To print a PDF as a booklet, open it in Adobe Acrobat Reader, choose Booklet in the print dialog, set it to print both sides with left binding, then fold and staple. Without Acrobat, put the pages in booklet order first (for 8 pages that's 8, 1, 2, 7, 6, 3, 4, 5) and print 2 per sheet, double-sided, flipped on the short edge. Below are the orders for 8 to 24 pages, plus how small the text will get.
It puts two pages side by side on each side of a landscape sheet, in an order that only makes sense once you fold. Stack the printed sheets, fold them down the middle, staple the spine, and the pages read 1, 2, 3 in order. Each sheet of paper carries four pages, so a 16-page PDF needs 4 sheets.
The order is the clever part. For an 8-page booklet, it looks like this:
| Sheet | Front (left | right) | Back (left | right) |
|---|---|---|
| Sheet 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Sheet 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Page 8 sits next to page 1 because they're the back and front covers of the same outer sheet. Every page pair on a sheet adds up to the page count plus one (8 + 1, 2 + 7, 6 + 3, 4 + 5), which is a handy way to check a layout.
Acrobat Reader is free and has a proper booklet mode, so it's the easiest route on Windows or Mac:
If your page count isn't a multiple of 4, Reader fills the gap with blank pages, so you don't need to pad the file yourself.
Chrome, Edge and macOS Preview don't have a booklet setting, but you can get the same result by reordering the pages first and then printing two per sheet. It takes three steps:
| Pages in your PDF | Pad to | Blank pages to add | Sheets of paper | Page order to type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 8,1,2,7,6,3,4,5 |
| 8 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 8,1,2,7,6,3,4,5 |
| 10 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 12,1,2,11,10,3,4,9,8,5,6,7 |
| 12 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 12,1,2,11,10,3,4,9,8,5,6,7 |
| 14 | 16 | 2 | 4 | 16,1,2,15,14,3,4,13,12,5,6,11,10,7,8,9 |
| 16 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 16,1,2,15,14,3,4,13,12,5,6,11,10,7,8,9 |
| 20 | 20 | 0 | 5 | 20,1,2,19,18,3,4,17,16,5,6,15,14,7,8,13,12,9,10,11 |
| 24 | 24 | 0 | 6 | 24,1,2,23,22,3,4,21,20,5,6,19,18,7,8,17,16,9,10,15,14,11,12,13 |
Flipping on the short edge matters. A landscape sheet with two pages on it gets turned over left to right, which is the short edge of the paper. Flip on the long edge and every back side prints upside down. Print one sheet first to check, because some printer drivers name the options differently.
Each page shrinks to fit half a sheet. A Letter page printed as a Letter-size booklet comes out at most 64.7% of its original size, so 12-point text prints at about 7.8 points. That's readable, but small for a long document. Printing on a bigger sheet fixes it:
| Paper you print on | Finished booklet page | Letter pages scale to (12 pt becomes) | A4 pages scale to (12 pt becomes) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letter (8.5 × 11 in) | 5.50 × 8.50 in | 64.7% (7.8 pt) | 66.5% (8.0 pt) |
| A4 (210 × 297 mm) | 5.85 × 8.27 in | 68.8% (8.3 pt) | 70.7% (8.5 pt) |
| Legal (8.5 × 14 in) | 7.00 × 8.50 in | 77.3% (9.3 pt) | 72.7% (8.7 pt) |
| Tabloid (11 × 17 in) | 8.50 × 11.00 in | 100.0% (12.0 pt) | 94.1% (11.3 pt) |
| A3 (297 × 420 mm) | 8.27 × 11.69 in | 97.3% (11.7 pt) | 100.0% (12.0 pt) |
Those are the best-case numbers. Printers can't print to the very edge, so the real scale is usually a few percent smaller. If you're designing the document yourself, set it up at the finished size (5.5 × 8.5 in for a Letter booklet, A5 for an A4 booklet) and nothing has to shrink at all.
Three things cause almost every mixed-up booklet:
For thick booklets, split into groups of a few sheets each and print each group as its own booklet. Past a dozen or so sheets, the inner pages stick out at the fold and won't line up when you trim. If you're numbering pages before you impose them, add numbers first with PDF page numbers; once the pages are reordered, the numbers would come out in booklet order instead.
For other print fixes, see how to print a PDF without margins and how to print an A4 PDF on Letter paper.
In Adobe Acrobat Reader, open the print dialog, choose Booklet under Page Sizing & Handling, set Booklet subset to Both sides, pick Left binding and print. Then fold the stack in half and staple the spine.
Each sheet of paper holds four booklet pages, two on each side. A 10-page PDF needs 12 page slots on 3 sheets, so 2 pages end up blank. Acrobat adds them automatically; if you reorder pages yourself, add them first.
Short edge. Booklet pages sit side by side on a landscape sheet, and the sheet turns over along its short edge. Flipping on the long edge prints every back side upside down.
Not directly, because Chrome has no booklet setting. Reorder the pages into booklet order first (for 8 pages: 8,1,2,7,6,3,4,5), then print 2 pages per sheet, double-sided, flipped on the short edge.
There's no hard limit, but past a dozen or so sheets (about 48 pages) the inner sheets push out at the edge and the booklet won't close flat. For longer documents, print several smaller booklets and bind them together.