Booklet imposition
Get the page order right once, instead of reprinting after the fold fails.
Result
These files are processed locally. Nothing is uploaded.
How it works
Enter the page count
How many pages the finished booklet has, not how many sheets.
Print double-sided, short-edge
The sides come out in the order your printer expects for a fold.
Fold and staple
Fold the whole stack together, then staple twice through the spine.
A folded booklet does not print in reading order. To have page 1 face page 8 when the sheets are folded, page 8 has to be printed beside page 1 on the outside of the first sheet — and working that out by hand is where nearly every home booklet goes wrong, usually after both sides are already printed.
This tool takes your page count and returns the imposition: which two pages go on each side, in the order your printer wants them. The count is padded to a multiple of four, because a folded sheet has four sides; an odd count without its blanks shifts every page by one.
Frequently asked questions
What does "flip on short edge" mean and do I need it?
For landscape sheets, short-edge binding is what keeps the back of the sheet the right way up. Get it wrong and half the pages come out upside down. If your printer offers "booklet" or "flip on short edge", use it; otherwise print one test sheet and check before committing the rest.
Why does it pad my page count to a multiple of four?
Because a folded sheet has four sides. Four pages use one sheet, five to eight use two. A count of five prints three blanks, which is correct — dropping them instead would shift every subsequent page one position out.
How many pages can it handle before it stops being practical?
Around twenty pages is the limit for saddle stitching at home: beyond that the spine bulges and the inner pages do not fold flat. Past that, use perfect binding or split it into two booklets.
Do I need to upload my document?
You do not upload it at all — the imposition calculator takes a page count, not your file. To impose an actual PDF, use the PDF imposition tool, which reads the pages locally in your browser.