InDesign booklet: Export as PDF instead of printing

[mttplbkp]

Instead of printing an InDesign booklet (with correct imposition) is it possible to instead export it as a PDF?

[BobLevine]

No, and I'll add my usual soapbox statement:

There should be no reason at all to provide anyone with an imposed document. If you're using this for inhouse printing, export a proper PDF and use Acrobat's booklet printing feature.

[mttplbkp]

Thanks, but is it possible to do this whilst including bleed + crop marks?

If I export a PDF as individual pages (with bleed / crop marks) then I end up with a gap in the middle of the spread when I go to print as a booklet from Acrobat

[BobLevine]

Inside bleed should be set to zero. 

[mttplbkp]

Thanks, I've removed the inside bleed but the crop marks still cause a gap in the middle.

Is it possible to add the crop marks in through Acrobat to trim off the bleed that is already on the PDF?

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Hi @mttplbkp , InDesign’s Print Booklet has more imposition features than Acrobat’s Booklet—you can impose for perfect binding, set signature sizes, add a creep amount, apply printer marks.

In order to Print a postcript file you need to install the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD, which can be downloaded from this page:

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/add-acrobat-ppd.html

[LauchMitSchlauch]

Can Acrobat export an imposed PDF? I would really like to send a ready-to-be-printed document to a family member without guiding them through printing dialogs. It would of course be much easier if I could just get the PDF out of inDesign.

[Luke Jennings3]

No, but Acrobat can print an imposed pdf using file> Print> Booklet.

If you need crop marks on your imposed pdf, there is a work-around to eliminate inside crop marks:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/booklet-and-bleed/m-p/9737476

[rob day]

If your family member can’t handle the print dialog are they really going to be able to duplex, collate, fold, and staple the printer spreads?

[LauchMitSchlauch]

Printing duplex is nothing new for them, yes, any printing software can print duplex. Folding and stapling will be done by hand.

[rob day]

Printing duplex is nothing new for them

Then Acrobat’s booklet feature shouldn’t be a challenge, it would just be a matter of selecting a paper size that can contain the spread, and clicking Booklet in the print dialog:

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

@LauchMitSchlauch Please note: So even though your family member can navigate printing the booklet themselves, they should note what may happen to the sizing of the pages.

Acrobat's Booklet Printing's major flaw is that it prints the pages within the printable area of the selected paper size, and this is variable depending on what kind of printer and its abilities.

It also does this by using the smallest dimension that will fit inside the printable area on each side of the sheet.

It then scales the pages to FIT, CENTERED on each of these printable areas. It DOES NOT start at the center of the sheet and go out from there, despite what others may think would be logical.

In a perfect world, an 5.5"x8.5" booklet will print perfectly in a 11"x 8.5" paper that images the entire sheet with no unprintable margins. (Top of A in my illustration).

Of course, most printers can't print full image, so Acrobat reduces the pages proportionally within each side. You have no control over this (again: major flaw). Depending on the proportional reduction, gaps may start to show between the pages.

Many inkjets have a larger non-printable margin on one end of a sheet due to the necessity to grip the head of the page properly, so Acrobat's sizing gets even smaller on these (C) to keep everything within that space but still be physically centered on the sheet, even though there might be more printable aea availble at the other end (C).

Even if you had a printer capable of printing to the edge of the sheet, if you add bleed and trim marks, these also get reduced (bottom of A), or even more on a sheet with a margin (B & C).

SO, not at all ideal. and definitely not professional.

Using InDesign's Print Booklet does things properly. Unfortunately, what it can't do is Export a PDF that way, Right now the only way is to to Print to Postscript (using the Acrobat PPD mentioned earlier) and Distill a PDF from that (or: If you have a Win machine and an Acrobat PDF (or any PDF printer driver installed), you can forego the print to Postscript step and Print from InDesign's Print Booklet directly to your PDF printer driver).

The drawback here (and this is what gets "people" up in arms) is that printing this way requires flattening of the file (transprency effects etc), but for your own printer of even your familiy's printer, this is not a big deal and will likely have zero impact in the quality of your printout. Of course, you never want to do this to send to a professional printer. Even decent copyshops can properly booklet proper PDF files from properly made single page PDFs.

 

[LauchMitSchlauch]

Thanks very much! That will help

[rob day]

For simple in-house impositions, you can try this script—it imitates Print Booklet, but Exports the imposition:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/3bfdb004-f188-4f3d-5904-d82dd8f8e2d1

Dialog:

Run:

[mttplbkp]

Yes you can "print" the pdf to a PostScript file (when you choose which printer) and then open the .ps file in Acrobat Distiller, this will then generate an imposed PDF.

I don't get why we can't just export like this direct from InDesign, but at least it's still do-able

[rob day]

I don't get why we can't just export like this direct from InDesign

Because imposition is a print related task and should be handled at print output not export. It’s like trapping, separations, screening, etc.—settings which are all dependent on a particular press condition and are not included in a PDF Export.

[mttplbkp]

Yes but sometimes it's good to be able to do a quick test on your own printer before sending it to the printers

[rob day]

Then test via the Print dialog— in any case you would be limited by your printer’s capabilities.