How it works
Send your pages
One PDF of single pages in reading order, or several files.
Choose, see the price
Black & white or colour, cover, copies: the estimate follows every setting.
Collection or delivery
Free collection at Rue de l'Yser, Tournai, or shipping to 22 EU countries.
Free pickup in Tournai
Or delivery to your address or a pickup point: Belgium, France and 20 other EU countries.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to put my PDF into booklet layout before sending it?
No, send it as single pages: one A4 page per PDF page, in reading order, starting with the first page. The site does the imposition itself, that is, the position of each page on the folded sheets. If your file has already been put into booklet layout and the site recognises it, it offers you a second version put back into reading order, for you to choose before continuing.
Does my document have to be a multiple of 4 pages?
No, blank pages complete the booklet at the end, and the flip-through preview shows them to you; they count in the price, so a 22-page document is charged as 24 pages. Do think about the back cover, though, the outside back face of the booklet: your last page only lands there if the document has 8, 12, 16, 20 pages, and so on. With 22 pages, that face and the one before it stay blank. Add or remove pages to get back to a multiple of 4.
Can I print full bleed, right to the edge of the page?
No. The booklet is not trimmed on a guillotine, and its edges keep a white margin of at least 4 mm. A photo or colour background that touches the edge of your page will therefore come out with a thin white border. On the plus side, nothing is cut off: a page number or a line of text placed very close to the edge stays intact.
What is the cover like?
It is optional: without it, the whole booklet is on 80 gsm. With it, the outer sheet of the quire is printed on a thicker 120 gsm satin paper, for €0.20 incl. VAT per copy, the price of one A3 sheet. It is not an extra sheet: on the outside it carries page 1 and the last page of the booklet, which is blank if your document does not have a multiple of 4 pages, and on the inside page 2 and the second-to-last page. It is the only cover paper offered for stapled booklets, because it is folded together with the quire.
What happens to my landscape pages?
By default, a sideways A4 page is placed as it is on the upright booklet page: it comes out at about 68% of its size, between two white bands. Tick Straighten landscape pages: the site turns it a quarter turn, and it then fills the page like the others, at about 96%. The rotation works on files of up to 80 MB; above that, the document goes through as it is.
How much does it cost to print an A4 booklet?
Expect to pay €32 in black & white and €144 in colour for 50 booklets of 16 pages without a cover, VAT included. Those 50 booklets make 800 A4 copies, and the booklet follows the same volume-discount bands as black & white copies and colour copies. For a different run, the page gives you an estimate as soon as you upload your file; the 120 gsm cover, if you take it, adds €0.20 per booklet.
A4 or A5 booklet: which should I choose?
The A5 booklet is made from folded A4 sheets: it is half the size, and each printed side counts as one A4 copy instead of two. A 16-page A5 booklet therefore counts as 8 copies, against 16 in A4. The rules stay the same: 80 gsm paper, two staples at the fold, 8 to 200 pages. A4 remains more comfortable for dense text, tables or photos.
Can the booklets be delivered to an association or abroad?
Yes. Programmes for a fête or a club's newsletters can be sent to the address you enter in the basket, in Belgium, France or twenty other European Union countries, and depending on the country to a pickup point. The shipping cost is shown before you pay. If you are in the area, come and collect them instead at Rue de l'Yser 11 in Tournai: collection is free.
The complete guide: Brochure, catalogue or report: your stapled A4 booklet
A stapled A4 booklet is an A4 brochure whose sheets are folded in half, slipped inside one another and held by two staples set along the fold. Printers call this finish saddle stitching, and it is also known simply as an A4 booklet. It is the format for catalogues, activity reports, programmes for a show or a fête and association newsletters; as a student, you can also use it to give shape to your work placement report or your portfolio. On this page, you upload your file, leaf through it exactly as it will be folded and stapled, then order your booklets from Xtra Copy.
It all starts with a simple rule: an A3 sheet folded in half gives four A4 pages, two on the front and two on the back. A 16-page booklet therefore takes 4 sheets, a 40-page booklet takes 10, and the printed booklet always has a multiple of 4 pages. Your document does not need to match exactly: if it has 22 pages, two blank pages are added at the end to reach 24, the flip-through preview shows them to you before you order, and the booklet is priced as 24 pages. An A4 booklet holds between 2 and 50 A3 sheets, that is 8 to 200 pages: a 5-page file is made up to 8, and a file of 4 pages or fewer does not make a booklet.
You have nothing to lay out yourself. Send your pages in reading order, as a single PDF or as several files whose pages are added together; JPG and PNG images are accepted too, up to 120 MB per file and 450 MB in total. The site arranges the pages in folding order, which is called imposition, and places each whole page in its half of the sheet, slightly reduced, without cropping or distorting its content. Two tick boxes fine-tune this layout. Straighten landscape pages makes a sideways table or diagram fill the whole page instead of being shrunk by almost a third. Push to the fold moves the two facing pages up against the fold to reduce the white space in the middle, without changing their size.
The inside pages are printed double-sided on 80 gsm paper, at no extra cost. This is the weight chosen so that the quire folds and staples cleanly: any heavier and the fold cracks, which is why thicker papers are not offered for booklets. For a more polished brochure, a 120 gsm satin cover is available as an option. Printing is either entirely black & white or entirely colour; in colour, every page is charged at the colour rate, even pages carrying only text. The two staples at the fold are included, free of charge.
The price is based on the volume-discounted rate for A4 copies, VAT included: a 16-page booklet counts as 16 copies, a 40-page booklet as 40. Ordered on its own, a single 16-page booklet without a cover comes to €0.80 in black & white and €4.80 in colour. Print fifty for a general meeting or a trade fair: the 800 copies move into a lower price band, and each booklet then costs just €0.64 in black & white, €2.88 in colour.
A fête programme in Ath, the annual report of an association in Mouscron, a sole trader's catalogue in Mons or Lille: once printed, your run is waiting for you at the counter, Rue de l'Yser 11, Tournai, in Picardy Wallonia, and you take it away with no collection charge, unless you have it shipped to Belgium, France or twenty other European Union countries. And if your document runs to more than 200 pages or needs thicker paper, go for black & white or colour copies instead, which offer ring binding or perfect binding with a glued square spine.