Printing a book double sided, but not in usual duplex manner

printing

Okey, I know the title sounds, at least weird, so I'll try to explain.

I wish to print a book. Normally, that is done in usual duplex manner, 2 pages on each side of the paper and then spiral bounded either on long, or on short side.

This time, this has to be printed, so it comes out in small format. Half of A4. And it will be binded in such small format (paper will be cutted, and then spiral bounded on what is usually a short side of A4).

But since it will be printed in several copies, I wish to save some paper, and so I need to print it out like:
1/2 of first side of paper: page no.1
1/2 of second side of paper: page no.2
1/2 of first side of second paper: page no.3
…

then reverse:
2/2 of first side of paper: last page
2/2 of second side of paper: last page – 1
…

so when the paper is cutted in half, and putted next to each other, the book is in its normal order.

Uhmm, now that I look at this, it isn't really that well explained, but I'm still hoping someone in here has already developed telepathic powers and will know what I want, which is some kind of software that will enable me to do so. ("book", which is not really a book, is in DOC or PDF format, btw, if that makes any difference).

Best Answer

I have printed many PDF files (that are just one page after another) in book format just as you have described.

In Adobe Acrobat Reader 9:

  1. Open the file.
  2. Click File > Print.
  3. In the Page Handling group, set Paper Scaling to Booklet Printing.
  4. If your printer cannot duplex, set Booklet Subset to Front Side only.
  5. Click Properties.
  6. Set the paper size to A4 (the Properties dialog is printer/driver specific).
  7. Click OK.
  8. Click Print.
  9. If you printed the front side only in step 4, reload the paper.
  10. Repeat steps 4-9, substituting Back Side only for Front Side only in step 4.
  11. Cut the pages.
  12. Bind the pages.

Edit:

I have included a diagram of what the print dialog looks like for me in Adobe Acrobat Reader 9. The arrow points to what I mention in step 3.

alt text

Related Question