Creating a booklet

[pchan]

I have been a long time user of WordPerfect and it is breeze creating a booklet -- just change the orientation of the page to landscape and divide the page in half. MS Word approaches this similarly. I would appreciate some help doing the same in OpenOffice.

[foxcole]

I have been a long time user of WordPerfect and it is breeze creating a booklet -- just change the orientation of the page to landscape and divide the page in half. MS Word approaches this similarly. I would appreciate some help doing the same in OpenOffice.

Does this help?
wordperfect subdivide page booklet print
(I used the Search box in the top right corner of the forum window and typed booklet.)

It would have been helpful for you to mention whether or not you know anything about setting up page styles, or anything about OOo at all---are you jumping in cold? Have you educated yourself about the software at all?

I think an addition to our Tutorials section may be in order, just to pull together the concepts of how to set up page styles along with printing in brochure mode. I think I will try to accomplish that soon, because there is not one currently and this question is asked with relative frequency in this and other forums.

[moondancer]

Solveig Haugland has an article on brocures which might be helpful. http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/ ... wo-si.html

[foxcole]

Solveig Haugland has an article on brocures which might be helpful. http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/ ... wo-si.html

That can be helpful, but a booklet with page styles has different requirements than a standard brochure. The main thing they have in common is that the Brochure print setting is useful for arranging the pages in booklet order.

But, one problem with the Brochure setting that I failed to mention is that it's only useful for pages that are printed two-up, duplex, folded and saddle-stitched (stapled) at the fold to create the booklet. "Use brochure printing for booklets" is an easy, quick response and one that I've casually tossed out with some frequency, but it doesn't give much consideration to the intended product. After about ten leaves of paper, it's not a very practical approach because the thickness at the fold will create a shelf effect at the edges, which must be trimmed. If you can account for gradually changing outside margins on a thicker book so the text appears equidistant from the edge throughout, and can pay for the trimming or find a way to accomplish it, I suppose that's not such a problem... except that OOo isn't designed to account for gradually changing margins on the outside edge.

For a thicker book, a different form of printing and binding is required. You do need to understand the final printed design and use the appropriate paper size and page order to create it.

[kensand]

Hi all.
I have used the method described by Solveig Haugland successfully for many years. I particularly liked the fact that I could produce both A5 and A6 size boolets. A5 is done like Solveig describes i.e. A PORTRAIT file is printed in LANDSCAPE. To print an A6 booklet all that needs be done is print the BROCHURE in PORTRAIT.The layout is just like that for A5 but on portrait it uses only the top haf if the paper. If the bunch of pages are re-inserted reversed 'top to bottom' the A4 paper has 2 copies of the booklet.

However, since OO0rg. 3.3 the format of the settings has changed and I get some very peculiar formats and certainly cannot get A6 although A5 is fine

Has anyone a solution?

Cheers
Kensand

[TheGurkha]

This might help: [Tutorial] Creating a Brochure with Writer

[GuccizBud]

Old thread, but for anyone finding it via their Google search results, the procedure below is exactly what I use to print in booklet
format in OOo.

I have an hp® ENVY 4516, so the print menus for your particular printer model may differ a bit, in which case you need to find the
equivalent commands for your model; in particular, the biggest difference may be that this printer model features automatic 2-sided
printing (can automatically print both sides of a page) … BUT this feature isn't used in the procedure below (it works fine in Adobe
Reader or Acrobat, but if I do use it to try to print a Booklet in OOo the page orientation doesn't remain consistent throughout) :
 
 
  ① Go to "File" menu, choose "Print…"
  ② Under "General" tab click "Properties…"
  ③ Under "Printing Shortcut" tab set "Print on Both Sides" to "Flip on Long Edge" and clilck "OK"
  ④ Switch from "General" tab to "Page Layout" tab
  ⑤ Click "Brochure"
  ⑥ Set "Page sides/Include" to "Front sides / right pages" and click "Print" button

  ⑦ When print completes place printed pages back in paper tray without reorienting them in
     any way ; simply pick them up, open paper tray, and set them in the tray to be fed next

  ⑧ Go to "File" menu again, choose "Print…" again … the default tab should still be "Page Layout"
  ⑨ Change "Page sides: Include" to "Back sides / left pages" and click "Print" button
 
 
On my printer the above procedure produces a result identical to using the "Booklet" print feature of Adobe Reader or Acrobat (with
2-sided printing handled automatically by the printer in this case) .

