FRANÇAIS

Designing a Booklet  

How to Do It Without Pulling Your Hair

This page explains how to prepare a 5.5 x 8.5 in or a 7 x 8.5 in booklet using a standard word processor and printer.

A booklet is essentially like a pile of leaflets. To prepare a booklet, you need to use paper twice the size of the booklet. Pages also need to be in multiple of four.

However, the main difficulty is that pages need to be paired like this:

Preliminary Note

Some software products allow automatic creation of booklets. Amongst these are WordPerfect Suite 8 or 2000 and desktop publishing softwares like PageMaker, FrameMaker and QuarkXpress.

With these products, you just need to use the "Booklet" function. But if you use Word, WordPerfect 5 or 6 or any other software, you will like this method. And besides, the "Make Booklet" function of many programmes is known to be buggy... especially with a huge document and many illustrations.

Design

1. Decide on the final size. Most printers use 8.5 x 11 in or 8.5 x 14 in paper, which mean you can prepare 5.5 x 8.5 in or 7 x 8.5 in booklets.
European printers use A4 paper, so you can prepare A5 booklets.

2. Start your word processor and create a new file.

3. Select the menu item File –> Page Set-up or double-click on the ruler, then select the Size tab.

4. Select the appropriate paper size; set paper orientation to Landscape, and make sure your changes apply to the entire document.

5. Select the Margins Tab. Make sure your changes apply to the entire document and that Facing Pages is selected.

If you have in your hands a booklet you like, measure its margins and write them in the appropriate boxes.

Write the desided settings for top, bottom and outside. However, compute the value for the inside margin with this formula: [desired value] + [width of the booklet]

Choose the position of headers and footers.

NOTE: Make sure your margins respect your minimum printer margins. Laser printers can safely use 1-cm margins (0.375 in), while inkjet printers usually need at least 1.2- to 1.5-cm margins (0.5 to 0.625 in). If you don. t know the minimum size, set margins you like and press OK. Word will automatically correct values if your margins were too narrow.

Hints

–  For a stapled booklet, inside and outside margins should be identical.

–  For a spiral-bound booklet, inside margins should be approximately 0.375 in (1 cm) wider than outside ones.

Typical Values

Writing the text

Writing the text of a booklet without page numbers

1. Write the text as usual, like if it were a standard letter or report. That way, the front cover will be on page 1, the inside cover on page 2, etc.

2. When the document is completed, add one or more page breaks so the page count of your document is a multiple of four.

Hint

–  To force a new page, use the Page Break function instead of a series of empty paragraphs.
In Word, you will get a page break by pressing on Ctrl-Enter or Command-Enter, or by selecting the menu Insert –> Break, then the button Page break.

Writing the text of a booklet with page numbers

There is an extra difficulty: numbering needs to start with the first inside page rather than with the cover. Two techniques may be used:

•  create a document for the cover and another one for the inside contents, using techniques described above;

•  include everything in the same document file, as explained here.

1. Write the text normally, as described in the above section. Write the cover page, then the inside front cover (copyright), then the inside stuff.
Use page breaks to jump from the outside cover to the inside one..

2. Place the cursor immediately before the first letter of the inside text, and insert a Section break between the text of the inside cover and the main text (i.e. text of the booklet itself).
In Word, select Insert –> Break, and the button Section break. A double line with "Section break" will appear.

3. Place the cursor anywhere in the main text (in the first line, for example).
Select File –> Page setup or double-click on the ruler.
Select the the Setup tab (the fourth one). Make sure settings apply to this section only.
Select Section Starts with –> Odd Page,
and decide whether or not you want different odd and even headers and footers, or a different first page.

4. Place the cursor at the end of the document and insert one or two empty pages (if needed). These will be the inside back cover and the back cover.
Place the cursor at the very beginning of the inside back cover and insert a section break.
The document now has three sections: the first one is for the front cover and the inside front cover, the second one is for the main text and the third one is for the inside back cover and the back cover.

5. Place again the cursor in the main document and define headers.
In Word, select View –> Header and Footer.
Depending on the page you are, you will define the first page header, the even page header or the odd page header.
In the special header menu bar, the third icon opens a dialogue box where you define the page number format (arabic or roman numbers). In the lower left corner, select Page numbering starts at 1.

6. Before you print, make sure the 1^st and last section (both covers) have exactly 2 pages each, and that the number of pages in section 2 is a multiple of four.

Hints

–  Different odd and even headers enable you to create separate headers for odd and even pages.

–  Different first page allows you not to number the first page of the main text.

Printing

Printing is the key to success!
To use this technique, the word processing software must be able to print odd and even pages separately and should be able to print pages in reverse order (ex.: Word 5 and above).

1.  Print even pages in ascending order.
In Word, select Print even pages, then press on Options and make sure that Print in reverse order is NOT checked.

2.  Place the printed sheets back in the printer feed tray, exactly the way they were before the first printing.

3 a. If your printer prints on the upper face of paper, print odd pages in descending order.
In Word, select Print odd pages, then press on Options and make sure that Print in reverse order IS checked.

3 b. If your printer prints on the lower face of paper, print odd pages in ascending order.
In Word, select Print odd pages, then press on Options and make sure that Print in reverse order is NOT checked.

4.  Sort the pages in numerical order (1-16, 2-15, 3-14...) For example, if the final document has 16 pages, you will have pages numbered 1 to 8.

5.  Print using the 2-sided option on a photocopier that allows landscape printing. If your photocopier only does portrait-type 2-sided printing, you will need to place upside down even pages of your original.

Printing with a software that offers limited possibilities

This method shall be used when the word processing software cannot print odd and even pages separately nor print pages in reverse order.

1.  Print the entire document.
You will get a bunch of sheets alternatively printed on the left-hand and right-hand side.

2 a. If your printer prints on the upper face of paper, sort the sheets
in reverse order
 (the sheet that was in the bottom should be on top of the pile, etc.); then place the stack in the feed tray exactly the way it was before the first printing pass.

2 b. If your printer prings on the lower face of paper, place the stack in the feed tray exactly the way it was before the first printing.

3. Print again the entire document.
You will get two ready-to-photocopy original documents.

4.  Sort pages and place them in ascending numerical order. Place the second copy of each sheet on a second pile. For a 16-page document, you will get two sets of 8 sheet numbered sorted in ascending order (1-16; 2-15; 3-14, etc.).

5.  Print using the 2-sided option on a photocopier that allows landscape printing. If your photocopier only does portrait-type 2-sided printing, you will need to place upside down even pages of your original

Feedback

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