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I have a document to be printed 2-up, double sided on 11x17 with an inch to be cut off one side so the final piece is 8x11. Can printer settings accommodate this with the portion to be cut off laid out on the right of both pages?

My idea was to shift the second page to the right while the first page is to the left and printing flipping to the side but I've been told this is not necessary.

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  • Is it only 2 pages or? Maybe post a screenshot so we can actually see your document setup.
    – Lucian
    Feb 22, 2017 at 17:54
  • Here is a screenshot of one of the sides. the original layout of the second side is exactly the same with the 1 inch extra on the right. Oops, how do I post an image?
    – Darcy
    Feb 22, 2017 at 20:30
  • bear in mind that virtually all printers have a printable area that does not extend to the edges of the sheet. The margins differ T/B & L/R Your colored background will crop.
    – Yorik
    Feb 22, 2017 at 22:37

1 Answer 1

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  • Set up an 8x11" page in InDesign
  • Actually, configure 2 pages, both with the same Master Page applied.
  • Set the 2 pages as a "spread", not "facing pages", just a side by side spread. ("Allow Document Pages to shuffle" for the Pages Panel Options, and drag the pages together.)
  • Design as desired on the master page:

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Note the master page, being applied to the 2 spread pages means there's 1 design on 2 pages. You simply always edit the master page.

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When printing

(The print Preview below will not show the correct print page size because my printer driver doesn't support 11x17" [tabloid]. However, these settings will work, and your preview page size should show you the desired preview.)

  • Tick the Spreads option in the General settings:

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  • Set the Page Size and then change the Page Position dropdown menu to Upper Left in the Setup settings:

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This should all result in a 2-up sheet, on the left side of the 11x17" stock, leaving 1" on the right side to be trimmed.

If you are printing both sides of the 11x17" (4 total impressions) -- for the reverse side, it's a matter of feeding the already printed pieces into the printer correctly so that both sides are butted against the same edge. This may or may not mean you need to print one side upside down, which may mean you need to actually rotate your design 180° on the page first (kind of depends upon the printer). Also note: running printed sheets through an end-use printer can cause damage to the printer if it's not designed for duplex printing. If it is designed for duplex printing, you may be able to merely print 2 copies, duplex, and get the desired results.

InDesign CS6 screen shots... but it should be pretty much the same in newer versions.

based on comments under the question...

If you already have both pages in a spread.. just use the print settings above. You can ignore the Master Page stuff. However, configuring the file that way will make editing easier overall.

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  • Thank you. Yes it is both sides of the 11x17 and the printer is designed for duplex so I believe you are saying I would need one of the pages rotated upside down for the duplex to work automatically without feeding the paper through 2 separate times. That is what I was thinking but I didn't know if there was a print setting I was missing that would do this automatically without turning one of the sides upside down.
    – Darcy
    Feb 22, 2017 at 20:58
  • @Darcy I, personally, would set up as I've described, then just print 2 copies duplex to see what happens. If one side is upside down - I'd duplicate Master Page A (creating Master Page B), then rotate everything on Master Page B 180°, set up 2 more document pages (in a spread) applying Master Page B to them. So you'd have 4 document pages - AA - BB. BB both being upside down.
    – Scott
    Feb 22, 2017 at 21:03
  • I don't think the InDesign option to "Rotate Spread View" will work. It still prints pages in the standard fashion, it merely rotates the view within InDesign. My guess would be just printing 2 copies will work though. My printer does duplex and the top is always on the same edge... so I imagine your printer would do the same.
    – Scott
    Feb 22, 2017 at 21:05
  • The only problem I can foresee is that one side is butted against the left edge and the reverse side is butted against the right edge. That would mean you may need to center the spread printing and trim 1/2" off both sides rather then 1" off one side.
    – Scott
    Feb 22, 2017 at 21:13

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