PDF Booklet Maker

A saddle-stitched booklet is a stack of sheets folded in the middle and stapled on the fold — the way most programmes, zines, manuals and church bulletins are made. Each sheet carries four pages, two on the front and two on the back, in an order that only looks right after folding. This tool works out that order, places two pages side by side on landscape sheets and adds blank pages where needed, entirely in your browser.

How to use this tool

1. Drop your PDF in normal reading order (page 1 = front cover).
2. Choose the paper: A4 sheets make an A5 booklet, Letter makes a half-letter booklet.
3. Decide where any blank pages should go, and tick right-to-left for Arabic, Hebrew or manga.
4. Download the booklet PDF and print it double-sided, flipping on the short edge.

Formula

Pages padded to N = 4 × sheets. Sheet i (from 0): front = [N − 1 − 2i, 2i], back = [2i + 1, N − 2 − 2i]

The numbers are positions in the padded sequence counted from 0, shown as left | right. The outermost sheet holds the covers; each following sheet nests inside the previous one. With right-to-left binding, left and right swap on every side.

Example

An 8-page leaflet needs 2 sheets: sheet 1 front shows pages 8 | 1, its back 2 | 7; sheet 2 front shows 6 | 3 and its back 4 | 5. A 10-page document is padded to 12 pages with two blanks and needs 3 sheets.