The key step is step ⑤, with "Brochure" in this case paralleling the meaning of "Booklet". Note that the "Brochure" setting
(automatically) changes the page orientation to Landscape, which is why the steps above don't include it as a step to be done. The only
setting not mentioned you may want to change is the print quality itself (Draft, Normal, Best, or wtv) which in most cases would be
done in step ③, the same pop-up where "Flip on Long Edge" is set.

[LTJ]

After about ten leaves of paper, it's not a very practical approach because the thickness at the fold will create a shelf effect at the edges, which must be trimmed.
For a thicker book, a different form of printing and binding is required. You do need to understand the final printed design and use the appropriate paper size and page order to create it.

Has anyone tried, for example, making a brochure of just one chapter, then collecting together the several chapter-brochures within one cover?

[RoryOF]

For long (book-type) work, I normally print duplex brochure in groups of 24 or 32 pages (depending on paper thickness) and sew these units (in book-binding parlance "signatures" ) to form a bound book. One has to oversee the page selectioning in the print dialog - page groupings 1-24, 25-48, 49-72 etc or 1-32, 33 - 64, 65 -96 etc; it is useful to write out the sequencing and tick them off as they are printed.

[LTJ]

24 pages in one signature? They say that you cant do more than 10 because the pages form a "shelf" due to the outer pages becoming shorter at the edge.

[RoryOF]

Differentiate between book pages and sheets of paper - each printed sheet carries 4 book pages. A 24 page signature is only 6 sheets of paper folded. 32 pages is 8 sheets. I would use 32 page signatures with 75 or 80gsm paper, 24 page signatures with 90 or 100 gsm paper, perhaps even reducing to 16 page signatures for heavier paper. Use a slightly wider left margin than right margin.

Another choice is to print the entire book as booklet to get the pages imposed in correct order, chop the printed page stack down the middle (from A4 to A5, or US Letter to US brochure) and perfect bind using flexible adhesive.

But you are doing the book layout - what you use is your choice.

[LTJ]

Yeah, I'm going to try some tests and decide between using glue, or doing what they are calling Japanese bookbinding, just two holes through the pages, one in the top half, one in the bottom half, and then a thick, short, cord put through each and then glued flat along the spine, then covered by a glued on cover.
Gluing is probably the easiest and fastest way to mass produce many books, I think.

[LTJ]

What I've seen them doing, instead of cutting the stack down the middle, is folding just one sheet to make just 4 pages, and gluing the individual folded sheets together. But I don't know how you would print that. Pages 1-4 would have to be on sheet one; 5-8 would have to be on sheet two, etc. Is there a printing option for that?

[RoryOF]

The Brochure option when told to print pages 1-4 will print this way

Page 4 | Page 1
on on the back
Page 3 | Page 2

So page 1 is backed with Page 2 and page 3 with page 4

One really has to play with brochure printing for a time to get the details into one's head.

Edit: You may have to print each sheet by nominating the pages, i.e 1-4 then 5-8, then 9-12 etc. It may (not tested) be possible to specify "print pages 1-4,5-8,9-12,13-16 etc" on the pages selection line, but you still have to specify the page sequencing. That is why I print in signatures and sew (I have always sewn books I am rebinding); I still have to specify the page sequences, but using 32 page signatures there may only be 7 or eight of these to a normal sized book, so it is not a great task to do.

[LTJ]

Are you saying you have to print each sheet separately, you cant print the whole book in one go?

[RoryOF]

You can try my suggestion to specify "print pages 1-4,5-8,9-12,13-16 etc" on the pages selection line if you wish the folded sheet containing 4 pages; bear in mind that I haven't tried that specification line. This seems to me to be too much trouble as you still have to specify the page sequencing for each sheet. If you wish to do a two hole version of Japanese binding, my advice is that you should print on Foolscap or US Legal, to allow the wider left margin Japanese binding seems to require, print the entire as brochure and chop it down the middle, then bind it,

One really has to play with this to get a method that suits. My preference is to sew signatures, but I have a jig to position the needle holes as I do this regularly.

