Impose a document for booklet printing

The Print Booklet feature lets you create printer spreads for professional printing. For example, if you’re editing an 8-page booklet, the pages appear in sequential order in the layout window. However, in printer spreads, page 2 is positioned next to page 7, so that when the two pages are printed on the same sheet, folded, and collated, the pages end up in the appropriate order.

Pages appear in sequence in the layout window, but are printed in a different order so that they appear correct when folded and bound.

The process of creating printer spreads from layout spreads is called imposition. While imposing pages, you can change settings to adjust spacing between pages, margins, bleed, and creep. The layout of your InDesign document is not affected, because the imposition is all handled in the print stream. No pages are shuffled or rotated in the document.

Choose File > Print Booklet.
If a printer preset has the settings you want, choose it in the Print Preset menu.
To use the print settings (as they appear in the Print dialog box) of the current document, choose Current Document Settings from the Print Preset menu.
If you don’t want the entire document to be imposed, select Range in the Setup area and specify which pages to include in the imposition.
Use hyphens to separate consecutive page numbers, and commas for nonadjacent page numbers. For example, typing 3-7, 16 imposes pages 3 through 7 and 16.

Note: If you have divided the document into sections of page numbers, you should enter section page numbers (such as Sec2:11) in the Range field.
To change settings such as printer’s marks and color output, click Print Settings. Using the options on the left, change settings as needed, and then click OK.
In the Print Booklet dialog box, specify other booklet setup options as appropriate, and then click Print.

Booklet types

You can choose three types of imposition: 2-up Saddle Stitch, 2-up Perfect Bound, and Consecutive.

2-up Saddle Stitch

Creates two-page, side-by-side printer spreads. These printer spreads are appropriate for printing on both sides, collating, folding, and stapling. InDesign adds blank pages as needed to the end of the finished document. The Space Between Pages, Bleed Between Pages, and Signature Size options are dimmed when 2‑up Saddle Stitch is selected.

Creating printer spreads for a 24‑page black-and-white newsletter using the 2‑up Saddle Stitch style yields 12 spreads.

2-up Perfect Bound

Creates two-page, side-by-side printer spreads that fit within the specified signature size. These printer spreads are appropriate for printing on both sides, cutting, and binding to a cover with adhesive. If the number of pages to be imposed is not evenly divisible by the signature size, InDesign adds blank pages as needed to the back of the finished document.

2-up Perfect Bound divided in four signatures

If a booklet has a color cover and black-and-white insides, you can create two separate impositions from the same document: one for the front cover, inside front cover, inside back cover, and back cover; and one for the 24 pages inside the booklet. To produce the color signature, click Range in the Pages area of the Setup area, and type 1‑2, 27-28 (or whatever the section page numbers are). To produce the black-and-white insides, type 3‑26 in the Range text box.

28-page booklet with a color cover

A.: Color signature for cover
B.: Black-and-white inside page

Consecutive

Creates a two-, three-, or four-page panel appropriate to a foldout booklet or brochure. The Bleed Between Pages, Creep, and Signature Size are dimmed when a Consecutive option is selected.

For example, if you want to create printer spreads for a traditional six-panel, trifold brochure, choose 3-up Consecutive. You may be accustomed to setting up trifolds as one page with three different columns. With InDesign imposition, you can simply create pages that are the size of each panel.

3-Up Consecutive

Spacing, bleed, and margin options for booklet printing

You can change the following options in the Setup area of the Print Booklet dialog box.

