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aFatFish
Participant
July 27, 2017
Answered

Indesign A5 Booklet Printing Issue - The booklet doesn't fit the current paper size.

  • July 27, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 12268 views

Hi everyone,

Using InDesign CC.

I'm trying to print a booklet on to A4 paper. I'd like each page to be A5 size (A4 folded in half, landscape). Pages facing each other and double sided (my printer can do duplex printing).

However, when i go to print booklet, the preview is all wrong - please see second screen grab below. If i export to PDF then try printing I get one page per entire A4 paper, not a booklet at all! How do i correct this? I've tried searching to solve my own issue, and either the solutions are back from CS2 era or simply don't work for me! 😞

Thanks!

Tommy

Detailed Explanation:

Document set up: Intent set to "print". Number of pages: 20. "Facing Pages" checkbox is ticked. Page size: A5. Orientation set to landscape. 0mm bleed and slug.

When I go file --> print booklet, i get the following error:

These are my print settings ("Print Settings" button in above image):

What on earth is going on? How can Indesign be this stupidly hard to use?

Here's my Summary log info (from bottom option in the left hand menu from the above photo):

Print Preset: [Custom]

Printer: EPSON76B788 (ET-4550 Series)

PPD: N/A

PPD File: N/A

Print Booklet

    Booklet Type: 2-up Saddle Stitch

    Auto Adjust Margins: On

    Top Margin: 0 mm

    Bottom Margin: 0 mm

    Left Margin: 0 mm

    Right Margin: 0 mm

    Space Between Pages: N/A

    Creep: 0 mm

    Bleed Between Pages: N/A

    Signature Size: N/A

    Print Blank Printer Spreads: On

General

    Copies: 1

    Collate: Off

    Reverse Order: Off

    Pages: All

    Sequence: All Pages

    Spreads: Off

    Print Master Pages: Off

    Print Layers: Visible & Printable Layers

    Print Non-printing Objects: Off

    Print Blank Pages: Off

    Print Visible Guides and Baseline Grids: Off

Setup

    Paper Size: A4 210 x 297 mm

    Paper Width: 210 mm

    Paper Height: 297 mm

    Page Orientation: Landscape

    Paper Offset: 0 mm

    Paper Gap: 0 mm

    Transverse: Off

    Scaling: 100%

    Constrain Proportions: On

    Page Position: Upper Left

    Thumbnails: Off

    Tiling: Off

Marks and Bleed

    Crop Marks: Off

    Bleed Marks: Off

    Registration Marks: Off

    Colour Bars: Off

    Page Information: Off

    Printer Mark Type: Default

    Crop Mark Weight: 0.25 pt

    Mark Offset from Page: 2.117 mm

    Use Document Bleed Settings: On

    Bleed Top: 0 mm

    Bleed Bottom: 0 mm

    Bleed Inside: 0 mm

    Bleed Outside: 0 mm

    Include Slug Area: Off

Output

    Colour: Composite RGB

    Text As Black: Off

    Trapping: Off

    Flip: None

    Negative: Off

    Screening: Default

    Simulate Overprint: Off

    Frequency: 70

    Angle: 45

Graphics

    Send Data: Optimised Subsampling

    Download: Subset

    Download PPD Fonts: On

    PostScript®: Level 2

    Data Format: Binary

Colour Management

    Document Profile: sRGB IEC61966-2.1

    Colour Handling: Let InDesign Determine Colours

    Printer Profile: Document RGB - sRGB IEC61966-2.1

    Preserve RGB Numbers: Off

    Proof Profile: Document CMYK

    Simulate Paper Colour: On

Advanced

    Print &as Bitmap: Off

    Bitmap Resolution: 300

    OPI Image Replacement: Off

    EPS: Off

    PDF: Off

    Bitmap Images: Off

    Transparency Flattener Preset: [Medium Resolution]

    Ignore Spread Overrides: Off

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer rob day

    What on earth is going on? How can Indesign be this stupidly hard to use?

    When you impose a booklet you obviously have to print spreads. Your A5 landscape 2-page spread would be 420mm (16.6") and that spread will not fit on A4 paper, which is 297mm (11.7"). You would need at least tabloid size paper to impose 2-up printer spreads.

    Or you would have to design the booklet as portrait, which will fit on A4:

    2 replies

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    July 27, 2017

    What on earth is going on? How can Indesign be this stupidly hard to use?

    When you impose a booklet you obviously have to print spreads. Your A5 landscape 2-page spread would be 420mm (16.6") and that spread will not fit on A4 paper, which is 297mm (11.7"). You would need at least tabloid size paper to impose 2-up printer spreads.

    Or you would have to design the booklet as portrait, which will fit on A4:

    A
    aFatFishAuthor
    Participant
    July 27, 2017

    urrrgghhhhh of course. Not indesign being stupid; it's me. Thank you!

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 27, 2017

    A job like this would not need to be printed using the booklet feature. It can be printed using InDesign's regular Print dialog box.

    See screen shot below:

    In the general tab make sure that spreads is chosen (first picture above). In the setup tab (second picture) choose the A4 paper size and orient it landscape. Also choose center alignment. The Duplex settings will depend on your Printer but should be able to be accessed through the Printer button on the bottom of the dialog box. Once into your Printers dialog there should be a Printers Features option which should in turn provide the Duplex option. When you’ve chosen all of the options then you should be able to send it to print.

    Please note that with Duplex printing you will have to make sure that you’ve set the job up in printer spreads including having the front and back cover on a spread together in order for all of the pages to come out correctly.

    All of this being said I must warn you that jobs are not usually printed out to size like this. Printers are not able to print right to the edge and so unless everything has a comfortable margin from the edges content may be lost. The usual process is to print a job on paper larger than the trim size using crop marks and bleed and then having the job cut to size.

    rob day
    Community Expert
    rob dayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 27, 2017

    Please note that with Duplex printing you will have to make sure that you’ve set the job up in printer spreads including having the front and back cover on a spread together in order for all of the pages to come out correctly.

    Even if FatFish arranges the pages as printer spreads, the spreads will not fit on an A4 sheet. Print Booklet feature is there so you don't have to set up a document as printer spreads, which would create all sorts of design problems.

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 27, 2017

    https://forums.adobe.com/people/rob+day  wrote

    Please note that with Duplex printing you will have to make sure that you’ve set the job up in printer spreads including having the front and back cover on a spread together in order for all of the pages to come out correctly.

    Even if FatFish arranges the pages as printer spreads, the spreads will not fit on an A4 sheet. Print Booklet feature is there so you don't have to set up a document as printer spreads, which would create all sorts of design problems.

    OOps. I had it in my head that he was printing the A5s portrait on the sheet.

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