THE METHOD, MADE CLEAR
The page order
behind one fold.
Foliofold plans the logical page positions for a booklet made from nested sheets folded once through the middle. It gives a checking diagram and a sheet list; it does not upload, edit, scale or impose a PDF.
Pages, sides and sheets are different counts
A logical page is one reading position in the source document. A physical sheet has two sides, and each side holds two booklet pages. One folded sheet therefore provides four logical page positions. Two nested sheets provide eight; four provide sixteen. A source page that is intentionally blank still occupies a position and must be included in the source count.
Count covers as part of the sequence if they are printed within the same folded group. A cover printed on different stock as a separate job needs its own plan. Page numbers in the result mean source positions 1, 2, 3 and so on. They do not inspect Roman numerals, chapter labels or the visible numbering printed on your pages.
Why the total is rounded up to four
The number of sheets is the source page count divided by four, rounded upward. Padded page slots equal four times that sheet count. Added blanks are padded slots minus source pages. A 13-page source needs four sheets, provides 16 page slots and adds three blanks. A 16-page source uses the same four sheets but adds none.
Sheets per copy = ceiling(source pages ÷ 4)
Padded slots = sheets per copy × 4
Added blanks = padded slots − source pages
Generated blanks are placed after the last source position in reading order. They may appear on an outer sheet or alongside an earlier page in the print layout because the sheet is folded. This is expected. If you want a blank somewhere else, include it deliberately within your source before counting pages.
The simplest case: one four-page sheet
Left binding, pages 1–4
The front face is 4 | 1. The back face is 2 | 3. Each pair is shown from its own printed face, upright. Folding along the vertical line places page 1 on the front cover, pages 2 and 3 inside and page 4 on the back cover.
The plan is a page-position diagram. It does not tell a duplex driver which physical edge to flip, and it does not show the back as if you were looking through the front of the paper.
Worked example: an eight-page booklet
Eight source pages need two sheets. Sheet 1 is the outer sheet: front 8 | 1, back 2 | 7. Sheet 2 goes inside it: front 6 | 3, back 4 | 5. Nesting the sheets and folding once produces the reading sequence from 1 to 8.
For a group starting at position a and ending at b, the first front pairs b with a; its back pairs a + 1 with b − 1. Moving inward uses the next two positions from each end. The sum of the two slot numbers on any side remains a + b. This is a useful arithmetic cross-check, including when one of the slots is blank.
Worked example: thirteen source pages
A single 13-page booklet is padded to 16 slots. Positions 14, 15 and 16 are added blanks. The outer sheet has front Blank (slot 16) | 1 and back 2 | Blank (slot 15). The next sheet has front Blank (slot 14) | 3 and back 4 | 13.
The remaining two sheets carry front 12 | 5, back 6 | 11, then front 10 | 7, back 8 | 9. Blank slot numbers identify where the added empty positions sit in the padded sequence. They are not extra pages to find in the original source.
Splitting the job into separate booklets
Choose a maximum booklet size to divide the source into independently nested groups. A maximum of eight pages gives each full group two sheets. The last group can be smaller, as long as its padded total is a multiple of four. The tool adds only enough blank positions to complete the whole source’s last sheet; it does not pad the last group up to the chosen maximum.
Twenty pages, at most eight per booklet
The groups are positions 1–8, 9–16 and 17–20. They use two, two and one sheets: five sheets per copy in total. The last group’s front is 20 | 17 and its back is 18 | 19. No blanks are needed.
For three copies, this is 15 physical sheets and nine independently folded booklets. The page-order table still lists just one copy of the job; repeat it three times.
This grouping can help reason about shorter separately folded pieces. It is not a sewn-book production plan. Joining groups into a spine, allowing for paper bulk or deciding a suitable number of nested sheets needs its own construction decisions. The menu limits are choices for arithmetic grouping, not recommendations about a particular paper or binding method.
Left and right binding
Left binding is the default: the four-page front is 4 | 1. Right binding exchanges the left and right page positions on both faces, giving front 1 | 4 and back 3 | 2. Source page progression still follows the numbered sequence. This option rearranges positions only; it never mirrors text or artwork and does not rotate page content.
The tool models ordinary upright two-up pages with one centre fold. It does not model top-bound layouts, quarter-fold booklets, cut-and-stack imposition, gatefolds or multi-fold signatures. Selecting a different binding edge cannot convert those constructions into this one-fold model.
Using the result with a real printer
A correct pair of logical pages is only one part of printing. Your software must place the correct source pages into the indicated positions. Its scaling, margins, page rotation, paper orientation, duplex flip and manual reload behaviour determine what actually appears on the sheet. Foliofold does not control those settings or generate a print-ready PDF.
Use a small numbered test with an obvious top edge and front/back marks before running the full job. Compare both printed faces with the diagram, then fold it. This checks your actual software and printer together. Adding a correct order to an unsuitable duplex rotation can still produce upside-down pages.
For an example of software that performs its own booklet arrangement, Adobe’s official booklet-printing instructions explain two-up faces, duplex/manual-side options and left/right binding. If your software already imposes a normal reading-order PDF, use its documented workflow rather than pre-arranging the same document a second time.
What the exports preserve
Copy plan includes job totals, the one-copy sheet order, blank slot labels and the face-view convention. CSV records each sheet’s four positions and the requested copies. The selected SVG saves a diagram for one sheet only. It contains page labels rather than your source artwork, uses illustrative dimensions and cannot certify printer calibration.
Changing an input recalculates the plan. Invalid counts clear the result and disable exports so an earlier valid job is not mistaken for a new one. Restore example returns thirteen pages, one copy, one booklet and left binding. No input or source document is stored or uploaded by this calculator.