Space Between Pages: Specifies the gap between pages (the right side of the left page and the left side of the right page). You can specify a Space Between Pages value for all the booklet types except Saddle Stitch.
For Perfect Bound documents, if you are creeping in (with a negative value), the minimum Space Between Pages value is the width of the Creep value. If you’re manually creating signatures (for example, if there are different stocks in the same document), you can enter a Space Between Pages value to specify a starting creep for spreads that belong to different signatures.
Bleed Between Pages: Specifies the amount of space used to allow page elements to encroach the gap in Perfect Bound printer spread styles. This option is sometimes referred to as crossover.) The field accepts values between 0 and half the Space Between Pages value. You can specify this option only when 2-up Perfect Bound is selected.
Creep: Specifies the amount of space necessary to accommodate paper thickness and folding on each signature. In most cases, you’ll want to specify a negative value to create a push-in effect. You can specify Creep for 2-up Saddle Stitch and 2-up Perfect Bound booklet types. (See Understanding creep.)
Signature Size: Specifies the number of pages in each signature for 2-up Perfect Bound documents. If the number of pages to be imposed is not evenly divisible by the Signature Size value, blank pages are added to the end of the document as necessary.
Automatically Adjust To Fit Marks And Bleeds: Lets InDesign calculate the margins to accommodate the bleeds and the other printer mark options currently set. The fields under Margins are dimmed when this option is selected, but they reflect the actual values that will be used to fit marks and bleeds. If you deselect this option, you can adjust the margin values manually.
Margins: Specifies the amount of space that surrounds the actual printer spread after trimming. To specify individual values for Top, Bottom, Left, and Right, deselect Automatically Adjust To Fit Marks And Bleeds, and increase the values to insert extra space beyond the default marks and bleeds. (Decreasing the values may result in clipping the marks and bleeds.) You can specify margin values for all booklet printing types.
Print Blank Printer Spreads: If the number of pages to be imposed is not evenly divisible by the Signature Size value, blank pages or spreads are added to the end of the document. Use this option to determine whether those blank spreads at the end of the document are printed. Note that printing other blank pages in the document is controlled by the Print Blank Pages option in the Print dialog box.

Comments

asdfaddf said on Aug 29, 2007 at 7:26 AM :

A key element in this Print Booklet feature are instructions about creating a press-ready PDF that has been impositioned. The previous method of imposing and creating a new document, then exporting to PDF was more convenient and effective.

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Aug 29, 2007 at 8:16 AM :

The InBooklet feature in CS2 did allow you to create a new document based on the imposition, but the implementation was flawed in some ways. Specifically, images that spanned a spread and numbered lists weren't processed correctly in all cases. The Print Booklet feature doesn't allow you to create a new document with the rearranged pages. For more information on imposing documents, see the InDesign user forum (http://www.adobe.com/support/forums). Search for "print booklet."

No screen name said on Aug 30, 2007 at 6:52 AM :

I agree with "asdfaddf"--the ability to view the document imposed BEFORE
making the pdf proved to create a much cleaner pdf in the end.

No screen name said on Sep 11, 2007 at 4:21 PM :

I echo the previous posters: Bring back InBooklet. My desired endproduct from imposition is always a pdf file, never a job sent directly to the printer. Generated an impositioned pdf file is now a much more cumbersome process: printing to a ps file, then Distilling into pdf.

uosis said on Sep 17, 2007 at 12:18 PM :

Trying to print a booklet in a printer that does not do automatic 2-sided
printing (Xerox 5750). How do we print all first side, then all 2nd side?
Setting the printer to print Odd pages only does nothing.

No screen name said on Sep 19, 2007 at 6:06 AM :

My printer does not do automatic two sided printing. How do I print out my booklet? what the person doing my printing needs an imposed file on a CD?

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Sep 19, 2007 at 10:05 AM :

For double-sided printing without a duplexing printer, use the Print Odd Pages/Print Even Pages options in Acrobat or InDesign. After one set is printed, flip over the output, load it in the printer, and print the “other” pages.

The tricky part is determining the order of the pages when you put them back in the printer. Here's Anne-Marie's advice: "Put together a printer’s dummy and figure out which spreads should print on the back of which other spreads. Number the spreads manually on the dummy (outside covers are spread 1, inside covers are spread 2, the spread with pg 32 on the left and pg 1 on the right is spread three, the spread with pg 2 on the left and pg 31 on the right is spread 4, and so on). If the PDF of the imposed booklet doesn’t match your dummy, then drag spreads around in Acrobat’s Pages panel in order to get them to match — so they’re in the right odd/even order."

There's a good article and discussion on booklet printing here:

http://indesignsecrets.com/print-booklet-in-indesign-cs3.php

No screen name said on Oct 3, 2007 at 10:53 AM :

My printer wants an imposed Indesign file ready for print. We could do this with CS2 but not CS3. How are we supposed to send files with "printer spreads" to our printers. Bring back Inbooklet!!!!!

