Printing guides: get your file ready, pay less, get a better book 22 free PDF tools · step-by-step guides · price calculators

Print a thesis, dissertation or project report

For PhD, MBA, engineering and MBBS students with chapters in separate files.

1. Put each chapter in one folder, named in order (01 Introduction, 02 Review…).
2. Open Smart PDF Merge with index and choose the folder. It builds one PDF with a contents page, chapter pages and bookmarks.
3. If your university wants numbers in a set place, use Add page numbers to set the position and start number.
4. Printing front and back? Run Mirror margins so the gap is always on the binding side.
5. Count the pages with PDF page counter and get the total from the Book printing calculator.
6. Send the file with Send files for printing, or WhatsApp it to 98201 69619.

Thesis copies are often printed on 100 GSM paper with hard binding. See book printing.

Print notes that are mostly black and white with some colour pages

For MBBS notes, lab manuals, coaching material and reports with a few diagrams.

1. Open Colour page separator and add your PDF.
2. It makes two files: the colour pages and the black and white pages, safe for front and back printing.
3. Check the totals: black and white from ₹0.50 a side, colour from ₹1.50 a side (or 100 GSM Premium for fewer than 200 colour pages).
4. Send both files together with Send files for printing and tell us they are one book, so the pages are bound in the right order.

Example: a 1,000-page book with 50 colour pages costs about ₹2,000 printed all in colour (₹2.00 a side), but about ₹775 with only the 50 colour pages in colour.

Print lecture slides and handouts on less paper

For students printing PowerPoint slides or class notes.

1. If the slides have dark backgrounds, run Invert & remove background first. Dark pages cost more and print badly.
2. Open Pages per sheet (N-up) and choose 4 or 6 slides per sheet. Nothing gets cut off.
3. Print front and back. 200 slides at 4 per sheet, front and back, need only 25 sheets.
4. Spiral bind it — ₹30 up to 50 sheets.

4 slides per sheet cuts the paper, the price and the courier weight to about a quarter.

Print a very thick book (more than 550 pages)

One spiral holds up to 275 sheets — 550 pages printed front and back.

1. Open Split PDF for binding and set the binding limit, for example 500 pages.
2. It splits the PDF into near-equal parts, only where a new chapter starts, and repeats the contents in each part.
3. Want fixed page ranges instead? Use Split PDF by page numbers.
4. Each part is printed and bound as its own volume.

Equal volumes look neater on the shelf and are easier to carry than one huge book.

Reprint old scanned notes so they look clean

For photocopied notes, old question papers and phone-camera scans.

1. Open Invert & remove background and choose "remove background". Grey and yellow backgrounds become white.
2. Pages sideways? Fix them with Rotate PDF pages.
3. Need to change words? Read the text with Free OCR and edit it in Word.
4. Add numbers with Add page numbers, then send it for printing.

A clean white background prints sharper and makes the black and white rate apply.

Self-publish a paperback or hard-bound book

For authors and small publishers.

1. Fit every page to the same size and add a gutter with Add margins to PDF.
2. For front and back pages, use Mirror margins so text stays clear of the spine.
3. Add page numbers with Add page numbers, skipping the title pages.
4. Make the full cover with Book cover maker. It works out the spine width from your page count and paper.
5. Price the run with the Book printing calculator.

Order a few sample copies first, then the full run. See book printing.

Print WhatsApp chats, web pages or app screens

For court cases, insurance claims, records and school projects.

1. Take long (scrolling) screenshots on your phone.
2. Open Long screenshot to PDF. It cuts them into A4 pages without slicing a line of text.
3. Join several days or chats into one file with Merge PDF.
4. Add page numbers with Add page numbers so pages can be referred to easily.

Apply for an exam or government job

For forms that ask for a photo and signature of an exact size.

1. Resize your photo and signature with Resize photo to exact KB to the exact KB, pixels and DPI the form asks for.
2. Put all certificates in one PDF with Merge PDF.
3. Too many pages? Remove extras with Organise PDF pages.
4. Need printed copies of your documents? Send them to us.

Make separate sets for many students or clients

For teachers, coaching classes, CA and law offices.

1. Have one long PDF? Split it into one file per person with Split PDF by page numbers, and name each file.
2. Many separate PDFs? Count them all at once with PDF page counter and save the list to Excel.
3. Send all files as one ZIP with Send files for printing.

We print and bind each set separately and label it the way you ask.