One of the first decisions to make when setting up a multiple-page document such as a newsletter, brochure, magazine, book, etc., is to define your project with the appropriate number of pages using the Page Setup/New Document setup. This dialog box allows you to indicate the number and arrangement of your pages. Setting up your project incorrectly at this point can potentially cause unpredictable print results that can be easily avoided.

Number of Pages

Deciding the number of pages to define your multiple-page project may sound fairly simple, but there are a couple of simple rules that we need to follow here. We have already discussed single-sided pages, two-sided pages, and folding projects. Now lets look at our multiple-page projects.

As with most multiple-page documents, we need to determine the type of binding that will be used. The most important to know about is saddle stitching, because with this type of binding all your pages will be in groups of 4. That is because there needs to be left and right hand page pairs to fold and staple. Each left and right page pair has a front and a back, making 4 pages. Therefore, all saddle stitched booklets need to have their number of pages to be devisable by 4.

With almost every other form of binding, all that is required is 2 document pages for every printed page (front and back). Or, the number of pages needs to be devisable by 2.

Facing Pages

When creating multiple-page documents it is appropriate to select the Facing Pages checkbox in your setup. This will provide you with a left and right page layout in your Pages palette, allowing you to layout your pages in spreads.

Once again, we would like to reiterate that you need to leave all page arrangements (imposition) for your favorite offset printer. Refer to readers spreads for an example with one popular variation, as well as printers spreads.

Return to the Page Setup menu for more page setup consideration topics.