While Printing Booklet pages are arranged in inappropriate order {Renamed}

[3-Eyed Crow]

Hi Folks!

I received a file that was created from a template. (I don't know the origin of the template.) It's a 32 page magazine layout set to print with 4 pages as a signature on 11x17 paper. It will not print the pages in the correct order. I've tried it both in InDesign and exported as a pdf in Acrobat. (The signature is set to 4, though none of the other signatures work either. Always gotta try, right?)

A couple of things that I've done:

•Changed the document size from A4 to Letter. (All that did was screw up the layout.)

•Resaved the file under a different name

•Checked off the "spread" box in document setup (see note above about always gotta try it.)

•Rebooted the computer

•Moved it to another computer

I'm running out of ideas. Other documents seem to be working, so I'm wondering if there could be a bug in the template. Is there any slick trick that I'm missing?

[Srishti Bali]

Hi Marcia,

Sorry about the delay. I understand that the order of pages is incorrect when you are trying to print a booklet. I am hopeful that the issue was fixed. If not, you can refer to this help article: Create printer spreads for booklet printing in Adobe InDesign.

If that doesn't help please share a few more details like:

• OS (version of Windows/MAC)
• Is the issue is specific to a particular file? If yes, will it be possible for you to share the file with us?

Looking forward to your response!

Regards,

Srishti

[hammer0909]

You need to explain what you mean by "correct order". The Print Booklet feature in InDesign has one purpose which is to organize your pages into printers spreads. Your document is built (I'm assuming) in readers spreads which is a logical order. Printers spreads are used for page assembly and to the average person will look out of order. For example, pages 32 and 1 will be side by side and 2 and 31 will be side by side etc. Then the printer assembles the pages into a booklet so that the pages appear in the correct order (the order you are seeing in the InDesign document). I hope that helps you to understand why the pages seem out of order but this is actually expected and desired behavior when using the Print Booklet feature in InDesign.

[mjblanco322 · Accepted solution]

I've been using InDesign since it replaced Pagemaker, so I know what you are talking about. When I say "out of order" I mean that though the layout is in a spread pg 1, pgs 2-3, pgs 3-4...pgs 30-31, pg 32, when I choose "Print Booklet", the file is printing the spread as pg 1-24, pg 2-19 etc.

I found the solution. I literally copied and pasted the content of each page into a new document and then exported that as a pdf. (The original file would not work exported as a pdf either.) It worked like a dream. There must have been an issue with the original template.

Thanks for your help.

[hammer0909]

My point is that the pages are NOT out of order. They're in exactly the order that they're supposed to be in when using the Print Booklet feature.

[mjblanco322]

Chad,

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, but the pages are in the correct order. It's InD function to reorder the pages to make a booklet. (I used to do it by hand, so I know what it takes. Yes, I'm that old. ) I make booklets all the time and this file is not printing right. By copying all the content, page by page and pasting it into a new file, which worked, demonstrates my point.

Thanks for your help though.

[rob day]

mjblanco322  wrote

I make booklets all the time and this file is not printing right. By copying all the content, page by page and pasting it into a new file, which worked, demonstrates my point.

Thanks for your help though.

Acrobat has its own Booklet function, so you can export normal reader pages and print an imposed booklet there via the Print>Booklet tab. InDesign‘s Print Booklet feature is strictly a Print function, so you would have to print to postscript and distill in order to get imposed printer spreads to a PDF.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Do you have pages with nothing on them? If so, make sure to check the option "Print Blank Pages"

[mjblanco322]

Hi Jeffrey!

I have content on all 32 pages. Thank you for the suggestion though.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

The only way to have the signature size available is to have 2 up - Perfect Bound set as the booklet type. This setting with 32 pages and Signature SIze of 4 will yield the following:

[4-1, 2-3] [8-5, 6-7] [12-9, 10-11] [16-13, 14-15] [20-17, 18-19] [24-21, 22-23] etc.

Is this the desired pagination? If not, what is the desired pagination?

[mjblanco322]

I fixed the problem. Thank you though. The only thing that I can't figure out is how to change the status of the original post to "Answered".

[Jeffrey_Smith]

There should be a green "Correct Answer" button in the post.

What was your fix?

[mjblanco322]

I literally copied and pasted the content of each page into a new document and then exported that as a pdf. (The original file would not work exported as a pdf either.) It worked like a dream. There must have been an issue with the original template.