Double-sided PDF printing: page order and duplex settings

1 min read·25 July 2026

Double-sided printing saves paper but can cause problems with page order. How do you ensure front and back are on the right sides? A practical guide to double-sided PDFs.

What is verso order?

In double-sided printing, each sheet has a front (recto) and back (verso). In bookbinding layout, odd pages should be on the right, even pages on the left. If the order is wrong, front and back are reversed or upside down.

Duplex setting in print dialogue

In the print dialogue (Windows or Mac) look for "Double-sided" or "Duplex". Choose "Flip on long edge" for portrait documents (books, reports), "Flip on short edge" for landscape documents (calendars, spreadsheets).

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Without a duplex printer

Print all odd pages (1, 3, 5...), flip the paper over, print all even pages (2, 4, 6...). PDFrust's evenOdd tool separates odd and even pages into separate files — ideal for manual double-sided printing.

Booklet printing

For printing a booklet (folded A4 → A5 format), use the booklet tool in PDFrust. This reorders the pages in the correct sequence for a folded and stapled booklet.

Check duplex PDF

Use the duplex tool to adjust the duplex metadata in the PDF itself — this sets the printer to automatically print double-sided without manual settings in the print dialogue.