Working around page size limitations

Question

We sometimes print via Snowfall Press, where the optimum size is 6x9 inches. The option for 5.8x8.7 is good for this. Sometimes, we end up deciding to print in Mexico instead, where the height needs to be 8.5, and the paper it will be printed on is 13.4 if bigger than letter size is needed. Here are some workarounds that may help others needing to cope with sizes that aren’t built into PTXprint:

If I am expecting I may need to go to the smaller height, I give it extra top and bottom margin. That way the PDF file can be cropped. For cropping I use PDF Arranger on Ubuntu.
Currently, I have a layout done to 5.8 width that we want to print in Mexico. I used imposeonline.com to get it arranged to 2 up, booklet arrangement at a width of 11.6 inches. To make this work for the printer, I used Sumatra PDF to print to PDF with a custom output size of 8.5 x 13.4 landscape, centering it on the page with no scaling.
I added crop lines by creating a blank page of 8.5x13.4 size with vertical lines at the desired locations and exported to pdf. PDF Chain on Ubuntu can put this as a background on all pages of the pdf that has the text.
I hope somebody finds this helpful.

Answer 1

Hi @LorenHawthorne

Glad to see that PTXprint is serving you well, but I’m surprised to see that you feel there is a need to jump through a whole bunch of other hoops to get your file ready for the printer. Our aim is to make it simple, so if we’re failing somewhere, we need to know.

Please note that whenever you choose a paper size, if the required size is not already in the drop-down options, then you can always type in your own custom size in whatever units you want:

image542×523 37.6 KB

And if there is a specific size that is used frequently in a region, we can easily add that as another option.

And have you seen the relatively recent versions that have a Finishing tab which does everything you want, and probably more? You can choose 2-up (or 4-up or 8-up) layouts with/without cropmarks. And again, you can set the physical paper size from a short list of options, or type in your own specific size:

image881×417 30.3 KB

I hope this helps you AND a whole bunch of other people who might be doing something similar.

Remember… when PTXprint doesn’t (yet) do what you need it to do, or doesn’t quite hit the brief, you can always ask us to tweak it so that it does. Keep up-to-date, as new features get released frequently.

We have recently implemented a cover designer, where the cover wrapper gets produced as a separate (color?) PDF. We still need to write the documentation on how to use it, but it is coming soon:

image747×565 26.5 KB

Enjoy!

Answer 2

Wow! There is always more to learn. You guys are doing an incredible job. Part of my problem was choosing a size for one printer and then needing to change our minds and not wanting to go through the task of tweaking everything over again. But one issue is I did not know you could type in a custom size. I should explore the finishing options. I’ve had other ways to cover it, so did not dive in. The cover design looks really nice. I haven’t been through all the tutorial stuff I could benefit from, but my style tends to be to dive in and muddle through.