Booklet programs

Making booklets can be done in a word-processing or desktop publishing program. However, if you want to print two pages to a side and staple them in the middle, but it can be fiddly to collate the pages. It's much easier to spend a little money on a program to arrange the correct pages back-to-back.

Free programs

• CocoaBooklet is a free program, and many people used to rely on it. However, it does not work on the latest Mac operating system 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

• Create Booklet works under Mac OS 10.4 onwards, including 10.6.

Marvin Robertson uses it as follows:

When I print a PDF booklet, I usually do it in Preview. First I do the odd pages collated then turn the stack over and do the even pages in reverse order. This is a built in software option, it does not depend on the printer. Once printed there is no shuffling, just separate the groups, fold, and staple. If you are going to fold and staple, there is also a limit to how many pages you can put in the booklet. I usually do a cover of 160 gm paper and four or five sheets of 80-90 gm paper for the inside.

With the Create Booklet program, you work in normal size paper (A-4 or 8.5x11) and then when you choose Create Booklet under the PDF print option, the document is automatically reduced and pages placed side by side on paper turned sideways (horizontal). If you use this option, you may need to play with the margens and text size until you find the optimum for your final product.

Under Create Booklet you are not given the option to save the new PDF booklet, however you can do a "Save as" before you print and that way you keep a copy for future use.

Adobe Reader likewise has built-in functionality for booklet printing. This Adobe help page shows the Windows dialog, but the Mac version is very similar: within the Print dialog, select Booklet Printing from the Page Scaling pop-up menu.

Paid-for programs

• Cheap Impostor is shareware, and costs US $35. The website has a helpful explanation of why you would need it, and links to a tutorial and a blog post on using it to make books.

• Click Book from Blue Squirrel costs $50 and will do very sophisticated things.

• Adobe InDesign CS5 costs $699 (though there are discounts available for education and non-profits). The Print Booklet feature within the program lets you create printer spreads for professional printing. You can choose three types of imposition: 2-up Saddle Stitch, 2-up Perfect Bound, and Consecutive. It is pricey, but if you already have the program, it is helpful to know that it has this feature.

External links

• Booklet programs at MacUpdate.com, including the above and InDesign extensions

Credits

• Contributed by Marvin Robertson, Vince LaRue and Leonard Durrenberger in a Mac-Min email thread on January 13-15, 2011 and added to by Faithe Thomas.