Converting 8 1/2 x 11 to A4

Report · May 16, 2013

I need to prepare a number of manuals for printing in Europe. One thought was to redesign the template so that it would work for either paper size. This would mainly entail narrowing the left/right margins. There are a fair number of books and files, is there a simpler way?

I'm using FrameMaker version 10 and Acrobat version 10. The manuals will most often be used in the States and they will be delivered in PDF format.

Thanks.

Report · May 16, 2013

> One thought was to redesign the template so that it would work for either paper size.

We did that. Translators can retain the width of our 2-column format & gutter, move the header & footer, and make the columns taller.

It turns out that if you architect for a worst-case U.S.Letter 3-hole size and placement, and mostly balance the L/R margins, you end up with something that fits A4 width, with a smaller margin.

For simple reprint, our Flow A content could reflow onto A4 master pages with no problems, other than needing to inspect for clumsy page breaks.

Alternatively, you could just print on A4 paper, with or without scaling. If your content is all text, vector art or high-res raster art, it should scale with no damage. There will, of course, be more white space top & bottom.

Report · May 16, 2013

Error7103 wrote:
>Alternatively, you could just print on A4 paper, with or without scaling. If your content is all text, vector art or high-res raster art, it should scale with no damage. There will, of course, be more white space top & bottom.

While I have developed some hybrid templates, I think I will try this first. This is kind of a one-off project and I would prefer not to turn it into a bigger project than need be.

Thanks.