PDF print prep tools

Reflowing a PDF so a printer, or a print shop, does the right thing with it. N-up puts 2, 4, 6 or 9 pages on a single sheet, the quickest way to cut a handout's paper use or produce a compact reading copy. Booklet maker rearranges pages into the imposition order a saddle-stitched booklet needs, so a double-sided stack folds into something readable with the spine in the right place. Poster split is the inverse of N-up: it tiles one large page across several sheets you tape together, for a plan or a poster that will never fit your printer.

Add bleed and crop marks prepares artwork for commercial printing, extending the page and marking where the trim falls so color still runs to the edge after cutting. Bates numbering follows the legal-discovery convention — a sequential identifier stamped across one or more documents so every page in a production has a unique, citable reference.

Print prep is often the last step before a file goes to an outside supplier, and it is usually applied to something confidential: a case bundle, an unannounced design, a client's plans. Running the imposition in your browser means the only copy that ever leaves your machine is the one you deliberately send.