No screen name said on Dec 12, 2007 at 12:24 PM :

I totally agree with everyone else. Bring back INBOOKLET. Is there a third party plug-in that might do this for us? Anyone know?

Thanks!

No screen name said on Jan 14, 2008 at 3:58 AM :

A useful script has been posted on the user forum which will create a pdf from a booklet, but the margins are altered.

Why does Adobe not address this issue of InDesign CS3 being unable to print an imposed booklet to pdf? It is such an important feature to be without.

No screen name said on Jan 14, 2008 at 11:03 AM :

If you still have access to CS2, you can see that InBooklet was a 3rd party plugin from ALAP. Quark bought ALAP. No more InBooklet.

Ann L. said on Feb 7, 2008 at 9:18 AM :

The lack of being able to create an imposed booklet file is a problem since our usual printer does not like pdf's because of the automatic black verses the black (and I do not understand this) is a problem. Why can't we print it to a file?

MLSCHW said on Feb 10, 2008 at 9:52 PM :

Beware if your document has blank pages or pages with only an empty text
frame. "Print Booklet" will remove such pages prior to imposition and add its
own blank pages where ever it seems fit.

A work around is to add a text from with an empty paragraph on the pages
that YOU intend to have blank.

No screen name said on Feb 28, 2008 at 11:57 AM :

I'd like to put on preview mode of print booket 4 pages head-head. Theres
how make this kind of impose?

No screen name said on Mar 3, 2008 at 9:04 PM :

I just wanted to voice my support to return to the inbooklet function of CS2.
The current version makes it too difficult to create mock up double sided
dummies. I miss it.

No screen name said on Mar 5, 2008 at 11:49 PM :

Hi All

So what are the steps to create a Printer Pairs (Saddle Stitched Booklet) in
Indesign because SE Booklet feature (Save it to a new set of Indesign files
as CS2) missing in CS3.

Thanks
Keegan

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Mar 6, 2008 at 6:41 AM :

You can create saddle stitch booklets in CS3. In this topic, click "Booklet Types" for more info.

Dsternke said on Apr 1, 2008 at 7:27 PM :

My wish is that I could print a book using the booklet settings. However only
the print dialogue box comes up when I click the print button on the book
window.

Also, as a prepress guy, files should always be saved to postscript and then
distilled through the setting your print shop provides (all they have to do is
email you their job settings). Doing this will solve the automatic black
problems (as long as you have set black correctly in the document as only
black) and a host of other issues that will make your work look a lot closer to
what you have seen on your screen.

Virgoss said on Apr 9, 2008 at 8:53 AM :

You might also try this <a href="http://bookletcreator.com">online tool for booklet printing</a>

staceysiepmann said on May 3, 2008 at 7:11 PM :

It would be very helpful to have a way of creating a file for booklets. I am
working with Adobe InDesign CS3 ME edition and need to create pdf's that
are in correct order for opening right to left.

One would think that Adobe could figure out how to do this without a third
party plugin.

No screen name said on May 21, 2008 at 10:52 AM :

For everyone whineing about "Bring back InBooklet". they can't. Adobe was liscensing rights to include the InBooklet plug in by default into InDesign. the company that made that plug in was bought by Quark. So quit screaming at Adobe, Its not their fault. If you wanna scream at and hate someone, go scream at Quark. they are the ones who are responsible for Adobe no longer being able to include InBooklet. Just be thankful Adobe was smart engouh to give you the Print Booklet command.

Bob - Adobe Writer said on May 21, 2008 at 11:29 AM :

It's true that we can't bring back InBooklet because Quark now owns ALAP, but we can still improve Print Booklet. Feel free to request improvements on the Adobe website.

Kathe-t said on Jul 14, 2008 at 11:40 AM :

I'm trying to set up both machines in our workgroup to function in the same way, and saved the print presets from machine A to a folder from which I then loaded them onto machine B. The preset for printing magazine size spreads to our duplexing tabloid size laser printer works fine on machine A when doing booket printing. But when I tried to use that preset on machine B, it kept printing on letter size. I was able to go into the print settings from the booklet printing dialog and change the paper size back to tabloid, but when I got to the general tab in print settings the area that includes Spreads was grayed out, Spreads was no longer checked and I could not check it.

