How can I make a booklet in pages?

Question

I am trying to make a booklet in pages, and i am sure this has been asked before. What is the best way to do this without having to download another program to help out?

Answer 1

Hi Jake,
I don't know that there is a "best way" to do this in Pages.
Several variables will have an effect on the procedure:
What size paper will you print on?
How many booklet pages will fit onto a single side of that piece of paper?
How many pages will your booklet have (including front and back covers)?
For a 4.25" x 8.5" booklet, the Catering Brochure provides a good starting point.
The default Catering brochure (above) has 2 letter size pages, each in a separate section (as is always the case for a Page Layout document.
The top section holds the brochure's outside pages (4 and 1), back cover on the left, front cover on the right.
The bottom section holds the inside pages (2 and 3), inside left on the left, inside right on the right.
The Pages button in the Toolbar offers a choice of four types of page to add the the document: Additional copies of the cover or inside layout, a Text page or a Blank page.
Each inserts two brochure/booklet pages. Add two for both sides of a second sheet of paper.
Note that you're not restricted to using a "Text" page for two pages of nothing but text.
For an eight page booklet, the pages are laid out as follows:
8 (bc)  1 (fc)
2         7
6         3
4         5
Document pages 1 and 2 are printed on opposite faces of a letter sized sheet.
Document pages 3 and 4 are printed on opposite faces of a second sheet.
Catering is one of only two 'single fold' brochures on the Brochure page of the Template Chooser in Pages. The main difference between this one and the Landscape Brochure is in the treatment of the gutter between the two pages on each sheet of paper. Catering treats the pages as separate, with an empty gutter running between them. Landscape runs an illustration across the gutter, which is fine for the inside and outside pages of a four page brochure, but not great for booklets made with more than a single sheet of paper.
The advantage to "another program to help out" is that it frees you to compose the booklet pages in the order they are to appear in the booklet, and as full size pages, then let the 'helper' application impose those pages onto sheets of paper in the order needed to comprise the booklet. Either of the applications noted by Peggy will do that job.
I haven't used one, but my booklets (concert programs) are all the same number of pages (8) and all have the pages in the same, or a very similar order. Generally, I'll produce a pdf for each pair of pages, print a sample of each and staple them in the correct order for the booklet, then take the files and the sample to the local copy shop and let then do the printing, folding and stapling.
Regards,
Barry