PDF Booklet Maker
Turn any PDF into a booklet you can print at home, fold in half and staple. Pages are rearranged two per sheet in the correct saddle-stitch order, blank pages are added when needed, and you get clear duplex printing steps. Your file stays on your device.
How to print and fold
How to use the PDF Booklet Maker
- Open your PDF by dropping it on the box or clicking to choose it. Page 1 becomes the front cover.
- Choose the paper size you will print on, for example A4 for an A5 booklet or Letter for a half-letter booklet.
- Pick the binding side, booklet structure and margins. The preview shows every sheet's front and back.
- Press Create booklet PDF to download the imposed file.
- Print double-sided with “flip on short edge” at 100%, fold the stack in half and staple along the fold.
Booklet page order (saddle-stitch imposition)
For a booklet with n pages (a multiple of 4), sheet k (counting from 1 on the outside) carries these pages when the spine is on the left:
- Front: page n − 2k + 2 on the left, page 2k − 1 on the right
- Back: page 2k on the left, page n − 2k + 1 on the right
On every side the two page numbers add up to n + 1, which is an easy way to check a printed booklet. For right-to-left binding the left and right positions swap.
| Booklet pages | Sheets | Sheet 1 front / back | Sheet 2 front / back | Sheet 3 front / back | Sheet 4 front / back |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 / 2 | 3 | – | – | – |
| 8 | 2 | 8 | 1 / 2 | 7 | 6 | 3 / 4 | 5 | – | – |
| 12 | 3 | 12 | 1 / 2 | 11 | 10 | 3 / 4 | 9 | 8 | 5 / 6 | 7 | – |
| 16 | 4 | 16 | 1 / 2 | 15 | 14 | 3 / 4 | 13 | 12 | 5 / 6 | 11 | 10 | 7 / 8 | 9 |
Paper sizes for common booklets
| Print on | Finished booklet | Booklet page size | Scale for an A4/Letter PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 (297 × 210 mm) | A5 | 148 × 210 mm | ≈ 70% |
| US Letter (11 × 8.5 in) | Half-letter | 5.5 × 8.5 in | ≈ 65–70% |
| A3 (420 × 297 mm) | A4 | 210 × 297 mm | ≈ 100% for A4 |
| Tabloid (17 × 11 in) | US Letter | 8.5 × 11 in | ≈ 100% for Letter |
Tips for a neat booklet
- Print at Actual size / 100%; "fit to page" in the print dialog shrinks pages again and shifts them off the fold.
- Crease the fold with a ruler or bone folder, then staple from the outside using a long-reach stapler, or open the booklet over a folded towel and staple through the crease.
- With many sheets, the inner pages stick out at the open edge (called creep). Trim the edge with a paper cutter, or split the book into signatures.
- Need page numbers first? Add them with Add Page Numbers to PDF, and reorder or remove pages with Organize PDF. For handouts without folding, use PDF N-Up.
Frequently asked questions
How does booklet page order work?
In a saddle-stitched booklet, sheets are nested and folded, so the first sheet carries the first and last pages. For an 8-page booklet the outer sheet has pages 8 and 1 on the front and 2 and 7 on the back; the inner sheet has 6 and 3 on the front and 4 and 5 on the back. The tool calculates this order for any length.
Why does my booklet need a multiple of 4 pages?
Each folded sheet has four page faces: two on the front and two on the back. So a booklet always has 4, 8, 12, 16… pages. If your PDF has, say, 10 pages, two blank pages are added, either at the end or just before the back cover.
Which duplex setting should I use?
Booklet sheets are landscape, so choose “flip on short edge” (sometimes called short-edge binding or tablet flip). With “flip on long edge” every back side would print upside down.
My printer cannot print double-sided. Can I still make a booklet?
Yes. Set Output for to “Single-sided: fronts, then backs”. Print the first half of the PDF, put the stack back into the tray to print on the blank side, then print the second half. Try it with two sheets first to learn how your printer feeds paper.
What are signatures?
A signature is a small group of sheets folded together. Thick booklets (more than about 10–12 sheets) are hard to fold as one stack and the middle pages stick out, so books are made of several signatures that are folded separately and then stacked and sewn or glued.
How big will my pages print?
An A4 or Letter page printed in an A4 or Letter booklet is reduced to about 70%. To print at full size, choose A3 paper for an A4 document, Tabloid for a Letter document, or “Two pages side by side, no scaling”.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The booklet is built by JavaScript in your browser and saved directly to your device. Nothing is sent to a server.