How to print a booklet with double-sided pages

Directions on taking a document with single-sided pages and turning it into a printable double-sided booklet.

I made these notes for myself and have used them enough times that I figured they might be useful to someone else. I use Linux (PopOS but I've also used similar directions on Mint) and a Brother laser printer.

  1. Make the pages line up how you want-- eg make sure related items are on facing pages. Page 1 is the title page, pages 2-3 are the first spread, etc. You may want to add blank pages here and there to get related items to be in a 2-page spread together.

    THEN, make sure the total number of pages is divisible by 4; if it isn't, add blank pages at the end as needed.

  2. Use this booklet printing calculator with "2 pages per sheet" to get the page order needed.
  3. Get a pdf of the document you made in step 2 (if it's a Google Doc export it as a PDF: print then select "Save as PDF").

  4. Use these Linux commands. First install qpdf if you don't have it:

    sudo apt install qpdf

    Then use qpdf to reorder the pages:

    qpdf Downloads/YourDocument.pdf --pages Downloads/YourDocument.pdf 20,1,2,19,18,3,4,17,16,5,6,15,14,7,8,13,12,9,10,11 -- YourDocumentInBookletOrder.pdf

    Replace YourDocument.pdf with the path to your document, the page numbers with the ones you got in step 3, and YourDocumentInBookletOrder.pdf with whatever you want your output filename to be.

    (from this StackOverflow answer)
  5. Print with double sided flip on SHORT EDGE, 2 pages per sheet. Set Page Handling -> Auto Rotate and Center to CHECKED. Select Fit to Printable Area.