: How to print PDF for perfect binding I have an eBook I want to print so it can be perfect bound. Booklet option in Acrobat Reader is not useful at all. I have tested several ways. Is there

@Margaret771

So the issue is that you don't want to use the booklet imposition function (which is what happens when you use the booklet feature in Acrobat or in any of the suggested pieces of software), but instead you are looking for something that will provide perfect bound imposition.

Booklet imposition reorders the pages so that when they are folded into a booklet, they are in the correct order, but Perfect Bound imposition reorganizes the pages differently. I was able to use InDesign's print preview screen to create an illustration of the difference between the two for a six page document:



What's nice is that once you understand the different types of imposition, it becomes much easier to find tools that might work for you. I googled "free program for perfect binding imposition" and the first two results were programs that you can try for free: Imposition Studio from devalipi and Montax imposer.

If neither of these work, try doing the search yourself and see what else pops up.

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@Jamie315

So the process of putting your document into booklet form ("printer spreads") is called "imposing" and the minute gutter adjustments needed to account for paper thickness is called "creep."

You need to know how thick your paper is in order to set a creep value. For a larger book, the creep can get out of bounds, and you might need to make several booklets to stack together called "signatures."

There is an open-source pdf processor called pdfbooklet that supports creep.

I have used it in the past (before they included creep feature) to make really cheap perfect bound books for personal use: trim the fold off, clamp and spread the bound edge, smear a bunch of rubber cement and then fabrc tape or painters tape etc to finish the spine.

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