2

how can I duplicate A6 size book one below the other on A4 paper? I would like to receive two A6 format of the same brochures printed from ordinary A4 format file. Like this:

enter image description here

And so on.. What I was able to achieve below but it's printing only one copy and in incorrect order.

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\begin{document}
\includepdf[pages=-, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\end{document}

Then I've tried this for 10 pages, it works, but what If I get 20,50 or more? Can I automate this for any count of pages in file? Some macro of lastpage?

\includepdf[pages={10,1,10,1}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\includepdf[pages={2,9,2,9}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\includepdf[pages={8,3,8,3}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\includepdf[pages={4,7,4,7}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\includepdf[pages={6,5,6,5}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
bartzmc
  • 111
  • It will probably not work out of the box as it is a bit unusual. Might be easier to simply generate the setup output page by output page (aka many calls to \includepdf) – daleif Dec 10 '20 at 15:20
  • I had to write 10 lines of code manually when I have 24 pages. I need to somehow automate this process as I get more pages. Maybe some macros of lastpage? – bartzmc Dec 10 '20 at 16:27
  • Couldn't you simply use the booklet package to produce the PDF of an A5 booklet (2 A5 pages per A4) and then rescale this PDF and combine two of them (4 A6 pages per A4)? Not a fully automatic solution, of course. – Ingmar Dec 10 '20 at 17:13
  • @Ingmar it's some kind of idea but I need to automate this process – bartzmc Dec 10 '20 at 17:16
  • The arrangement of the second page doesn't make any sense to me. Shouldn't left and right be swapped? – Andreas Matthias Dec 10 '20 at 18:34

2 Answers2

4

Try the following:

\includepdf[pages={4,1,4,1}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
\includepdf[pages={3,2,3,2}, nup=2x2]{a4papersample}
Don Hosek
  • 14,078
  • Thanks, it works, but I had to write 10 lines of code manually when I have 24 pages. I need to somehow automate this process as I get more pages. Maybe some macros of lastpage? – bartzmc Dec 10 '20 at 16:21
3

Create your document in A6 format first.

File t1.tex:

\documentclass[paper=a6]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[numbers]{kantlipsum}
\begin{document}
\kant[1-13]
\end{document}

Then create one booklet in A5 format.

File t2.tex:

\documentclass[a4paper,landscape]{article}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\makeatletter
\AtBeginShipout{\ifodd\c@page\PLS@Rotate{180}\else\PLS@Rotate{0}\fi}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\includepdf[pages=-,booklet]{t1.pdf}
\end{document}

Finally doublicate all pages of the booklet.

File t3.tex:

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{pdfpages}
\begin{document}
\includepdf[pages=-,doublepages,nup=1x2]{t2.pdf}
\end{document}
Andreas Matthias
  • 1,022
  • This is not an option. I have to use a premade A4 pdf file. It is a complex template with two columns of text, multiple drawings and font sizes. When I changed the format from A4 to A6, it all fell apart. – bartzmc Dec 10 '20 at 19:00
  • 3
    You can start with A4 as well. It doesn't matter. – Andreas Matthias Dec 10 '20 at 19:05
  • I skipped the first step with creating an A6 file and I included my A4 pdf file in the t2.tex file, then duplicated it in t3 and it seems to work as I wanted. I understand that these two steps t2 and t3 cannot be combined into one file? – bartzmc Dec 10 '20 at 19:39
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    It can only be done in one step if you calculate the sequence of pages yourself and put the resulting list into pages={...}. – Andreas Matthias Dec 10 '20 at 19:48
  • Thank you for that solution! – bartzmc Dec 11 '20 at 07:45