pdfpages - Insert all pages, except the last page?

Question

I am creating a document in a4 and it shall actually be printed out on a3 sheets of paper.

Some bits of informations:

The main document will be set in a4, vertical/normal orientation.
The document through pdfpages shall be in a3, i.e. the a4 pages next to each other.
Although I am not sure if this is relevant, the a4 document I create will most likely have an equal amount of pages.

=> Is it possible to address the page before the last page with a variable or logical expression of some sorts? If yes, the code could be used somewhat universally, instead of writing out the actual (discreet) number of pagers.

So in relation to the code in "a3"-MWE below, the 3 could be that variable or expression. (pages={last,1-3},)

MWE for the a4 document

\documentclass[
11pt,
a4paper,
]
{scrartcl}
\usepackage{
lmodern,
blindtext
}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{multicol}
\listfiles
\begin{document}
\begin{center}
This document has 4 pages.
\end{center}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\blinddocument
\blindtext[7]
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

MWE for the a3 document

\documentclass[
11pt,
a3paper,
landscape,
]
{scrartcl}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\listfiles
\begin{document}
\includepdf[pages={last,1-3},nup=2x1]{problem-pdpfages-second-last-page.pdf} %THIS IS JUST MY DOCUMENT NAME FOR THIS PROBLEM, please choose any document name how you see fit :)
\end{document}

Andreas Matthias · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-07T23:55:45.037

2

I suppose you are looking for option signature:

\includepdf[pages=-, signature=4]{file.pdf}

Some people are bothered about the orientation of every second page. Well, there were times when it was easier to print it this way. But this shouldn't be an issue nowadays. If you prefer to rotate the pages back, use:

\usepackage{atbegshi}
\makeatletter
%%% luatex:
\AtBeginShipout{\ifodd\c@page\pdfvariable pageattr{/Rotate 180}\fi}
%%% xetex:
% \AtBeginShipoutFirst{\ifodd\c@page\special{pdf: put @thispage <</Rotate 180>>}\fi}
%%% pdftex:
% \AtBeginShipout{\ifodd\c@page\pdfpageattr{/Rotate 180}\fi}
\makeatletter

Note: In the near future it will be favorable to use the pdfmanagement code for rotating the page, i.e. \pdfmanagement_add:nnn{ThisPage}{Rotate}{180}.

edited Mar 07 '21 at 23:55

answered Mar 07 '21 at 18:58

Andreas Matthias

1,022

Hi Andreas, thank you for your reply. The second part about rotating back does not work though, see https://imgur.com/a/2U3otUR – henry Mar 07 '21 at 19:21
Technically speaking, you solved the question/thread with your reply, I just think that the faulty second code-part could be addressed and improved. :) Unless you think there is some fault on my end (totally a possibility, just saying)? – henry Mar 07 '21 at 19:30
@henry Which TeX-engine are you using? It should work with lualatex. – Andreas Matthias Mar 07 '21 at 20:23
@henry I've added the code for xelatex. – Andreas Matthias Mar 07 '21 at 21:16
pdflatex! Should it work with that? – henry Mar 07 '21 at 23:08
@henry Code for pdftex added. – Andreas Matthias Mar 07 '21 at 23:57
That worked. Thank you. :) – henry Mar 08 '21 at 16:28

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 08 '21 at 00:25

You can use Get number of pages of external PDF to identify the total number of pages in the included PDF, and then calculate the before-last page from there:

\documentclass[
  11pt,
  a3paper,
  landscape,
]
{scrartcl}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
% Read in PDF to be included
\pdfximage{temp.pdf}
% Extract total number of pages and store it
\edef\includePDFpages{\the\pdflastximagepages}
\begin{document}
% \number\numexpr\includePDFpages-1 yields the page before last
\includepdf[pages={last,1-\number\numexpr\includePDFpages-1},nup=2x1]{temp.pdf}
\end{document}

pdfpages - Insert all pages, except the last page?

MWE for the a4 document

MWE for the a3 document

2 Answers2