PDF booklet maker for print-ready spreads

Paper Size

Sets the output sheet dimensions. This is the physical paper going through your printer or press.

Standard presets: Letter (8.5×11in), Legal (8.5×14in), Tabloid (11×17in), A4 (210×297mm), A3 (297×420mm). Landscape swaps width↔height. Lock icon links dimensions to preserve aspect ratio. Custom lets you enter any size in inches, mm, or points (1in = 72pt = 25.4mm).

Scale

Controls whether pages are resized to fit the available cell in the grid.

Autoscale ON: pages are shrunk or enlarged to fill each cell. OFF: pages are placed at their original size (may overflow or leave empty space). 'Preserve aspect ratio' prevents stretching. Pages scale uniformly and are centered, so they may not fill the cell completely in one direction.

Printer's Marks

Adds trim guides and alignment marks outside the live area for accurate cutting and registration.

Crop marks: short lines at each corner showing where to trim. Center marks: crosshairs at sheet midpoints for front/back alignment on duplex jobs. Line length (default 0.43in/31pt): how long each mark line extends. Line thickness (default 0.014in/1pt): mark stroke weight. Line distance (default 0.139in/10pt): gap between the mark and the artwork edge. Four-color black: prints marks in C+M+Y+K for visibility on color proofs. Knockout: adds a white halo around marks so they show on dark backgrounds.

Bleeds

Extends artwork beyond the trim edge to prevent white strips after cutting.

Three modes: 'No bleeds' trims exactly at the page boundary. 'Pull from document' uses bleed info already embedded in the PDF (TrimBox/BleedBox metadata). 'Fixed' lets you manually set bleed on each side, typically 3mm (0.125in / 9pt) for commercial print, 1-2mm for digital. Bleed values define how far past the trim edge the artwork extends.

Book Binding

Choose saddle-stitch (folded and stapled) or perfect binding (multiple signatures glued at spine).

Saddle-stitch: leave 'Saddle size' empty: all sheets nest inside each other and are stapled through the fold. Best for 8–64 page booklets. Perfect binding: set a number (e.g., 4 or 8) to group pages into signatures of that many sheets each. Signatures are stacked and glue-bound at the spine. 'Fill last saddle' pads the final signature with blanks if needed. Page count must be a multiple of 4 for saddle-stitch.

White Space

Margins around the sheet edge, center gutter at the fold, and page creep compensation.

Center gutter: extra space at the spine fold for binding clearance: typically 0.125–0.25in (9–18pt) depending on binding method. Page creep: compensates for paper thickness pushing inner pages outward in thick booklets. The engine auto-calculates creep per sheet based on the number of nested sheets. Inward creep shifts content toward the spine; outward shifts it away.

Output

Controls the final page orientation and rotation.

Rotate pages: produces portrait-orientation output sheets, useful for office printers that can't handle landscape feeding. The booklet content is rotated 90° so you can print on standard portrait paper and fold.

What is PDF Booklet Maker used for?

Arranges pages into printer spreads so they read correctly after folding and binding.

Who should use PDF booklet maker?

It is built for booklet printers, zine makers, schools, churches, self-publishers, and designers. Common use cases include Magazines, Zines, Brochures, Programs, Manuals.

Do my PDF files upload to a server?

No. PDF Press runs the PDF processing workflow in your browser, so your files stay on your device.

Can I use PDF Booklet Maker with other PDF Press tools?

Yes. You can combine it with other PDF Press tools in a multi-step workflow, then preview and export the final PDF.