Printing an A5 booklet 2 up on A4 paper

[Kevell]

Sorry for what is a long story but hopefully, "what I am trying to do and
why I cant do it", will be clear enough by the time you get to the end.

This really is a simple requirement that was easy to do and worked fine in
every version of Publisher prior to 2007!

I am printing a booklet that is basically, an A5 page folded in half
containing 28 pages. The printer it is sent to is a HP8550 with duplex.

The page setup is set correctly as Booklet, 10.5cm x 14.85cm prints 4 pages
per piece of A5 paper and it prints it in the correct order, paginated etc.

The problem started when I wanted to print the booklet on A4 paper 2 up ...
i.e. 2 copies of the complete booklet paginated in order on A4 paper so that
I could then guillotine through the middle to end up with the 2 copies
paginated correctly.
I quickly discovered changing the page setup in publisher achieved nothing
other than to mess up the actual page size of the booklet, so that avenue was
closed. I then tried changing the paper size in print setup to A4. This was
accepted the work view of the pages remained as it should but the print
preview and the printout was of one booklet centred top to bottom on an A4
page.

I tried numerous routes to try and overcome this but everything failed.
Normally if you have a A5 page in the page setup and the print setup as A4 it
gives you the option to print multiple copies per sheet or multiple pages per
sheet. But the only options for booklet were one page per sheet or Booklet
side-fold. The other option from the print menu that was obvious in its
absence was the margins area at the bottom of the print window.

Eventually I discovered that this problem could be overcome by changing the
page size to 14.8 instead of 14.85 because Publisher refused to accept that
half of A4 (21 x 29.7) was 10.5 x 14.85?

With the page set at 10.5 x 14.8 booklet and the printer setup at A4 the
print preview and the print menu all showed the booklet being printed as 2 up
on A4. Eureka... I thought, at last I have it... but alas no !!!

I'm sorry its taken so long to get to this point but I am trying to give in
detail where I have been and where I am now.

So, what was wrong now - The print preview and the print out was only half
of the actual booklet, pages 1 -8 & 21 - 28? The pages were in the correct
order, they were paginated correctly and it was (as I wanted) a duplicate of
the booklet top and bottom of the A4... i.e. 2 copies of the same pages which
could be cut in half to produce 2 books. But where were the missing pages.
Having spent many hours trying different things nothing worked. Finally I
thought well lets print the missing pages which in this case were 9 - 20.
Once again, Publisher only printed 9 - 12 & 17 - 20, in the correct order,
paginated correctly and 2 up as was wanted.
So finally I printed 13 - 16 which came out as it should have. So if I want
to print say 100 booklets, I have to print it in 3 parts and then collate
every book manually.

So... PLEASE someone tell me where am I going wrong? is it me or is it
Publisher. Every version of publisher before this one does this with ease,
why has this gone so wrong?

Finally I should add that the file was created in Publisher 2003 and loaded
into 2007 without any problems.

I expect I could overcome the problem by setting it up as a 2 up booklet on
a page size of 10.5 x 29.7 but that would be doubling the size of the file
or, I could load Publisher 2003 and print the file from that, but either
option only suffices as a work-around.

If this is a bug please can it be fixed, if it is me please someone explain
what I need to do to correct it.

Many thanks and my sincerest appreciation for any and all comments.

 

[Mary Sauer]

I spent a couple of hours on this, I cannot setup it either. My suggestion would
be to cut the stock in half first and then print the booklet. This worked for
me. Can't be sure if all the pages are printing, I don't have any A5 paper, my
duplex unit is balking when I try printing a half letter size and fooling the
printer into thinking it is A5. My LaserJet is ancient.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Hello Don, I worked on this a while longer.

Page setup, advanced setup, type 10.499cm width, 14.8cm height. File, Print,
select A4, Portrait. This works.

The page and print setup in 2007 is not fun...

 

[Mary Sauer]

Forget what I wrote in the last post. It doesn't work. Just like the original
poster I can print a partial booklet. This is so frustrating.

 

[Kevell]

Hi again...

I just wanted to thank Mary and Don for your time and efforts, but I think
between us, we have confirmed that this appears to be impossible to achieve
within Publisher 2007. No matter how you try and configure the page and/or
print setup you cannot print an A5 (folded) booklet 2 up on a A4 page.

Unless anyone else has managed to achieve this basic task and cares to post
details on how it can be done, I think I will send Microsoft a Bug report.

Many thanks all.

 

[Ed Bennett]

You might be able to do it using a Xerox 7400 printer which has its own
booklet formatter in the windows driver. With this driver you just send
sequential pages and it sets them out in booklet format.
The 7400DXF will also staple and fold the booklet.

This is hardly a feature exclusive to the Xerox 7400. I've done this
with the Canon iR5000, although it didn't fold and staple, as the one I
was using only had the corner stapler rather than the booklet stapler.
Most A3/Tabloid network laser printers will do this.

 

[Kevell]

Thanks for your input Ed and John (the previous poster).

But realistically changing expensive printers to be able to preform a basic
function that works fine in earlier versions of Publisher just isn't feasable
and neither should it be. Publisher has always been able to do this, so I
dont consider it unreasonable to expect it to do it now?

To be honest I'm not really looking for work-arounds as I have several I
could choose to use, i.e. setting it up as a 2 up on an A4 booklet layout
would over come the problem, or installing and using an earlier version of
Publisher to print A5 booklets 2 up on A4 or, Printing it in 3 hits the way I
curently have it setup.

My original post was really an attempt to establish if this was possible to
achieve within Publisher 2007 as it had always been possible to achieve
within earlier versions of Publisher. If it was, how am I to do it as I must
be missing something really simple.

Thanks again...

 

[Mike Blundy]

Hi,
wouldn't you think this would be so simple, and yet i am struggling beyond belief to find a solution to this problem. I simply want to print an A5 booklet of about 60 pages, which has been put together using an A5 page size in Word within Office 2007, and print it on A4 paper, double sided if possible, 2 pages per sheet. I have attempted the same requirement in Publisher but again no joy.
I have tied everything and the only consistent result is 2 pages covering just half of the A4 sheet. I'm pretty good at sorting out things but this is beyond me! My sympathies to all others in such a situation. Does anyone have any further ideas. Mike

 

[Mary Sauer]

For some reason this function was left out of Publisher 2007. It isn't just an
A4 problem but a US Letter problem as well.

I have tried every workaround I know or can think of to get it to work. The
closest was creating in other versions of Publisher and then opening in 2007.
The publication will open as an A5 but not as an A4 that has to be cut in half
to form two small booklets. In other words the A4 stock has to be cut in half
first then printed.

--
Mary Sauer MSFT MVP
http://office.microsoft.com/


in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[MS Publisher]

Serif PagePlus works and has none of the problems or issue of Publisher.
Coming from the UK I would have thought you would use the better superior
home developed programs http://www.serif.com

Mary how are you and must say you are looking well, albeit a little bit
older since we last chatted. I am as handsome and good looking as ever with
all my blonde locks.
Thankfully I am back in the world of the living.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Hey David, What a nice surprise. Every now and then I do a search for you, never
came across an obit, so I knew you'd turn up sooner or later. What have you been
up to? Are you still prospecting for gold? Are you rich? I still have the photos
of the prospecting areas. How is the drought affecting you?

This version of Publisher is just about the same as the last, except the page
layout. The powers to be decided the page layout needed an overhaul. What a
nightmare!

Keep in touch, David.

 

[Billy Stewart]

I had the exact same problem.
Thank you for the very simple but Brilliant Solution.