Hey, I haven't used this yet so forgive me if its obvious I'm just curious, I've been plugging various PDFs in to see how the printing may turn out and before I waste some paper on it, what's your advice for printers that don't automatically print double-sided? my old school method is just going one at a time and flipping each page over into the tray to reprint but what if I wanna print a whole got-dang 50pg PDF into a nice little booklet format without going through each page :(
Oof, I have done this before & it is always tricky. Depending on your printer/print software, it might still give you an option to do a manual double-sided printing, where it'll print all of the odd pages first & then tell you to flip the stack over & put them back in to print the opposite side. And if that's not an option, sometimes when you go in to set custom pages to be printed, there will be an "Odd Pages" and "Even Pages" option, so I've also done it where I run Odds first then Evens on the opposite side.
The flipping part is always tricky, but it sounds like you've already been doing that, so I imagine you know how your printer needs the printed pages to be placed back in the tray. I think that should be all the same with a multi-page print as with single pages, but you might still wanna start with a shorter document to make sure that it's all coming out right!
Hello! I'm making a compilation of ways of folding/arranging/making a zine at home. I'm going to share it for free, but I wanted to ask if I can add some of the bindings you are showing here (with credits, of course). Awesome work!
Thank you so much for this! I've been using it to print free RPG guides into zines (starting with/inspired by ShadowDark) and it's fantastic! I wanna buy you a coffee/tea/boba/beer/pre-roll/gummy/MTG pack [smile]
Anyone here for this idea? It's a great savings on paper and toner and it's fun papercraft if you're moderately artsy or handy.
oooh ~ just what I was looking for! I, too, am interested in making a 16-page zine. Is it possible to automate compiling two 8-page signatures, where the second 8-pager goes inside of the first 8-pager to be staple-bound?
Oh, nvmd! I just read your response further down (should have done that first, haha) and realized I just have to upload all 16 pages together. Thanks so much!
Oh glad you found it! Yeah that one should be doable in the current version! There's also a double-sided minizine option, which would have 16 pages too!
Ahh, do you mean the really tiny ones where you fold the sheet into 16 boxes? I actually don't even know how to fold those! I can look into it, though.
Right now it does support what I often think of as a "16-page Minizine", but that's a double-sided mini, so it's still an eighth of the page--not the super tiny guys!
I'm actually working on a little update to this right now, so I'll try to figure out if the 1/16th size is something I can reasonably add in this round or if it will have to go on the list for the future!
Ah, cool! I started working on it after you asked & I do plan to include 1/16th size options in the next update! The template I went off of is a little different than the one you linked. Similar concept, but it loops back on itself so that page 1 and page 16 share a fold, which I think will help with durability.
Hey! Just wanted to say that I use this tool incredibly often. It made formatting my zines wayyyyyyyyyy easier! Before, I had to format it all manually and had tons of misprints. This makes everything quick and is truly the best thing ever for a zinemaker to have.
I initially tought about a line in the middle where we have to cut, but a line arround to remove printer marging could be cool (use to have more problem with printer marge, but with your tool it seem to be good do fold it without extra cut 🤔)
Hi, this tool is amazing! I was wondering if you had any suggestions for if I want to glue a bunch of the 8th size zines together to make a longer booklet! I'm a bit confused about where to put blank pages in the pdf so I can glue the front and backs together. Thanks so much :)
Ooh, that's a really interesting concept / question! The bad news is the way Zine Arranger handles lots of pages is gonna make this especially tricky.
Right now whenever there's more than 1 sheet worth of pages, Zine Arranger sets things up so that each sheet nests into the middle of the previous -- so like for a minizine, you'd open the first sheet to the middle, lay the 2nd sheet in there and so on, and then staple the spine. But for gluing the 2nd sheet to the 1st sheet, you'd need a totally different page order...
It's a bit of a pain, but right now my best suggestion would be to separate each sheet into it's own 8-page PDF -- then you just have to make the first and/or last page blank, depending on where the sheet falls in the order.
It's good to know about this method of making a longer booklet, though! I'm glad you reached out. I added a note about it on my to-do list. Someday when I get a chance to add some features to this, I'll try to add in an option to have the pages arranged in a way that would work better for this--maybe where each 8 pages becomes 1 complete minizine, in order instead of expecting to be nested into each other.
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Hey, I haven't used this yet so forgive me if its obvious I'm just curious, I've been plugging various PDFs in to see how the printing may turn out and before I waste some paper on it, what's your advice for printers that don't automatically print double-sided? my old school method is just going one at a time and flipping each page over into the tray to reprint but what if I wanna print a whole got-dang 50pg PDF into a nice little booklet format without going through each page :(
Oof, I have done this before & it is always tricky. Depending on your printer/print software, it might still give you an option to do a manual double-sided printing, where it'll print all of the odd pages first & then tell you to flip the stack over & put them back in to print the opposite side. And if that's not an option, sometimes when you go in to set custom pages to be printed, there will be an "Odd Pages" and "Even Pages" option, so I've also done it where I run Odds first then Evens on the opposite side.
