[[cs:start|go back]] ====== Double-sided printing ====== It is still necessary to print documents. Many printers are able to print one side of the sheets, here I describe the procedure to print both side correctly. The procedure depends on the kind of printer. ===== How-to ===== Make an empty .pdf page: $ echo '' | ps2pdf -sPAPERSIZE=a4 - white.pdf Add an empty page at the end of a document: $ pdftk W=white.pdf D=input.pdf cat D W output output_file.pdf Extract //even//-numered pages from a document (replace the word //even// with //odd// for odd-numered pages): $ pdftk input.pdf cat 1-endeven output_even.pdf Reverse the order of pages: $ pdftk input.pdf cat end-1 output output_reversed.pdf ===== Case 1 ===== Being ''PPPP'' the printed face, and ''WWWW'' the blank face it is the //case 1// if printing a three pages document the sheets end up like this: PPPP 3 WWWW PPPP 2 WWWW PPPP 1 WWWW In other words, the printed pages end up with the face up and the order of the sheets is reversed. ==== Procedure ==== - Ensure the input file has a even number of pages adding a blank page at the end if needed. - Split the file in even and odd pages. - Reverse the order of the even and odd pages file. - Print the reversed even file. - Put the printed sheets back in the printer being careful to align the printing side and top side. - Print the reversed odd file.