Section 99. Creating Printer Spreads

#99. Creating Printer Spreads

When you create multipage documents with InDesign, the pages are displayed in the document window in the same order that a reader would read them. Page 1 is the first page, followed by pages 2 and 3 (displayed together), then pages 4 and 5, and so on. Each facing-page spread is called a reader spread. However, before a multipage document is printed at a commercial printer, the pages must be rearranged into printer spreads. For example, the first page of a document and the last page form a printer spread. Pages 2 and the next-to-last page are a printer spread, and so on. The process of creating printer spreads from reader spreads is called imposition.

The InBooklet SE command (File menu) provides several controls for specifying how multipage documents are printed. When you choose InBooklet SE, the InBooklet SE dialog box is displayed (Figure 99a). The Style menu offers five choices for imposing a document:

• 2-up Saddle Stitch: This option creates two-page, side-by-side printer spreads. When you choose this option, the InBooklet SE dialog box displays options for controlling Margins, Bleed, and Creep.

• 2-up Perfect Bound: This option is similar to 2-up Saddle Stitch but also includes controls for Gap, Crossover, and Signature Size.

• 2-up Consecutive, 3-up Consecutive, and 4-up Consecutive: All of these options create multipage panels that are appropriate for a foldout publication or a brochure. Margin controls as well as Gap and Bleed controls are available if you choose any of these options.

Figure 99a. The Layout panel in the InBooklet SE dialog box lets you control how multipage documents are printed. The Style menu provides five imposition options. The controls available in the dialog box depend on the option you select in the Style menu.

Here's a brief description of the controls in the InBooklet SE dialog box:

• Margins: The values you enter in the Margins area determine the amount of space that surrounds a printer spread after it is trimmed.

• Gap: The amount of space between adjacent pages.

• Bleed: The distance beyond the edge of the page that is printed. Objects that extend beyond the edge are printed up to the specified bleed distance.

• Creep: The Creep value you enter accommodates for the accumulated thickness of the paper and folding.

• Crossover: This determines the distance within the specified Gap that objects extending beyond the inner edge of a page will print (somewhat like a bleed for the inner edges of a spread).

• Sig(nature) Size: This specifies the number of pages in a perfect bound document and is available only if you choose 2-up Perfect Bound from the Style menu.

If you check Create New Document in the InBooklet SE dialog box, InBooklet SE creates a new document using the specified settings when you click Print. If you don't check Create New Document, InBooklet SE rearranges the pages of the document.

The controls in the Printing panel are similar to the controls available in the Marks and Bleed panel of InDesign's Print dialog box. For example, you can add crop marks, registration marks, bleed marks, gray bars, and color bars, as well as custom information.

The Preview panel (Figure 99b) displays a preview of how the document will print using the settings you've specified in the Layout and Printing panels.

Figure 99b. The Preview panel of the InBooklet SE dialog box shows how a document will print based on the settings specified in the Layout and Printing panels.