Printing more than 8 pages in booklet form

Basic math... the number of pages in a booklet is a multiple of 4, so in this case 12 (not 6...).

Each folio will contain four pages, and since the total number is not a multiple of four, some pages end up blank.

For 10 pages, you end with three sheets:

The outer one will have 1/2 back to back and two empty pages

The next one will have 3/4 back to back, and 9/10

The innermost will have 5/6 and 7/8

KayFran734 wrote:

Why - ON EARTH - is it a multiple of 4? Why not even numbers??

4 is an even number. In theory, it could be different. It all depends on the printer and the printing equipment. Professional, high-volume equipment will print very large sheets, maybe fold them, and assemble.

For regular folks, the best we can do is a home printer with A4/Letter paper. Sometimes you can get access to a ledger size. All the flipping and folding is just to get the pages in the correct sequence for a signature. Then you trim all all the folded parts except for one edge. Then, you sew the signatures together.

Unfortunately, this will usually result in some blank pages. Most people just make up some kind of filler content. Throw in a picture of Chairman Mao or something. Then you'll be good to go.

KayFran734 wrote:

Why - ON EARTH - is it a multiple of 4? Why not even numbers??

Unless your understanding of what a booklet is is different from mine, it should be rather easy to see why. Take an A4 sheet of paper (or, "Letter" paper in the US). Fold it in half. There is your smallest booklet. Each half will have two pages 1/2 on the left, 3/4 on the right.

Here is an image. The two pages on the front would be 2 (on the left) and 3 (on the right); page 1 is behind 2, and page 4 is behind 3.

If you don't mind spending 20 USD on a dedicated booklet creation tool, then Create Booklet can make this simpler for you. You can even use the File menu > Print… > PDF > Open in Create Booklet in any application. Unfortunately, there is no trial version.

Click once on each of the five images on their home page to expand it. Click on the image again to minimize it. Click on the Download on the App Store image to take you to the macOS App Store for this product.

I have no relationship with this vendor and receive no benefit from mentioning them. I have used their Create Booklet v1 product in the past without remorse.

VikingOSX wrote:

If you don't mind spending 20 USD on a dedicated booklet creation tool, then Create Booklet can make this simpler for you. You can even use the File menu > Print… > PDF > Open in Create Booklet in any application. Unfortunately, there is no trial version.

In the old days there was a free utility called CocoaBooklet... when I first read the name above, for a fraction of a second I wondered if it had been brought to life.

I found a free application called "I ❤️ Booklets" (yes, with a heart in the name) in the App Store.

What it does is reorder the pages in such a way that makes printing as a booklet simple.

When you take the booklet version of a pdf, all that is needed to make the physical booklet:

Command-P, selecting 2-sided printing and 2 Pages per Sheet, and there you go.

Thanks, but that only works if you do not fold the pages as an actual booklet. If you don't mind the page ordering, or just bind them on the side instead of folding, it works (and still you get those extra two pages - math does not fail :-))

etresoft wrote:

VikingOSX wrote:

Winter must be getting to you up in the great white North… ⛄️

Why do you say that? I love winter! I couldn't stand the heat, so I got out of Alabama.

Just teasing. It's all relative.

I used to play tennis in 90° F weather with a guy from Panama and he thought the temperature was just right. I have been in Houston when the temperature and humidity were tied at 95 and there was 2 feet of ground fog walking out to the plane. When I was a teenager in Southern NY State, I remember the thermometer between the house and barn was at -53° F and that wasn't as bad as it sounds due to no wind. However, as I get older, I like cold and snow far less than I did earlier in life.

I used Create Booklet 1 way back when it was a free app, but have not purchased Create Booklet 2. Good that you found a free tool in the App Store.

Back when Apple supported the Cocoa bridge with Ruby, I had found a free Ruby/Cocoa app that did PDF imposition, but that has long since been unusable and I have not felt motivated to translate it into another supported language.

This thread inspired me to get back to work on a book I'm making.

I downloaded an ancient Java app to create booklets from here: http://quantumelephant.co.uk/bookbinder/bookbinder.html

It worked great.

I'm working on an old-school version of TikTok - The Little Red Book. It's literally a "little" book, so it's something I can print at home on letter-sized paper. I had a couple of blank pages at the end of the last signature, so I threw in a picture of Chairman Mao, along with an "about the author" blurb generated by DeepSeek.

Winter must be getting to you up in the great white North… ⛄️

VikingOSX wrote:

Winter must be getting to you up in the great white North… ⛄️

Why do you say that? I love winter! I couldn't stand the heat, so I got out of Alabama.