Collating booklets in Quark Xpress 4.1

[forerunner]

How should I set up my pages to produce an A5 booklet in Quark Xpress, so that when I come to print it, the pages are in the best order for printing?

I have currently been using facing pages (A5 size), and manually ordering the pages. I then have to feed the pages through manually. This takes ages!

Is there a quicker way to collate the pages and print the finished booklet?

 

[blueark]

I'm told some print drivers have this functionality, but I've never had the good fortune to have one. The three main alternative methods I can think of are as follows:

Option 1: Manually:
Very time consuming, as you've seen. The order can be worked out quickly though: Start with the last page on the left and first page on the right. Reduce the higher page number by one, increase the lower page number by one, and switch them around each time. Stop when you've got two consecutive numbers, e.g.: 8-1, 2-7, 6-3, 4-5. If you get lost, add the two page numbers together. If it's the total page count + 1, you're probably ok. (8+1 = 2+7 = 6+3 = 4+5 = 9).

Option 2: Additional Software:
Some third party software will allow you to impose the sheets correctly in seconds. One free option (if you have QuarkXPress 6) is to go to Quark's website and look for QuarkXClusive. Although it's designed for a particular press, you can still export the results as a PDF and print from that.

Option 3: Do Nothing:
If you are not printing this yourself, this is by far the best option, as your printer should have its own imposition software. In fact, they often prefer if you let them do it themselves, because they have their own way of setting files up to suit their particular press. I get the impression that you are trying to print this yourself, but it's worth mentioning anyway.

Hope that helps!

 

[jmgalvin]

As bluark said, if you're sending it to a printer they'll have an imposer.

You can buy ALAP Imposer if you wish from ALAP.com. It's about as cheap as you can get and works well.

If you're on OSX and running Q4 in Classic, you can distill a pdf, open in Preview, Acrobat Reader, or Acrobat 6 or higher in OSX. You can then use Cheap Imposer (download from Versiontracker.com) for $35.



Using OSX 10.3.8 on a G4