Sliding binding correcton

Question

I'm printing a document which is typeset as an A5 booklet version of my thesis (classicthesis, scrreprt class). I'm printing it on A4 paper and bind it myself with some common office gadgets. Now the problem is that the papers in the middle will get pushed outside due to how the whole thing is folded.

I would like to apply about -0.4 mm binding offset correction (in the same sense how BCOR works) in steps at each 4th page (so that each leaf of paper would have consistent binding corrections). Is there an automated way to do this in LaTeX?

I realize this could be possible manually using the geometry package, but I'm already using \areaset elsewhere and I'm told those two don't mix well.

EDIT:

So as I said, the pages are A5 but are printed on A4 paper, folded in half and stapled:

The problem I want to fix is this:

I want to cut the edge of the booklet off, so that all the papers are aligned. This consequently shortens the outer margin of the pages, but more in the middle and less at the outside. Hence the need for changing the binding correction.

I'm currently typesetting this as a single sided A5 document which I print as "booklet, double sided, flip at the short side" in my printer settings, which puts four pages on a single leaf of paper. That's why I need to increase the correction each four pages (although not so important, the 0.1 mm shift would likely be imperceptible -- but I'd know and it would wake me up in the middle of the night).

Answer 1

Here’s a two step solution I blogged this month (german: Booklets erzeugen):

1. make you document in single pages (A5) as you already do
2. use the following code to impose a booklet

\documentclass[
   paper=296mm:210mm,
]{scrartcl}

\usepackage{xparse}

\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage{tikz}
   \usetikzlibrary{calc}
   \tikzset{
      every node/.style = {
         inner sep = 0pt,
         outer sep = 0pt,
      }
   }

\ExplSyntaxOn

\int_new:N \l_booklet_sheets_int
\int_new:N \l_booklet_counter_int
\int_new:N \l_booklet_total_pages_int
\int_new:N \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int
\dim_new:N \l_booklet_creep_dim

\cs_new:Npn \booklet_get_page:nn #1#2 {
   \int_compare:nT { ( #1 ) <= \l_booklet_total_pages_int } {
      \includegraphics [
         width = 0.5\paperwidth,
         height = \paperheight,
         keepaspectratio,
         page = #1,
      ] { #2 }
   }
}

\NewDocumentCommand { \MakeBooklet } { O{0mm} m } {
   \file_if_exist:nTF { #2 .pdf } {
      \int_zero:N \l_booklet_counter_int
      \dim_zero:N \l_booklet_creep_dim
      \pdfximage { #2 .pdf }
      \int_set:Nn \l_booklet_total_pages_int
         { \the \pdflastximagepages }
      \int_compare:nTF { \int_mod:nn { \l_booklet_total_pages_int } { 4 } != 0 } {
         \int_set:Nn \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int
            { \l_booklet_total_pages_int + 4 - \int_mod:nn { \l_booklet_total_pages_int } { 4 } }
      } {
         \int_set_eq:NN \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int \l_booklet_total_pages_int
      }
      \int_set:Nn \l_booklet_sheets_int
         { \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int / 2 }
      \int_do_while:nn { \l_booklet_counter_int < \l_booklet_sheets_int } {
         \clearpage
         \int_incr:N \l_booklet_counter_int
         \begin{tikzpicture}[remember~picture, overlay]
            \clip (current~page.north) rectangle (current~page.south~east);
            \node [anchor = west] at ($
               (current~page.center)
               -
               (\dim_use:N \l_booklet_creep_dim, 0)
            $) {
               \booklet_get_page:nn
                  { \int_use:N \l_booklet_counter_int }
                  { #2 }
            };
         \end{tikzpicture}
         \begin{tikzpicture}[remember~picture, overlay]
            \clip (current~page.north~west) rectangle (current~page.south);
            \node [anchor = east] at ($
               (current~page.center)
               +
               (\dim_use:N \l_booklet_creep_dim, 0)
            $) {
               \booklet_get_page:nn
                  { \int_eval:n { \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int - \l_booklet_counter_int + 1 } }
                  { #2 }
            };
         \end{tikzpicture}
         \clearpage
         \int_incr:N \l_booklet_counter_int
         \begin{tikzpicture}[remember~picture, overlay]
            \clip (current~page.north~west) rectangle (current~page.south);
            \node [anchor = east] at ($
               (current~page.center)
               +
               (\dim_use:N \l_booklet_creep_dim, 0)
            $) {
               \booklet_get_page:nn
                  { \int_use:N \l_booklet_counter_int }
                  { #2 }
            };
         \end{tikzpicture}
         \begin{tikzpicture}[remember~picture, overlay]
            \clip (current~page.north) rectangle (current~page.south~east);
            \node [anchor = west] at ($
               (current~page.center)
               -
               (\dim_use:N \l_booklet_creep_dim, 0)
            $) {
               \booklet_get_page:nn
                  { \int_eval:n { \l_booklet_total_pages_to_four_int - \l_booklet_counter_int + 1 } }
                  { #2 }
            };
         \end{tikzpicture}
         \dim_set:Nn \l_booklet_creep_dim {
            #1 * \l_booklet_counter_int / 2
         }
      }
   } {
      \Huge
      \noindent \textbf { Error! } \\
      File ~ \texttt { #2 .pdf } ~ not ~ found.
   }
}

\ExplSyntaxOff

\pagestyle{empty}

\begin{document}

% #1 = shift per sheet (= thickness of paper, see below) [optional]
% #2 = filename without suffix (must be a PDF)
\MakeBooklet[1mm]{singe-pages}

\end{document}

The paper size of the printing sheets is given as class option paper=b:h with b = 2 × width of close booklet width and h = booklet hight. Then one can simply copy the implementation code and use \MakeBooklet. Run pdflatex (at least) twice to get the correct positions.

You can finde details about the implementation in my german blog article, linked above …

---

How to calculate the shift per page?

The shift of the most inner (middle) pages compared to the outer (first and last) pages – the creep - can be calculated with this equation:

creep = (count of pages incl. cover – 4) ÷ 4 × thickness of paper
creep = (count of sheets – 1) × thickness of paper

The shift for pages on a certain sheet – lets call it v – with this one:

v = creep ÷ (count of sheets – 1) × (sheet number – 1)
v = thickness of paper × (sheet number – 1)

Where “page” refers to the pages of the single paged (A5) document and “sheet” to the printed (A4) paper sheets.