Create and depict hole punch holes on every page of a document

Question

I know this is probably one of the weirdest requests on this forum, but I am just not getting anywhere on my own. I use latex to write my worksheets for my students. I often use the margins for tips and hints or small graphics. Unfortunately, the problem arises that the students obviously often want to print the sheets and then the hole punch holes hit those little graphics. I would like to get around that. Is there any chance to define a tikz picture or something else, which depicts the two hole punch holes on all pages while I write on the worksheets to place the margins entries appropriately?

I literally have no idea on how to even get started.

Did you try this already? https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/455307/how-to-draw-punch-holes-in-the-margins — SebGlav, Mar 21 '21 at 20:05
We had something like this a while back: https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/582752/making-tikz-shapes-surfaces-that-dont-appear-in-the-pdf/582767#582767 — DG', Mar 21 '21 at 20:06
The location of the punch holes is not unique. It depends on the page dimensions, and on whether the one adding the holes uses the right settings. — , Mar 21 '21 at 20:07

Dr. Manuel Kuehner · Answer 1 · 2021-03-21T20:17:57.300

10

Based on Draw rectangle on bottom of page with tikz.
The punch hole position and size is not correct (you have to find that out yourself).
The xshift = 6mm, yshift = 30mm and minimum size=5mm are the key parameters.
For the atbegshi package see https://www.ctan.org/pkg/atbegshi.

\documentclass[]{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{atbegshi} % https://www.ctan.org/pkg/atbegshi
\newcommand\myPunchHole{%
    \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
        \draw (current page.west) node[circle, minimum size=5mm, draw, xshift = 6mm, yshift = 30mm]{};
        \draw (current page.west) node[circle, minimum size=5mm, draw, xshift = 6mm, yshift = -30mm]{};
    \end{tikzpicture}%
}
\AtBeginShipout{\myPunchHole}
\AtBeginShipoutFirst{\myPunchHole}
\begin{document}
\blindtext[6]
\end{document}

Related

edited Mar 21 '21 at 20:17

answered Mar 21 '21 at 20:11

Dr. Manuel Kuehner

22,451

Just to be clear, this requires two cycles of compilation to print the holes, right? – Jeffrey J Weimer Mar 21 '21 at 23:27
@Jeffrey J Weimer Yes. – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Mar 21 '21 at 23:39
@JeffreyJWeimer Yes (my last comment was done on my smartphone where the autocomplete for "@" does not work) – Dr. Manuel Kuehner Mar 22 '21 at 18:17
Thank you for the response. – Jeffrey J Weimer Mar 22 '21 at 20:06

Ivan · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-21T23:11:28.013

You can avoid atbegshi using the \AddToHook command. Here is a MWE, taking the tikz code by Dr. Manuel Kuehner. The output is the same:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\AddToHook{shipout/background}{%
 \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture,every node/.style={circle, minimum height=5mm,minimum width=5mm,draw, xshift = 6mm}]
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = 30mm]{};
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = -30mm]{};
 \end{tikzpicture}%
}
\begin{document}
\blindtext[6]
\end{document}

EDIT

SebGlav's observation is quite right. In a two-sided document, holes cannot be placed on the left on every page, but left on odd pages and right on even pages. There are two solutions: 1) leave the even pages blank; 2) draw the holes on the right in the even pages

Solution 1) Holes only on odd pages:

\AddToHook{shipout/background}{%
 \ifodd\value{page}
 \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture,every node/.style={circle, minimum height=5mm,minimum width=5mm,draw, xshift = 6mm}]
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = 30mm]{};
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = -30mm]{};
 \end{tikzpicture}%
 \fi
}

Solution 2) Holes on the left and right, respectively, in the odd and even pages:

\AddToHook{shipout/background}{%
 \ifodd\value{page}
 \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture,every node/.style={circle, minimum height=5mm,minimum width=5mm,draw, xshift = 6mm}]
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = 30mm]{};
 \draw (current page.west) node[yshift = -30mm]{};
 \end{tikzpicture}%
 \else
 \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture,every node/.style={circle, minimum height=5mm,minimum width=5mm,draw, xshift = -6mm}]
 \draw (current page.east) node[yshift = 30mm]{};
 \draw (current page.east) node[yshift = -30mm]{};
 \end{tikzpicture}%
 \fi
}

Solution 2bis) Like above, but saving a few lines of code:

\newcommand{\printholes}[2]{%
 \begin{tikzpicture}[overlay,remember picture,every node/.style={circle, minimum height=5mm,minimum width=5mm,draw, xshift = #1}]
 \draw (current page.#2) node[yshift = 30mm]{};
 \draw (current page.#2) node[yshift = -30mm]{};
 \end{tikzpicture}%
}
\AddToHook{shipout/background}{%
 \ifodd\value{page}
   \printholes{6mm}{west}
    \else
   \printholes{-6mm}{east}
 \fi
}

Very nice and customizable. And if one has to print 2-sided documents? — SebGlav, Mar 21 '21 at 20:25
@SebGlav Maybe one can use this http://www.texfaq.org/FAQ-oddpage within the \AddToHook. Or see https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/154256 (\ifodd\value{page}). — Dr. Manuel Kuehner, Mar 21 '21 at 22:23
@SebGlav Thanks for the suggestion. You are right. I did not think about it, I edited the answer. — Ivan, Mar 21 '21 at 23:12
I am unable to have this compile. ... Undefined control sequence \AddToHook{...}. TexLive 2020 with pdfTeX. — Jeffrey J Weimer, Mar 21 '21 at 23:24
@Ivan that is perfect! Thank you so much! It took me a while to find a solution to "undefined control sequence \AddToHook" as well @SebGlav! Had to update the TeX Live distribution as Ivan mentioned above. Now it works wonderfully! Again, thank you so much for your kind help guys! — Nadine, Mar 22 '21 at 05:47
OK. Updated TeXLive. It now works. As with the approach from @Dr.ManuelKuehner, this needs two compilations to print the marks. Thank you! — Jeffrey J Weimer, Mar 22 '21 at 21:05

Create and depict hole punch holes on every page of a document

2 Answers2

EDIT