Printing the booklet at home or at a copy shop

Paper

Paper is sold by weight: in pounds in the US, where the number depends on the kind of paper, and in grams per square meter (gsm) everywhere else.

Conversions from papersizes.org's US paper weight table. Office paper is usually 70 to 80 gsm.

For two-sided pages, heavier paper stops the words on one side showing through the other. A 4-page program is often printed on light card so it stands up on its own; an 8-page booklet folds more neatly on paper than on card. Check that your printer takes the weight you choose: many home printers list their maximum paper weight in the manual.

Three settings that matter

1. Actual size. Choose 100% or "Actual size". "Fit to page" shrinks the pages and moves the fold off center.
2. Two-sided, flip on short edge. The sheets are landscape; flipping on the long edge prints the back upside down.
3. The right paper size. A booklet made on US Letter needs Letter paper, and one made on A4 needs A4. If you chose the wrong one, change it in step 9 and download again.

Everything in the booklet stays at least 0.55 in (14 mm) from the edge of the paper. HP's documentation shows many inkjet printers leave an unprinted margin of about 1/8 in, rising to 1/2 in at the top of the sheet when printing both sides, and the booklet's margins leave room for that.

At a copy shop

• Take the print-ready PDF on a USB stick or upload it, and ask for double-sided printing at actual size, folded, and stapled on the fold for an 8-page booklet.
• If the shop's software arranges booklet pages itself, give it the page-by-page PDF instead. Print shops usually ask for single pages in reading order for booklets.
• FedEx Office notes that files uploaded to its online copy service print with a small margin rather than to the edge, which suits this booklet, since nothing is printed to the edge.
• The PDFs contain their fonts and the photos at up to 300 dpi at print size, which is what commercial printers ask for.

If something goes wrong

• The back of the sheet is upside down: change "flip on long edge" to "flip on short edge".
• The fold is not in the middle: turn off "Fit to page" and print at actual size.
• The pages are in the wrong order: print the print-ready PDF, not the page-by-page one, unless the printer or shop is making the booklet for you.
• A photo prints soft: use a larger copy of the photo. The builder warns when a photo is small.

Sources: papersizes.org paper weights, HP printable areas, FedEx Office copies, Greenerprinter saddle-stitch file guide. Checked September 28, 2026.