RE: Book layout software?

["McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

If you have Acrobat professional, you DON'T do the imposition first.

You do your document (in Word or Frame or OpenOffice or Pages editing (not layout) mode, or whatever, and create a straight PDF that would just have one page after another in normal numbered order (don't worry about booklet-ish stuff at this point). 

Then open that PDF in Acrobat Pro and print.  One of the Print options is booklet. Acrobat then takes care of sorting out the this-page-goes-here puzzle for a printer capable of two-sided printing.  If you have a folding-and-stapling attachment on your printer, the job is done. 

If you don't, then you just grab the bundle as it comes out, plant a couple of staples along the middle line, and fold the stapled bundle along that same line. Booklet done. All pages in their proper order. 

I do this for the QuickStart Guide booklets for several products. The QSGs are 8.5 x 5.5 (so, 8.5 x 11 folded) and they have to fit inside a "standard" DVD case. They are usually about 16 to 28 pages in length.  I've had no problems since discovering the capability in Acrobat Pro 8. 

You can also do it on a single-side printer, but you have to keep the orientation and order of the stack in your head, so that it feeds properly on the second pass.  Like Chris D., I rarely have to do that, so I invariably mess up the first attempt.  :-)

 - Kevin

[Anything I say here is my opionion or guess. Nobody else owns it. Don't blame my employer.] 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> techwr-l-bounces+kevin -dot- mclauchlan=safenet-inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr
-l.com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kevin.mclauchlan=safenet-> inc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of jennysubs -at- mac -dot- com
> Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 12:53 PM
> To: techwr-l List
> Subject: Re: Book layout software?
> 
> Thanks, everyone, for all your suggestions about laying out 
> my booklet.
> 
> It will probably be about 20 pages or so.
> 
> Given what I've learned here, I am hoping to be able to lay 
> it out in Pages (just because it's so easy to use), print to 
> PDF, and take it to my Windows partition and try to use 
> Acrobat Professional to print the booklet.
> 
> And, I'll investigate the printer driver, which also sounds promising.
> 
> All the information you have provided about binding is very 
> interesting. The printer does the stapling, but I am not sure 
> if it is smart enough to compensate for signature creep.
> 
> Thanks again!
> 
> Jenny Greenleaf
> Portland, OR
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission 
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected 
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in 
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this 
message and deleting it from your computer without copying 
or disclosing it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Explore CAREER options and paths related to Technical Writing,
learn to create SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS documents, and
get tips on FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATION best practices. Free at:
http://www.ModernAnalyst.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat