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I want to make a book which has the following specifications for margins for odd and even pages.

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How I can do this in letter paper?

lbautista
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  • I don't know why to use different inner margins. But good question. – Sigur Jan 15 '14 at 17:24
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    \setlength\oddsidemargin {0.03in}\setlength\evensidemargin {-0.03in} – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 17:25
  • @Sigur different odd/even margins are used when the double-sided material must be bound, leaving some room for stapling. – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 17:25
  • @StevenB.Segletes, OK. But if you print on both sides and see trough the light the text area will not match!! – Sigur Jan 15 '14 at 17:27
  • @sigur Yes it will, if you give equal and opposite values for oddside and evenside – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 17:28
  • Your problem is incompletely specified, because you have not indicated the paper size. – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 17:40
  • @StevenB.Segletes You're right, I'll edit my question – lbautista Jan 15 '14 at 17:44
  • @StevenB.Segletes: How can the text areas match in a two-sided document when there are different inner and outer margins? Not to talk of different top and bottom margins. – Thorsten Donig Jan 15 '14 at 17:53
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    @ThorstenDonig On a double-sided printout, the right margin of the front is the left margin of the backside. If I were to grab a text area on the front of a page and drag it leftward 1 cm, then I would have to drag the text on the backside 1cm to the right in order for the text areas to "overlap" (in a bit-plane sense of the word). This is what \oddsidemargin and \evensidemargin allow one to do... they shift the text on the page; they do not grow both margins by the specified amount. – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 18:48
  • what document class are you using? if you are using book, the odd/even pages are already off-center if [twoside] (the default) is used. amsbook, on the other hand, defaults to [twoside] but centers the page content so that the software used to create offset plates for the printing press has a uniform and reliable "origin" to place the material accurately on the plate; on the printed (and bound) pages, however, the asymmetry is obvious. – barbara beeton Jan 15 '14 at 19:05
  • @ThorstenDonig Upon re-reading your question, I can say I was answering in generalities as to why even and odd side margins differ. But you are right that in this particular case, there is more than meets the eye. The text will clearly not overlap for the geometry mentioned by the OP. – Steven B. Segletes Jan 15 '14 at 19:41

1 Answers1

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This uses geometry to define the paper and set the average margins of each page. Then, the horizontal margins are offset for even and odd pages to get from the average to the target margin. For the vertical margins, I used Heiko's answer at Shift Odd Page in Duplex Print to shift the margin downward on odd pages.

\documentclass[twoside]{article}
% DEFINE PAPER
\usepackage[letterpaper, portrait]{geometry}
\usepackage{lipsum}
%SET AVERAGE MARGIN
\geometry{
left={3.25cm},
right={3.25cm},
top={3.5cm},
bottom={3cm},
}
%SHIFT HORIZONTAL MARGIN ON EVEN/ODD PAGES
  \addtolength\oddsidemargin {0.75cm}
  \addtolength\evensidemargin {-1.25cm}
%SHIFT VERTICAL MARGIN ON ODD PAGES, BASED ON HEIKO'S ANSWER:
%https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/79688/shift-odd-page-in-duplex-print/79708#79708
\usepackage{atbegshi}
\AtBeginShipout{%
  \ifodd\value{page}%
    \edef\mytemp{%
      \ht\AtBeginShipoutBox=\the\ht\AtBeginShipoutBox\relax
      \dp\AtBeginShipoutBox=\the\dp\AtBeginShipoutBox\relax
    }%
    \sbox\AtBeginShipoutBox{%
      \raisebox{-0.5cm}{\usebox\AtBeginShipoutBox}%
    }%
    \mytemp
  \fi
}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-20]
\end{document}
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Steven B. Segletes
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