Booklet printer test page
Print these numbered sheets before the real booklet. If they fold into 1, 2, 3 the right way up, your printer settings are right.
- 4-page booklet test2 sides of A4 · 1 sheet · PDF
- 8-page booklet test4 sides of A4 · 2 sheets · PDF
- 12-page booklet test6 sides of A4 · 3 sheets · PDF
- 16-page booklet test8 sides of A4 · 4 sheets · PDF
How to use it
- Download the test sheets for the number of pages your booklet will have.
- Print on A4, on both sides, with flip on short edge chosen and the scale at actual size or 100%.
- Keep the sheets in the order they came out and fold the stack in half.
- Turn the pages: the large numbers should count up from 1, all the right way up.
- If something is wrong, find what you see in the table, change that one setting and print the test again.
What you see, and what to change
| What you see | What it means | Change this |
|---|---|---|
| The numbers count up from 1, all the right way up | The settings are right | Nothing. Print the real booklet with the same settings |
| The numbers on the back of each sheet are upside down | The paper was flipped on the long edge | Choose flip on short edge (short-edge binding) |
| The dashed line is not on the fold, or the arrows are cut off | The printer shrank or moved the page | Choose actual size or 100% and turn off “fit to page” |
| The numbers jump about after folding | The sheets were stacked in a different order | Put sheet 1 on the outside and the highest sheet in the middle; each sheet is labelled |
| The back of a sheet shows numbers from another sheet | On a one-sided printer, the stack went back in the wrong way round | Reverse the stack, or print the second pass in reverse order |
Why short edge
The sheet is A4 turned sideways with two pages on it, so it has to turn over like a page of a calendar hung on its short side. Microsoft’s booklet instructions put it this way: “To avoid pages from printing upside down, flip the sheets on the short edge of the paper according to your printer’s instructions.” (Microsoft Support, “Create a booklet or book in Word”, read 10 November 2026). LibreOffice’s help says: “If your printer prints duplex, and because brochures always print in landscape mode, you should use the "duplex - short edge" setting in your printer setup dialogue box.” (LibreOffice Help, “Printing a Brochure”, read 10 November 2026). We have not tested individual printer models; menu names differ.
See also: short edge or long edge for other kinds of document · where the settings are in Word, LibreOffice and on a Mac · printing an A5 booklet on A4, step by step.
The order the sheets are in
The test sheets use the same page order as the files the builder makes: 8 pages · 12 pages · 16 pages.
Questions
- What is a booklet printer test page?
- A short PDF with only large page numbers on it, already in folding order. Printed on both sides and folded, it shows whether your printer flips and orders the sheets correctly before you use good paper.
- Does the test page use much ink?
- Not much. Each side has two large numbers, a dashed fold line and a few small lines of text, in black only.
- Do I need to send anything to use it?
- No. The files are plain PDFs on this site. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
When the test folds correctly, the booklet from the builder will too: it uses the same page order.
Open the builder