Wrong preview and output when printing

[volo]

MacOS Ventura 13.5 … Affinity Publisher 2.1.1.

When I want to print a document as a book from Affinity 2, the pages are assembled incorrectly. The first page (right) should be on one sheet. Layout pages 2-7 each on one sheet and then the last (left) page should be printed as a single page again. Unfortunately, the software rearranges the order. This also happens if you choose the option "save as PDF" from the print menu. However, if you export the file using the "Export" function, everything is fine. Does anyone know a solution to print directly from Affinity correctly. For my large book project with many images, the way via the PDF export would be very inconvenient.

PDF Export.pdf Print_Save as PDF.pdf

[Hangman]

Hi @volo and welcome to the forums,

If you are printing an 8-page signature using a Book layout then the order shown in your first screen grab is correct. Why are you expecting the first and last pages to print their own individual sheets?

[volo]

I have to create the file because the printing of the book the inside pages must be created separately because the cover has a different format. The first page is a right page and the last page is a left page. In inDesign this was no problem with the past books.

[Komatös]

Wenn Du für das Cover andere Abbmessungen benötigst kannst Du das in den Dokumenteneinstellungen machen.

 

[volo]

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, the cover cannot be created in the document at the same time as the inside pages. The book has a spine and must be delivered separately for the print studio. The document must start with a right single page and end with a left single page.

[Hangman]

Hi @volo,

My confusion is that, if I've understood correctly, you want to print the pages/spreads as per your second screen grab and PDF Export.pdf, i.e., in sequential page order. Is this simply to view the spreads individually as proofs rather than in the order they would appear when assembled as a book?

If that is the case then you could print using N-Up...

[volo]

Right. I would like to print all pages in the correct order. Then I can better judge the sequence of images. All pages should be printed reduced to postcard size. So I can adjust the order faster. As an example a picture how I proceed with a book production. The pages were printed from InDesign. I wanted to try it with Affinity for the current project. I will try it tomorrow with your N-Up settings. The idea to send me your solution as a screen capture was great. Thank you very much.

[Hangman]

15 minutes ago, volo said:

I will try it tomorrow with your N-Up settings. The idea to send me your solution as a screen capture was great.

No problem, you'll likely need to adjust your Left and Top offsets to suit your page size and any scaling (if required). For demonstration purposes, the screen recording shows a 100 mm x 100 mm page size printed on A4.

[thomaso]

15 hours ago, volo said:

print a document as a book

10 hours ago, volo said:

I would like to print all pages in the correct order.

If I understand right (your foto) you want to print spreads (Doppelseiten) in their layout (= the later bound) page order: page 1 | 2-3 | 4-5 | 6-7 | 8.

If yes: therefore you don't need any special option, neither "book", "booklet" [both are meant to do imposition (Ausschießen) and thus change the page order] nor "n-up" – but simply print spreads in a certain scale. For instance:

If you don't want the single pages 1 and 8 centred but rather right / left arranged then you would need to print them separately and use the horizontal margin/offset option of "n-up".

[volo]

With Hangman's solution, I get exactly what I need. After adjusting the settings for printing on A6, I get exactly what I need. Thank you for your efforts and quick service.

Thanks also to Thomaso. You have analyzed correctly but your solution does not fit. With Hangman's solution I can print all pages at once directly from Affinity Publisher. Separate printing of single pages is not necessary.

[thomaso]

22 hours ago, Hangman said:

If that is the case then you could print using N-Up...

Great setup! I often was wondering about the "Skip" option, now it became obvious that this option affects the first printed sheet(s) only – while all other 7 options affect every print.

And I also noticed that "Fill last page" does not mean to increase a last single page on the sheet but rather repeats the layout page 1 again as right page on the sheet.

Unfortunately the Affinity Help explains only: "In the dialog, adjust settings as appropriate." 😎