Booklet printing

[Argee]

I was rather pleased how easy it was to design a 15-page booklet in APub, but there seems to be no way to print it in the correct order within the app, unless I'm missing something? Mac 27" Retina, 32GB RAM, macOS Mojave, 3TB fusion HD OKI  C531dn colour laser, Epson R265, Epson XP720 and an Affinity fan since the start. Suggestions, please.

[Alfred]

15 minutes ago, Argee said:

Suggestions, please.

Add a blank page. You need an exact multiple of four pages for a booklet.

[Argee]

The software added the page for me, so that's not the problem, thanks for the suggestion though. My concern is that after making the booklet so easy to design, edit, decorate, etc., that I cannot print it from within the application. I have had to purchase and download "Create Booklet 2," set that up, invoke a script to enable another menu item in the print dialog, then still get an inaccurate result via Adobe PDF.  It prints a booklet, sure, but it's not laid out as it should be in regard to scale, margins, etc. and adjusting the appearance in the Create Booklet app doesn't quite get it right. There MUST be a better/simpler way?

[walt.farrell]

I am a bit confused about your phrasing: "designing a booklet". As far as I know, one does not design a booklet in Publisher. One makes a standard project, with the pages in normal order (cover, 1, 2, ..., back-cover) and then when it's time to print it one tells Publisher to print it as a booklet (Print dialog, Layout tab, Model = Booklet) and all the page reordering, etc. happens automatically at that point.

Perhaps you've simply missed selecting that Booklet option, but from what you've said I'm not certain you've laid out the document properly. If you've already tried the Booklet option, then it might help if you'd provide a sample .afpub file that demonstrates the problem you're having.

[Argee]

"(Print dialog, Layout tab, Model = Booklet) and all the page reordering, etc. happens automatically at that point."

Not for me, it doesn't.  Here's my Print dialog box:

Here's the "Layout" option from the Range and Scale dropdown menu. 

No "Booklet" option anywhere.

There's nothing wrong with my layout of the document - sorry, "Project." I knew it was to be printed as a booklet, so I designed a booklet, whatever your opinion of my syntax or grammar.

I cannot follow your (much appreciated) advice, if the options are not there. I'm only getting it to print via a third-party addition (and that is not WYSIWYG) and that can't be right.

I need to get this right.

 

[John Fleet]

I don't see these options either. As it happens I already have an excellent program 'Build Booklet' so it's not an issue for me, but clearly Publisher has the ability to impose a booklet - we just can't see how to do it!

[PaulEC]

Easiest way to print a booklet:

Output as a PDF in normal page order (i.e. - without trying to impose the pages) , then use the booklet option in Adobe Reader / Foxit etc.

[v_kyr]

In case of trouble, there are also other tools for such PDF reordering and printing purposes, though for this PdfBooklet  there is sadly no direct Mac version here.

[walt.farrell]

4 hours ago, Argee said:

"(Print dialog, Layout tab, Model = Booklet) and all the page reordering, etc. happens automatically at that point."

Not for me, it doesn't.  Here's my Print dialog box:

Here's the "Layout" option from the Range and Scale dropdown menu. 

No "Booklet" option anywhere.

There's nothing wrong with my layout of the document - sorry, "Project." I knew it was to be printed as a booklet, so I designed a booklet, whatever your opinion of my syntax or grammar.

I cannot follow your (much appreciated) advice, if the options are not there. I'm only getting it to print via a third-party addition (and that is not WYSIWYG) and that can't be right.

I need to get this right.

 

I'm guessing you're on a Mac, as I don't recognize that Print dialog at all. Can you confirm what version of Publisher you're running?

Also, what is that "PDF" pulldown on the lower left. What other choices do you have there?

[AlanM]

Argee - what you need is the Document Layout option in the printer driver - see screen. Then you can select Booklet as the model. Then, you will find that Publisher automatically does the imposition for you. You then merely (!!) have to print odd and even pages on opposite sides of your paper.

[Argee]

Thank you - this is getting closer! However, it's printing the even pages upside down when printing booklets, I can't see a way to print just one side first. If I choose single sided, I get ALL pages, but on one side only. I don't see a way of instructing the printer to print just odd or even pages?

[Argee]

1 hour ago, PaulEC said:

Easiest way to print a booklet:

Output as a PDF in normal page order (i.e. - without trying to impose the pages) , then use the booklet option in Adobe Reader / Foxit etc.

Doesn't work for me. The resultant booklet requires a magnifying glass to read and leaves the last two odd pages blank.

[Argee]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

I'm guessing you're on a Mac, as I don't recognize that Print dialog at all. Can you confirm what version of Publisher you're running?

Also, what is that "PDF" pulldown on the lower left. What other choices do you have there?

Yes, I said I was on a Mac in my initial post. Here is the drop-down from the PDF option in the print dialog:

The penultimate entry in the list above "Edit Menu..." is the external application that I purchased, but doesn't accurately print the booklet, even with numerous attempts within the app to adjust it.  I've no idea what Yojimbo is!  Version is 1.7.0.174

[John Fleet]

If it does turn out that we need an external app to reliably print booklets via APub on the Mac then have a look at the Create Booklet app by the Kept Promise. http://thekeptpromise.com/CreateBooklet/

I have NOT as yet tried it with APub but have used it for several years to create booklets direct from Word and found it be very simple to use and very reliable. It installs as an option on the normal print dialogue box on the Mac under the PDF dropdown...

