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
264 Comments to How to print one A4 page as two A5 pages in Microsoft Word
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Choosing ‘4 pages per sheet’ and typing ‘1,1,1,1’ in the Pages box should do it.
Doesn’t work for Word 365. When using 1,1 I get a 2 miniature copies of my original A4 sheet on the top. Each one is exactly a quarter of the page. When trying 1,1,1,1 I get one A4 sheet with my original in each corner. Its driving me nuts !
BRILLIANT. Thank you
Brilliantly helpful. Thank you. Very simple and was able to achieve the same in 365 no problem. Saved hours of hysteria trying to alter the formatting!
I am trying to print an A4 flyer as 2x A5 side by side, I have followed the instructions above but they are printing side by side on a portrait document so they are really small. I have tried printing on landscape but it cuts some of the flyer off. Any ideas??
Hi I just cracked it. I have been trying to turn an A4 into two A5’s for a long time and asking all my intelligent friends for desperate help. Your advice about how to do it was exceptional and easy. Well done. it has made my life very easy now. Thanks a million.
DELIGHTED to hear that!
Hi Ian. I have a one page landscape document that I want to print 2 to an A4 page, one under the other. I can print 2 to a page but it makes the document portrait which I don’t want. Any answers?
Thank you. That was a brilliant tip. Very simple but worked very well.
Ruth.
Thanks. Spent all morning trying to do this until I read your post!
So, why didn’t I see this before? Excellent advice that saved me so much time! Thank you!
In theory it works, however the margins are not the same on both A5 pages then. if you fold the A4 in half they are not exact matches.
any solution for this?
Excellent advice – thank you.
Hi
I just wanted to thank you for this great tip. I’ve spent hours trying to get 2 x A5 onto an A4 page, with varying success. This works brilliantly.