Convert A4 Pages -> A3 Booklet

I've created a newsletter for a society I'm involved with at Uni using Pages '08.

Foolishly though, I've created it as a set of A4 pages when we want to print it onto A3 so it can be folded into an A4 booklet.

Does anyone know of an easy way to convert the A4 pages into an A3 booklet (whether it be some function of Pages 08 I've overlooked, or a way of merging exported A4 PDFs into an A3 booklet, or something else entirely).

Thanks in advance,
James

Intel iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 16, 2008 8:06 AM

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Posted on Oct 16, 2008 8:18 AM

The ability to create booklets isn't built into Pages.

Create your Pages document in A4-size as normal & then Export the Pages document to a PDF. Launch Cocoa Booklet & open its Preferences. In Paper Size set the Paper Format to A3. Leave the default margins. In the Destination preference, select Yes for Add a suffix? to avoid overwriting your original PDF & click Save. The choices in the Options preferences are all left unchecked for your tabloid-size document. Then drag the PDF to the icon of Cocoa Booklet to will create a new PDF in booklet form.

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Oct 16, 2008 8:18 AM in response to TheBaker

The ability to create booklets isn't built into Pages.

Create your Pages document in A4-size as normal & then Export the Pages document to a PDF. Launch Cocoa Booklet & open its Preferences. In Paper Size set the Paper Format to A3. Leave the default margins. In the Destination preference, select Yes for Add a suffix? to avoid overwriting your original PDF & click Save. The choices in the Options preferences are all left unchecked for your tabloid-size document. Then drag the PDF to the icon of Cocoa Booklet to will create a new PDF in booklet form.

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Oct 16, 2008 2:15 PM in response to Shelley ann

Welcome to Apple Discussions Shelley ann

I did not mention newsletters, but the concept is the same. Here is the expanded version of what I wrote for the OP (original poster) in this thread.

There are a few ways to do this. The first two involve setting your Pages document in File > Page Setup… to landscape orientation. I originally wrote this for Pages 2. In Pages 3, use the page layout mode for #s 1a & 1b.

1a - Use linked text boxes. This is easier done with the layout showing. First you need to add a page break to have two pages. Click in the body area & then Insert > Page Break. Now click outside the layout area to enter object mode & click the "T" in the tool bar or Insert > Text to create a text box & type something in it. This is to keep the box from disappearing if you click elsewhere & the text can be replaced later. If you already have some text to paste in you can just paste while in object mode & a text box containing your text will be created. You will now need to click outside the layout again & drag the cursor toward the text box to select it. You can now position the first text box in the lower right of your 2-page document. It is easier to see where it goes if you have the document set up with 2 columns. Click on the blue-outlined tab at the lower right of the text box to create a new of the same size & move the box to the upper left. Repeat for a box for the upper right & again for the lower right. You will now have 4 linked text boxes.

1b - Start as in 1a creating a 2-page document with 2 columns in landscape orientation. For this one you will use the body text area. Just type or paste your text in as normal, starting in the upper left. When you have your text done, cut all of the text in the first column (upper left), insert a column break after the last character on the now lower left column & paste the cut text after it in the now lower right column.

Neither one of these will let you automatically use page numbers because Pages "sees" each page & you actually have 2 pages per page.

2 - Use Cocoa Booklet to create a booklet with any number of pages (best in a multiple of 4). Start with your Pages document in Legal size & larger than normal font size. Export the Pages document to a PDF & then drag the PDF to the icon of Cocoa Booklet. It will create a new PDF in booklet form.

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Oct 16, 2008 5:30 PM in response to Shelley ann

Peggy the principle is the same no matter what the paper size.

The only difference is that US Paper sizes are not rational like the International A series, so you will have to trim some paper off.

I assume you are making an 8 page booklet. To work out in which order and orientation the pages need to be laid up, simply get a US Letter paper and fold it in half then half again.

Now number the pages in the bottom outside corners starting from the front, With an arrow pointing up.

Unfold the paper and you have your "imposition". The page order is as I have described above. Half the pages will be upside down.

*Facing pages* always add up to the total pages + 1. (9 in an 8 page booklet).

*Odd numbers* are always on the right with the odd number +1 behind.

*Even numbers* are always on the left with the even number -1 behind.

But you do not need to work that out if you simply make a "dummy" of the folds and use that for the layout. *Cocoa Booklet* will work that all out for you, all you have to do is feed it the pdfs of the document.

Oct 23, 2008 2:54 PM in response to Shelley ann

On Cocoa the print is upside down every other page.


CocoaBooklet has a preference setting in Preferences > Options to deselect the flipping of every other page.

Although you can set up your document with two side-by-side 5.5 x 8.5 landscape columns, it's much easier to create regular US Legal size pages with larger than usual fonts. I generally increase the font size by 4 points. Export this Pages document as a PDF & then let CocoaBooklet create the booklet in US Letter size. It will put the pages in the correct order for a folded booklet. If you don't have a multiple of 4 pages in the original document, you will end up with some blank pages.

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Oct 24, 2008 12:19 PM in response to Shelley ann

Shelley ann,

You haven't said why you are trying to do the imposition yourself.

If it is going to a commercial printer they will handle all this for you.

Are you trying to hand make your own booklet from a personal printer?

If you are trying to do it yourself, your options are restrained by the small size of your output. You can only do so many pages at a time and tuck them inside each other. Alignment gets harder, the more pages you have.

As a practical measure for doing it yourself, make up a dummy as I showed with big fat numbers in the middle of each page and a rule underlining the number (so you know which way is up). Recreate this in a Pages file, then drag and rotate each individual pdf page from your original document into the appropriate place and rotate as necessary.

Print the imposed file.

It isn't really that hard or time consuming and will get you past your current problems.

Pragmatism rules in my book.

Oct 16, 2008 10:09 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

I never said it was different. My first answer was formatted for a user using international paper sizes, A4 & A3. The second post was for a North American user using our odd paper sizes. I learned from someone here to use US Legal size for the original document & then have CocoaBooklet create the booklet in US Letter size. It reduces the white space.

I did booklets, newsletters, etc. for years using linked text boxes in AppleWorks. CocoaBooklet is so much easier, although the visual links between text boxes Pages provides is a great help.

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Oct 23, 2008 1:36 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Thanks for your response.
I actually don't know how many pages my booklet will be. I've tried Cocoa and Cheap Imposter, followed the instructions and still can't get it to lay out on the pages the way it should.
I'm laying my document out in Pages '08, setting the page size as 5.5 x 8.5 landscape. On Cocoa the print is upside down every other page. On Cheap Imposter, it does what I want, but I can't get the print centered on each page. I'm sure I'm missing some small detail in the way I'm setting it up.
I'm thinking it's time to hook up the old PC and just do it in Publisher!
I'll give it up for the weekend and try it again on Monday....
Thanks. Shelley

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Convert A4 Pages -> A3 Booklet

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