How to print one A4 page as two A5 pages in Microsoft Word
It’s a common problem: you have written your article, poster, flyer or handout on an A4 page in MS Word, and you suddenly think to yourself, “I could do with printing two of these per page at A5 size”.
Figure 1: Initial A4 Page
Now, Word has what looks like the perfect option; the ‘Pages per Sheet’ dropdown in the Print dialog box.
Figure 2: Print dialog with 2 pages selected
Trouble is, if you pick this option, what you get is this:
Figure 3: A5 page, but only one on A4
No problem, you think, I’ll just choose 2 copies in the print dialog. Unfortunately, what this gives you is two copies of Figure 3; you don’t get the two A5 copies side by side on one sheet, but instead you get two bits of A4 paper, with the same wasted space on the right.
At this point you probably bite the bullet and copy your A4 page onto another page, so your source document is now two pages long, page two being a duplicate of page one. This is less than ideal because any subsequent changes will have to be made to both pages, increasing the risk of errors creeping in, and also wasting valuable time.
Figure 4: Two separate A4 pages
There is a better way! My method uses just one A4 page, so any changes need only be made once. All you need to do, in the Print dialog box, is change the ‘Page Range’ from All to Pages: 1,1. Remember to keep ‘Pages per Sheet’ set to 2.
Figure 5: Print dialog with custom page range selected
VOILA! Your A4 page is now perfectly printed as 2 A5 pages, side by side on a single A4 sheet.
Figure 6: Two A5 copies on a single A4 sheet
225 Comments to How to print one A4 page as two A5 pages in Microsoft Word
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Thank you so much for not complicating the answer. Well done. This is the first time I have ever bothered to write a review.
Hi thanks a million. I’ve known about printing 2 per page but always did 2 pages as I didn’t know about the printing tip. My problem is that often if there is a page border set on the page then that seems to shrink even more and prints completely wrong. Any way of changing the page border setting?
This is great – thanks very much! I do have one issue however, printing it this way from a word doc is fine, but trying the same from a pdf, it doesn’t give me a page range option! Any thoughts?? X
In my version of Adobe Reader DC, the print dialog window has a ‘Pages’ box, and you can select that and type 1,1 in exactly the same way. Hope that helps!
A grateful thanks from me. I played all round the houses before giving in and searching for a solution. Your’s worked perfectly for me and is so easy to do.
You absolute star!! Just the solution I was looking for 🙂 Thank you so much for posting…
Thank you thank you, thank you!!! I wasted a ton of ink and paper before I found your clear and concise instructions. Much appreciated
Thank you! Very clear instructions 🙂
Thank you, an easy solution and saves me having to cut down my A4 sized paper to A6 size.
This is a brilliant description but can you help with this….?
I am trying to make an A5 double sided leaflet I’ve got an A4 size sheet and put it in two columns I’ve just used the left side of the column and changed the margins. Then I’ve done the same on another sheet after that one. I’ve told it to print double sided this works but the only problem is the other side is upside down when printed. Anyone got any solutions? It’s driving me crazy!!
Thanks x
Thank you so much for this Iain. It worked perfectly first time, and you’ve most likely saved me lots of wasted time trying to work out how to do it.
Thank you for sharing & be blessed 🙂
@Sarah – You may have solved this by now but for the benefit of others looking for a solution.
In the printer’s option for 2-sided printing, select auto(long-side binding), or the equivalent for your particular model. This should get it the right way up.
After nearly an hour of frustration, trying to make this work, I finally did by putting 1,1,1,1 in the Page to Print box. Fro whatever reason, 1,1 did not print the way it should.
This printed two pages each with two copies of the A4 document resized to A5.
So passing this on to anyone else it might help…
I have a two page A4 document which I print double-sided to make a newsletter. I would like to print it as 2 A5 double-sided newsletter on an A4 sheet of paper, so I can guillotine down the middle to make 2 small newsletters. Can anyone tell me how to do this, as I have been practicing by adapting the suggestions above, but even by requesting flipping on the long edge it is not working 🙁
If you simply select ‘2 pages per sheet’ your A4 page should have page 1 and 2 on the same side. If you put that same piece of paper back in (flipped over) and do exactly the same thing, you should find that if you guillotine down the middle, page 1 on one side has page 2 on the other. It’s all about how you put the paper back in.
Oh I see! I thought the double-sided command would flip the page over in the printer. Thanks I’ll give it a try.
Thank you so much! This has just helped me massively.
It worked!!! I have never been able to do this. Thank you for the info. Happy Days!!
Thankyou. I have always need this and you put it so clearly.
Thank you for explaining it so clearly, thank you thank you thank you
Many thanks for the tip. Easy to do and well explained.
Thanks, this is brilliant. Time well saved.
Have done as instructed and get the desired result except when I cut down the middle I do not have the same even margins around the now A5 leaflets.
That will be to do with your printer setup. Perhaps have a play with the margins?
Thank you – will do that.