Print two PDF pages on one sheet — side by side, half the paper

How to use the PDF 2-up tool

1. Drop a PDF onto the box or press Choose a file.
2. Choose the Page size of the sheets you will print on: A4, US Letter, US Legal, A3 or A5.
3. Tick Thin border around each page if you want a light grey frame around each half, which helps when cutting sheets in two.
4. Press Make 2-up PDF and download the file, named with -2up added.

What it does and when to use it

Printing two pages per sheet halves the paper and makes a long document much easier to carry:

• Reading drafts. Review a 40-page report on 20 sheets, with room in the outer margins for notes.
• Lecture notes and handouts that students will read, not frame.
• Proofing a booklet’s spreads, since two facing pages appear side by side.
• Cutting into halves. On A4 sheets each half is a little smaller than A5, so A5 flyers print two at a time, slightly reduced, and can be cut apart along the border.

If you want even more pages per sheet for slides or thumbnails, the PDF 4-up tool puts four in a grid. Check how many sheets you will need first with the PDF page counter.

How it works

pdf-lib (@cantoo/pdf-lib) builds a new PDF in your browser. Each sheet is the chosen size turned to landscape, with an 8 mm margin all round and a 6 mm gap down the middle. Pages are taken in pairs: the first goes in the left half, the second in the right. Each page is embedded as a vector drawing (not a picture), scaled to fit its half without stretching, and centred. Pages that carry a rotation setting are placed the way they display. With the border option, a thin light-grey rectangle is drawn around each half. Your file is not uploaded, and nothing extra is downloaded.

On A4 sheets each half is 137.5 × 194 mm. An A4 page therefore appears at about 137 × 194 mm, and a US Letter page on Letter sheets at about 60% of its size.

Worked examples

A 12-page A4 report. Page size A4, no border. The summary reads 12 pages → 6 sheets. Sheet 1 has pages 1 and 2, sheet 6 has pages 11 and 12.

A 13-page handout with borders. The result has 7 landscape sheets with a frame around each page; the right half of sheet 7 is empty.

US Letter. Choose US Letter for printers in North America; the same pairs are placed on 11 × 8.5 inch landscape sheets.

Limits and tips

• Links, bookmarks, form fields and the document title are not carried into the new file, because each page is placed as a drawing.
• Text stays sharp and selectable, since pages are not turned into images.
• To print a booklet that folds in the middle, the page order needs rearranging first; this tool keeps reading order.
• Password-protected files must be unlocked first with Unlock PDF.