Two-Up Printing to PDF

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Level 1

9 points

Two-Up Printing to PDF

I have a persistent problem with printing two-up page layouts to PDF. Though I carefully lay out half-page formats, when I try to print them side-by-side ina two-up layout, the process ends up adding extra margin area. I could, I suppose, factor the extra inches out if I knew what was adding them, and how much margin that would add - but it would seem simpler and more appropriate for the "Print to PDF: option actually to print the layouts as I've structured them. If there's a prudential requirement that the process make sure the pages fit the printer margins, could there not be an opt-out checkbox to allow a page designer to send precisely what they've laid out to the print engine?

Or, am I missing a step somewhere? Or does some information source indicate how much margin the print engine will add to the page layouts?

Again, for clarity's sake: Page Setup defined as 5.5 x 8.5 portrait; margins for that page are .75 on the sides, .5 top, 1" bottom; send to Print > Layout > two-up side by side; resulting page has much larger margins, smaller text area.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10), Pages, Mellel, InDesign

Posted on Jan 24, 2008 11:05 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 24, 2008 10:16 PM in response to AKMA

If you have Page Setup defined as 5.5 x 8.5, then you will be printing to 5.5 x 8.5 paper whether you are printing 1 up or 2 up. If you want to combine two 5.5 x 8.5 pages into one 11 x 8.5 page, you need some other software. (I know it would be nice to do that, but it is not part of the printing system. Only one Page Setup per document, I am afraid.) I use CocoaBooklet to combine 5.5 x 8.5 pages into 2-up booklet form. It is freeware, and might be able to do what you want.

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Answer 2

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 25, 2008 5:09 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

Thanks for this point. Does Cocoa Booklet allow pages simply to flow side-by-side, or does it always flip them around, imposing them for a booklet form?

Another curious observation in this connection: NeoOffice prepares PDFs the way I would have expected (as I described above, with the pages simply juxtaposed sequentially) -- so there may be something "wrong" with their implementation of making PDFs.

I think I take your point with regard to Pages and Mellel; it seems extraordinarily odd, though, that if one is working with pages defined as 5.5 x 8.5, one can't simply print them two-up and have it come out on an 8.5 x 11 sheet. One alternative would be to make believe that 8.5 x 11 was the real desired output format, only increasing the relevant margins, type size, and so on. I find that barbaric, but that may just be my hang-up. Is there a straightforward way to print two half-size page units side-by-side on a single sheet?

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Answer 3

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 29, 2008 6:53 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

Partly this is a bump to get the thread back on the front page, and partly a further response to Bruce.

I have emailed the authors of CocoaBooklet and Cheap Impostor to ask if their applications can be made to perform the (relatively simpler) function of setting up two-up page printing without imposing the pages (reordering them for booklet printing). My goal is just good ol' "Page 1, Page 2, Page 3," as though we were photocopying a portion of a book. I haven't heard back from either developer.

I think your fundamental point, Bruce, correctly diagnoses what's going on at the system level. Perhaps because it's a hobbyhorse of my own, though, or perhaps because I'm right, I persist in thinking that there should be a moderately simple way to induce a user-centric OS to permit me to print two half-pages side by side on a single full page without adding extra margins and compressing the text area. I'm still hoping that someone can help reveal that moderately simple way.

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Answer 4

Jan 29, 2008 8:12 PM in response to AKMA

I would not think that there would be much call for such a thing, as you can always lay out the page as two columns, if that is what you want.

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Answer 5

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2008 4:46 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

I am aware of that capacity, Bruce, but until I'm given the capacity to assign column numbers (as I would page numbers), it's a different phenomenon.

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Answer 6

Jan 30, 2008 10:52 AM in response to AKMA

I believe AppleWorks makes each column a section, and you can use section numbers, so there should be other applications that can do that as well.

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Answer 7

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2008 11:37 AM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

Hunh! Thank you, Bruce; if that pans out, it would solve the problem quite effectively. I'll look into Melll and Pages' section-numbering facility.

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Answer 8

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2008 1:09 PM in response to Bruce De Benedictis

So far, I haven't figured out a way to number columns as though they were pages in either Mellel or Pages. First, both apps set the header and footer over the whole page; I don't see a way to set up column headers as distinct from page headers. Second, even if I could set column headers, I don't see a way to number columns-as-pages.

Looking backward into AppleWorks next.

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Answer 9

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 8, 2008 10:50 AM in response to AKMA

No word from the developers of CocoaBooklet or Cheap Impostor or BookLightning, so far.

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Answer 10

AKMA Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 11, 2008 7:22 AM in response to AKMA

The latest version of Cheap Impostor (http://www.cheapimpostor.com/) resolves this problem (and various others as well). Thanks and high praise to Dylan McNamee for this app.

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