How to print actual size when document is larger than paper. Indesign

November 21, 2020 11:31 AM

I have an indesign document where each page is 12x12 ish and the spreads are 12x24ish. I want to print all the spreads actual size, though I have only letter and legal paper. Just for proofing purposes. I would like it to just print the overlapping bit multiple times if there's room on the paper instead of just strictly slicing up the document.

The document is in in-design and of course I can export it to a PDF first, if necessary. Ink-use/wasting is not an issue as I have a monthly ink subscription.

posted by If only I had a penguin... to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Seems like you should be able to achieve what you want with the print settings / print preview options in InDesign. The key is to print at 100%. I believe it will split across multiple sheets by default. To get overlaps, you may need to play with the position offsets.

(Apologies if I’m not quite right with the terms! it’s been close to 20 years since I did InDesign, but I did use exactly this workflow back then — in fact, the printer didn’t accept digital files to start with, so we had to print out the proofs on letter and then lay them out with wax to be duplicated! Uphill in the snow both ways!)
posted by Alterscape at 11:38 AM on November 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

You can tile it onto multiple sheets.
posted by primethyme at 12:13 PM on November 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

(Sorry, that seems to be for CS6 but I'm pretty sure it's the same or very similar in the latest version.)
posted by primethyme at 12:14 PM on November 21, 2020

Yes to the above, “tiling”. I think you can also specify how much overlap and remember printers do not print to the very edge even if you don’t have margins so there will be a narrow white strip that needs to be trimmed.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:46 PM on November 21, 2020