The flipping part is always tricky, but it sounds like you've already been doing that, so I imagine you know how your printer needs the printed pages to be placed back in the tray. I think that should be all the same with a multi-page print as with single pages, but you might still wanna start with a shorter document to make sure that it's all coming out right!
Hello! I'm making a compilation of ways of folding/arranging/making a zine at home. I'm going to share it for free, but I wanted to ask if I can add some of the bindings you are showing here (with credits, of course).
Awesome work!
Oh sweet! Yeah, absolutely!
Very cool!
Thank you so much for this! I've been using it to print free RPG guides into zines (starting with/inspired by ShadowDark) and it's fantastic! I wanna buy you a coffee/tea/boba/beer/pre-roll/gummy/MTG pack [smile]
Anyone here for this idea? It's a great savings on paper and toner and it's fun papercraft if you're moderately artsy or handy.
Oh that's an awesome idea!! I can imagine it's handy to have a printed pocket-size version of those to reference at the game table!
And thank you so much! I just did go out for a coffee! Although maybe I SHOULD get back into MTG...
oooh ~ just what I was looking for! I, too, am interested in making a 16-page zine. Is it possible to automate compiling two 8-page signatures, where the second 8-pager goes inside of the first 8-pager to be staple-bound?
Oh, nvmd! I just read your response further down (should have done that first, haha) and realized I just have to upload all 16 pages together. Thanks so much!
Oh glad you found it! Yeah that one should be doable in the current version! There's also a double-sided minizine option, which would have 16 pages too!
This is wonderful! Are there any plans to support 16 page mini zines by any chance?
Ahh, do you mean the really tiny ones where you fold the sheet into 16 boxes? I actually don't even know how to fold those! I can look into it, though.
Right now it does support what I often think of as a "16-page Minizine", but that's a double-sided mini, so it's still an eighth of the page--not the super tiny guys!
I'm actually working on a little update to this right now, so I'll try to figure out if the 1/16th size is something I can reasonably add in this round or if it will have to go on the list for the future!
Here's the method I use for reference if you're still looking into it! https://anatomicair.com/how-to-make-a-one-page-zine/
This is fantastic news, thank you so much!! I've been looking for an easy arranger for this specific format and I haven't been able to yet.
Ah, cool! I started working on it after you asked & I do plan to include 1/16th size options in the next update! The template I went off of is a little different than the one you linked. Similar concept, but it loops back on itself so that page 1 and page 16 share a fold, which I think will help with durability.
Hey! Just wanted to say that I use this tool incredibly often. It made formatting my zines wayyyyyyyyyy easier! Before, I had to format it all manually and had tons of misprints. This makes everything quick and is truly the best thing ever for a zinemaker to have.
Thanks for making this and sharing it!
Ah, thank you so much for saying so! I'm always glad to hear that it's helping folks out!
Thanks for the tool! I just made a little zine from a google doc file :)
(If I may suggest, it will be nice to include some cutting guide)
Oh, like a border line along the edge that needs to be cut? That might be something I could do!
I initially tought about a line in the middle where we have to cut, but a line arround to remove printer marging could be cool (use to have more problem with printer marge, but with your tool it seem to be good do fold it without extra cut 🤔)
Holy moly this tool is amazing! Thank you so much for making and sharing it!
Hi, this tool is amazing! I was wondering if you had any suggestions for if I want to glue a bunch of the 8th size zines together to make a longer booklet! I'm a bit confused about where to put blank pages in the pdf so I can glue the front and backs together. Thanks so much :)
Ooh, that's a really interesting concept / question! The bad news is the way Zine Arranger handles lots of pages is gonna make this especially tricky.
Right now whenever there's more than 1 sheet worth of pages, Zine Arranger sets things up so that each sheet nests into the middle of the previous -- so like for a minizine, you'd open the first sheet to the middle, lay the 2nd sheet in there and so on, and then staple the spine. But for gluing the 2nd sheet to the 1st sheet, you'd need a totally different page order...
It's a bit of a pain, but right now my best suggestion would be to separate each sheet into it's own 8-page PDF -- then you just have to make the first and/or last page blank, depending on where the sheet falls in the order.
It's good to know about this method of making a longer booklet, though! I'm glad you reached out. I added a note about it on my to-do list. Someday when I get a chance to add some features to this, I'll try to add in an option to have the pages arranged in a way that would work better for this--maybe where each 8 pages becomes 1 complete minizine, in order instead of expecting to be nested into each other.
Ah I see! Thanks for your help! Have a good one :)
I spent hours trying to figure out how to lay out my zine, then found this and got it done right away! thanks so much, this is such a great tool!
Yay! I'm so glad you found it helpful! It saves me a lot of time too haha
This tool is incredible! I've just made my first zine, and it saved me soooooo much time with figuring out the printing for a quarter zine.
Ahh, I'm so glad! I love hearing any time folks make their first zine, and it means a lot to hear that you found this helpful for that!
super helpful. thanks for making this!
this is awesome, exactly what I have been looking for
This is amazing! Thank you so much for making this tool ♡♡♡
you beautiful moonbeam!! ive been tirelessly searching for a tool to automate this process. thank you so much for making this.
Thank you!! I was in the same boat, searching all over for a tool to make this part easy. I'm glad others are finding it as handy as well!