[LTJ]

What about using the principle of the ring binder, but with cord rather than metal rings? One at the top, one at the bottom, pulled tighter than a metal ring, and then covered with a glued on cover.

[RoryOF]

I doubt that such a binding will open comfortably. The advantage of the sewn binding is that it handles well. There is also "Coptic" or "chain stitch" binding.

[LTJ]

I suppose making the left margin slightly bigger is another complication with the printing, because with the page on the back, for example page 2, it has to be the right margin that is bigger. Is there a way to do that automatically?

[RoryOF]

Use Mirrored pages.

[LTJ]

Cant see any sign of that in my printer settings, although I have a nice Samsung laser printer.

[robleyd]

It is in Page settings in Writer.

Format | Page, select Page tab, then Layout settings, Page layout.

[LTJ]

Thanks, I've got it.
Is there an easy way of waterproofing and strengthening paper to make soft covers? Maybe a glue that can be rollered on?

[robleyd]

I think that question may be outside the scope of an AOO support forum.
The Duck however has a number of suggestions that may help you.

[RoryOF]

Thanks, I've got it.
Is there an easy way of waterproofing and strengthening paper to make soft covers? Maybe a glue that can be rollered on?

As robleyd, this is now getting off-topic, but for completeness I'll deal briefly with the problem.

One way is to spray the cover with an aerosol of waterproofing lacquer (try also hair lacquer - beware naked flames). although such lacquers can harden the paper, and sometimes cause the print to run in their solvent. It may be worth printing the external sheet on a light card rather than paper; often a printer can handle light card, especially using a straight through path. If the light card is not felt to be strong enough, with care it can be covered by clear self adhesive film, such as children use to cover schoolbooks.

Depending on the binding method used, it may be possible to use an additional (i.e., not printed) heavy card cover, which might be either self coloured or wrapped/lined with a coloured paper or cloth, with a tastefully printed label or cartouche of the content details and author affixed to the front cover and perhaps to the spine. Deal with the eternal cover separate to the body of the text, even to the extent of repeating the cover sheets for the external covering.

[LTJ]

Good, thanks.

[keme]

... rant mode enabled ...

24 pages in one signature? They say that you cant do more than 10 because the pages form a "shelf" due to the outer pages becoming shorter at the edge.

Well, you really can't do more than 10 sheets in most cases, because in most cases you will be working with MS Word, which doesn't allow more than 40 pages in a bound signature. Working in OpenOffice Writer you can make larger booklets/signatures. Whether you should, now that is another question...

I discovered this a few months ago, when a colleague needed to make a couple of 48 page booklets with cardboard cover. We use MS Office at work. She had made a simple layout, so when I discovered the limitation in Word I opened the file in Writer. Just had to adjust the margins to accomodate headers and footers, and then printed the 5 booklets in one go.
The booklets were logbooks for drivers' logs. Would you believe: they "couldn't" use any of the commercially available books made for this purpose. I suspect that the price was deemed too high. Man-hours involved in local production probably cost 10-fold more, but we learned from it, so it was not all wasted...
Fortunately we have a straight feed printer which handles heavy sheets, and a heavy duty stapler. Otherwise the file would probably have been sent to a local print shop...

... rant mode disabled ...

[LTJ]

I've just seen staple binding, using a "saddle stapler". It may be the easiest and fastest way to produce books. Not sure though how thick a book it can bind.

[RoryOF]

I have seen commercial 40 sheet booklets, but very long wire staples were used. Such booklets really needed their fore-edge trimmed and were inclined to disintegrate. With a saddle stapler and the correct staples, I think you would be quite safe with 20 leaf booklets and a light card cover, again, needing a fore-edge trim.

[LTJ]

There are some staplers that they are claiming staple 100 sheets. In this case, a 200 page book could be made by guillotining the stack and stapling through the spine, say 4 times, 2 times from one side, and 2 times from the other. Very fast and easy.