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D
De_ign
Participant
May 12, 2010
Question

Double sided pdf printing

  • May 12, 2010
  • 4 replies
  • 37778 views

Is there a way to set up a pdf for double sided printing? I know how to do double sided printing directly out of InDesign, but I want to save my document in such a way so that I can have the printing done at an outside printing company. Is there a way to do this? Or must I save each page as a PDF and then try to align it? (Print one side, turn it over and then print the other PDF on the other side.)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

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    4 replies

    I
    isvara78
    Participating Frequently
    May 12, 2010

    Maybe you are wishing to print a booklet duplex to pdf.

    This requires the correct imposition- arranging the pages.

    This is done with the print booklet menu item.

    I don't think you can print to pdf and retain the imposition to send to the printers.

    I apologise if I have misread the question but seem to imply more than just printing both sides in order

    D
    De_ignAuthor
    Participant
    May 12, 2010

    Ah ok, thank you very much for clarifying.

    Stix_Hart
    Stix_Hart
    Inspiring
    May 12, 2010

    Just tell the outside printing company that you want it double sided and supply them the PDF, that's all you need to do, no special tricks at all.  So for a 2 sided A4 you'd supply a 2 page A4 PDF.

    markerline
    markerline
    Inspiring
    May 12, 2010

    The OP mentioned something about aligning the PDF which leads me to believe he has an offset on his page 1 that when flipped onto page 2 would misalign.  In this case he would have to set up the duplex manually/semi-automatically in InDesign first before publishing a PDF from InDesign.

    John Hawkinson
    John Hawkinson
    Inspiring
    May 12, 2010

    No. But you are asking the wrong question.

    The decision to print duplex or simplex is a decision made at the time of printing the PDF, by the program and printer driver printing the PDF (and limited by the capabilities of the output device). Instruct your outside printing company to print double-sided, and they will do so, just as they will use the paper size and weight you request.

    I do not believe there is a way to embed within a PDF a directive indicating that it ought to be printed double-sided, no. Certainly InDesign has no such way. Not do you need it. Communicate the information out-of-band.

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