Undoing booklet format

[Alice-JCSF]

Hi everyone!  Is there a way I can rip a pdf that was created at the printers to print double sided bookets?  I need to upload it onto our website so members can print it at home but of course it'll look crazy to them.  is there a way to split the pages in 2, and then I can then reorganize the pages in order?  The person who sent it off to the printers can no longer find their original.  I added a page so you can see what I mean.  Help??##!!  And thank you!

[Willi Adelberger]

Export it as single page PDF from the original INDD file. Where do you a problem?

[Alice-JCSF]

I don't think this was created in INDD.  When I attempted to convert it to INDD, the quality was really bad.

[BobLevine]

The quality of PDFs when opened in InDesign is not exactly stellar even for files created with InDesign but the basic content is usually okay.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

What did the printer use to create their PDF? The InDesign file or a supplied PDF? Can you get it back?

If not, you can open up the PDF from the new InDesign. It will convert the PDF into an InDesign file. Then copy-and-paste the contents into a new InDesign file.

OR, import the current PDF into an InDesign file, cropping out the appropriate page. (Each spread will be imported twice, once for the left and once for the right page.) Output as a single-page PDF. 

[Alice-JCSF]

Hi Dave, no clue what the printer used and the person who had the original file can't seem to locate it.  All they say they have is this.  I converted it to INDD but it looks awful, unreadable.  I was thinking I could maybe crop each page in 1/2 in Acrobat?  But was hoping to not have to do that much work.  So annoying.  

Ok, thought I was clever and changed page size to 17 x 11, which enabled me to print the even numbered pages on the left.  Half the battle.  But how to print the odd numbered pages on the right?  Thought ok, let me flip the doc upside down and then print the odd numbered pages, which now appear on the left.  Nope, Acrobat won't do it.  Doesn't care that I flipped the doc, saved it, nothing.  Hmmm.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

I would use my third option: create an InDesign document with the correct number of single pages. Import the PDFs in numeric order. When you place the PDF, be sure to select "Show Import Options" so you can select the page you want. As I mentioned, you will have to crop to show the right-hand pages. 

[Alice-JCSF]

I did create a INDD from the pdf but it looked really bad.  Unreadable.  

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Not what I suggested. Let me clarify...

Create a new BLANK document to the correct page size and page count. Include the bleed if it is used.

Let's say you have an 8-page booklet. The pages will be arranged like so: 8/1, 2/7, 6/3, 4/5. 

In the NEW document, PLACE the 8/1 spread on page 1. It will show the left page, so you will have to crop it to show the right page (page 1). 

Go to page 8, PLACE the same spread again. It shouldn't need cropping but it depends on the PDF.

Continue on each page.

When finished, EXPORT the InDesign file to a print PDF, using High-Quality. 

Hopefully, that makes more sense. 

[Joel Cherney]

If you started a new, blank INDD as Dave suggested, and placed your PDF into that, then you're probably getting a low-resolution preview of those PDF pages, which might be why they looked unreadable. You can check this by going to View -> Display Performance.  You're probably in "Typical" display performance, and the low-res preview is unreadable.  This is normal behavior for InDesign. "High Display Quality" will look better, but it still won't be identical to how the final PDF looks in Acrobat, or in print. 

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

BTW, in Acrobat, you can go to the [Document] Properties menu. Click on the Description tab and you might be able to see what program created the PDF. Most likely, it was created in a special imposition program. 

[BobLevine]

Create a new InDesign document with facing pages of the proper size. Place the spreads and then export a new PDF.

Rearrange the pages in Acrobat and resave them.

This, of course, would be far easier with the original files, but absent that, the above is about the best I can offer.

[Alice-JCSF]

Under App, it says Xerox PrimeLink

[davecourtemanche]

You could crop the PDF to individual pages in Acrobat (creating 2 separate PDF files) then merge the two and re-arrange the pages. 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

"Xerox PrimeLink"

Yah, that's Xerox's workflow. And what you have there is a scanned document; It is not a vector-based PDF at all. It looks like it was scanned from a printed booklet that was taken apart; it's not exactly square and you can see the staple holes in the centre. It's also only 200 ppi, which is typical of a scanner printer like that.

Each flat is an 11x17 scan, so what you could do is what was suggested and place the file into a new INDD documwnt, crop the pages accordingly, and re-export a PDF. BUT you will need to change some settings, Since the PDF is already 200 ppi, do not re-downsample as that will make it look worse, so in Compression, leave all the settings at Do Not Downsample. Try at maximum quality at first, but if the resulting PDF is too large, you can reduce this setting until you get a file of a comfortable size.

 The other thing you could do, is extract all the scans from the PDF and save them all as a TIF, and place those in a new InDesign document, which might be easier to work with in InDesign depending on what you want to do.

Acrobat > File > Export To > Image > TIFF

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Just a note of caution based on Brad @ Roaring Mouse 's observation...

If this booklet was not created by you or owned by your company, do not put it on it on your website unless you have a written release by the copyright owner.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Excellent point!