet from an A4 PDF?
Yes. Choose A4 paper: two A4 pages are scaled to 71% so they fit side by side, and the folded booklet is A5 (148 × 210 mm). For a full-size A4 booklet, choose A3 paper.
Does it work for Urdu and Arabic books?
Yes. Choose “Right to left” and the booklet opens from the right, with page 1 on the right-hand cover, as Urdu and Arabic books do.
How many pages can one booklet have?
Folded as one stack (saddle stitch), about 10–15 sheets of normal 80 g/m² paper (40–60 pages) still fold and staple neatly. For thicker documents, choose signatures: the book is split into small folded sections that you stack and bind together.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The PDF is read and rearranged inside your browser. Text stays sharp because pages are placed as vectors, not turned into images.
Last updated 2026-10-18.