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Argee said:

Thank you - this is getting closer! However, it's printing the even pages upside down when printing booklets, I can't see a way to print just one side first. If I choose single sided, I get ALL pages, but on one side only. I don't see a way of instructing the printer to print just odd or even pages?

I will have to leave it to @AlanM or another Mac user to comment further, as the Mac printing dialog is so different that I can't provide any more suggestions. 

[AlanM]

Argee -

1: Having first done Document Layout --> Booklet, then select Paper Handling and under Pages to Print Odd Only.

 

[Argee]

14 minutes ago, John Fleet said:

If it does turn out that we need an external app to reliably print booklets via APub on the Mac then have a look at the Create Booklet app by the Kept Promise. http://thekeptpromise.com/CreateBooklet/

I have NOT as yet tried it with APub but have used it for several years to create booklets direct from Word and found it be very simple to use and very reliable. It installs as an option on the normal print dialogue box on the Mac under the PDF dropdown...

 

I've already got it, John, as the screenshot shows, but it's not very good.

[Argee]

5 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I will have to leave it to @AlanM or another Mac user to comment further, as the Mac printing dialog is so different that I can't provide any more suggestions. 

OK, thanks anyway!

[AlanM]

Argee - this is what I do on my HP 110 - which has a front feed and prints up-and-over.

I should perhaps have said that initially the page size in AD should be set to A5 since this proceedure prints two A5 pages on a single A4 sheet.

You should also have a multiple of 4 pages.

Now:-

1: Having first done Document Layout --> Booklet, then select Paper Handling and under Pages to Print --> Odd Only.  (see image 1)

2: Take the page as it emerges from the printer and feed it straight back into the printer, printed side up and without rotating it at all.

3: Go back into the printer driver and do Document Layout --> Booklet, then select Paper Handling and under Pages to Print --> Even Only.

When the paper emerges you have page 2 behind page 1 and page 3 behind page 4. Fold the paper in half and you have an A5 booklet.

Hope this helps. If you still find the pages are inverted, you will have to experiment with perhaps rotating the page 180degrees before you insert it the second time, but still with the image up.

Printers do vary!  Good Luck!

[v_kyr]

You can also try PDFsam basic and PDFill in order to rearrange the PDF output according to your needs or in order to generate odd/even paged PDF files for afterwards printing.

[Argee]

30 minutes ago, AlanM said:

Argee -

1: Having first done Document Layout --> Booklet, then select Paper Handling and under Pages to Print Odd Only.

 

Alan, thank you so much, I have succeeded at last, much appreciated! My steps were:

Select Multi-Purpose Tray on my Printer Menu (on the printer itself).

File, Print - change Range and Scale to Document Layout. TURN OFF Two-Sided printing (if applicable)

Change Mode from Single to Booklet

Change Document Layout to Paper Handling

Select Pages to Print to: Even Only

Select relevant feed on printer (MP Tray).

Print Even Pages

Reverse order of pages in printed pages stack

Repeat above, Select Pages to Print to: Odd Only

Insert into MP Tray. Print.

Fold and Staple.

What I hadn't realised was that I could use a menu option more than once in the printer dialog. 

Thanks again - much appreciated!

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, Argee said:

File, Print - change Range and Scale to Document Layout. TURN OFF Two-Sided printing (if applicable)

Good to hear you got it working.

However, if your printer handles 2-sided printing, I'm surprised that you'd need to turn that option off and print the even and odd pages separately.

[Argee]

Me too, but it inverted the second side pages, probably because OKI can't be bothered to update their printer driver to run with Apple's latest OS. However, I've now got EXACTLY what I wanted, from within Affinity Publisher, which was the goal from the start. Now to try for a refund on the CreateBooklet software! Many thanks to all responders, especially AlanM!

[Tazintosh]

 

Hi Argee,

I'm Édouard, I designed Create Booklet (with Affinity Designer BTW) while Christoph from TheKeptPromise programmed it.

Note that if you had issues or needed help for Create Booklet, it would have been better to contact us directly so we can help, rather than trying to get some on a non Create Booklet related forum

We're are “TheKeptPromise” and here to provide a good support to our customers

As said, the refund will rely on Apple directly, but just keep in mind that Create Booklet can create booklets from any single app that can print with tons of options. It's a dedicated app.

 

Cheers

 

 

[Argee]

I wasn't trying to get help with CreateBooklet on here, I was getting help with Affinity Publisher - and I did, successfully. The "issues" I had with CreateBooklet were that, firstly it didn't produce a booklet of the correct size, as all the pages were miniaturised. Secondly, when I adjusted the size of the text is completely changed the layout even using scale. Thirdly, the cover page graphic could not be positioned satisfactorily. All of the above - given that I only purchased the CreateBooklet to try as a workaround - was not really encouraging, so I pursued getting info about the printing possibilities within Affinity. A member realised what my problem was and kindly guided me to the correct procedure, which I am now able to follow and thus do not need your software. Since you believe that CreateBooklet is better than my experience with it so far, why didn't it get one thing correct, as it's supposed to be easy to use. Please do not respond to this on this forum, e-mail me. It's unfair tp burden others interested in Affinity Publisher with troubles from another company.