Printing to this preset on machine B by pressing ctrl-P works fine, and Spreads are showing up as checked. But the only way I could get booklet printing to correctly use the preset was to save the document with this preset and then select "Current Document Settings" from this list of presets in the Booklet Printing dialog. Both machines appear to be correctly set up with the correct print driver and both are showing the same PPD. What's going on here?

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Jul 14, 2008 at 1:13 PM :

I don't know what's causing this. You may want to post this question on the user forum: www.adobe.com/support/forums

Kathe-t said on Jul 14, 2008 at 4:13 PM :

Bob, I've been trying to use the forums for weeks. In some topics you will find an instruction saying to click the "Back to List of Topics" link and then select "Add Topic." but there is no such thing to select on the list of topics page. I have not been able to find any sign of a link to click, a button to push, or any other way to start a new topic nor did either of the topics I wanted to discuss come up in my forum search. Have I gone blind, is my browser not showing me the page correctly, or just what is my problem? Obviously SOME people are able to post new topics!

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Jul 15, 2008 at 8:17 AM :

I don't know why you can't post a new entry in the InDesign user forum. You can also try the InDesign Talk forum, which many of the same experts monitor:

http://www.listsearch.com/InDesign/index.lasso

Jash2008 said on Aug 14, 2008 at 5:58 AM :

For MLSCHW and any others having trouble with blank pages going missing...

This has been driving me crazy all day, every time i used 'print booklet ' the page order got all messed up due to blank pages being omitted.

I assumed that by selecting 'Print Blank Printer Spreads', InDesign would leave them in, and impose the booklet how *I* wanted it to be done, but it doesn't.

Eventually I found out you also need to select 'Print Blank Pages' in "Print settings/General/Option" as well. With both of these selected the 'Print Booklet' function of Indesign works just as I would expect, so I'm happy with it!

Cheers

No screen name said on Aug 30, 2008 at 7:32 PM :

If in-booklet is gone (and that sucks) I used it all the time....

How do I bring a CS3 file back to a CS2 file, so I can use inbooklet

Bob - Adobe Writer said on Aug 31, 2008 at 10:47 AM :

See the topic called "Save backwards to previous InDesign versions":

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/help.html?content=WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6d4d.html

No screen name said on Oct 13, 2008 at 9:59 PM :

Hi All
i'm trying to print a booklet of a paper size of A4 on an A1 sheet. i've adjusted the print settings to be A1, and adjusted the paper orinetation but i couldn't make it to but 8 papers on the the A1 sheet. it only gives me 4 A4 papers (that's becuase i've used 4-up consecutive booklet type). is there any option in the booklet printing to make it print 8 or 16-up consecutives?

No screen name said on Nov 17, 2008 at 12:10 AM :

I've never used Print Booklet before and am looking at using it for the first
time as I have creep to contend with for a particular job and was hoping this
was going to be a simple solution to an otherwise very manual job.

I tested it with a file and I can see how it's working and how it's contending
with the creep amount that I entered in but it seems to be working in reverse
and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong.

The finished size of the book is 210mm wide and I have calculated the creep
to being 2.75mm. But when I type in all the relevant information it's the
outside spread that ends up being the smallest with the inner most spread
being 210mm wide when it should be the other way round!!

What have I missed?

Bob Bringhurst - Adobe said on Nov 17, 2008 at 8:11 AM :

Someone else mentioned that the figures in the creep description are reversed.

DzinrGrl said on Dec 4, 2008 at 8:23 AM :

Any way to rotate pages for InBooklet? I want the pages to attach top to bottom, not left to right (like a calendar). Thx.

No screen name said on Dec 9, 2008 at 3:34 PM :

I recently used the print booklet command (CS3) to impose an a5 doc onto a4 page size and used Adobe Acrobat as the printer to capture the booklet as a pdf.
The Indesign Preview shows the pages imposed on A4 pages but the resulting pdf has the page info at 50% on an a4 page. I can zoom to the page and print "current page" using scale to fit page.
I can print the imposed booklet directly to a printer ok but if I make a pdf its scaling down. I thought it must be in the distiller settings but no luck. Any ideas?

Current page: http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/InDesign/5.0/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-7049.html

InDesign CS3 | Go to CS4 Help

Impose a document for booklet printing

Booklet types

Spacing, bleed, and margin options for booklet printing

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