Printing Issue

Church Secretary 0 Reputation points
2026-09-30T17:12:38.7533333+00:00

I have a booklet that was created by someone else. When I print the booklet in book fold, the numbering of the pages is out of order. When I print it to PDF I see that there is a blank page where it does not belong. So far I have not been able to remove that blank page. Any suggestions?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For business | Windows

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  1. Charles Kenyon 171.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-09-30T21:28:23.7833333+00:00

    See MVP Suzanne Barnhill's page: Booklet Printing https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/Formatting/BookletPrinting.htm

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  2. John Korchok 236.6K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2026-09-30T18:07:38.79+00:00

    If the document is using Different odd and even headers or is set to Mirror margins, then Word will add a blank page after a section break on an odd page, to ensure the following page starts on an odd-numbered (right-hand) page.

    On the Layout tab, open the Page Setup dialog and select the Layout tab to check for Different odd and even. In the same dialog, choose the Margins tab and check if Multiple pages is set to Mirror margins.

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  4. AI answer

    2026-09-30T17:12:53.3333333+00:00

    A likely cause is that the document has an extra blank page created by a page break, section break, or Word’s required end paragraph. That can throw booklet page ordering off when printing to PDF or using Book fold.

    Try this in Word:

    1. Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to show paragraph marks.
    2. Look on the blank page for either of these:
      • a Page Break
      • a Section Break
    3. If there is a manual Page Break, select it and delete it.
    4. If there is a Section Break in the middle of the document, do not just delete it unless formatting is unaffected. Instead:
      • go to Layout > Breaks
      • change it to Continuous
    5. If the blank page is at the end of the document, select the final paragraph mark and set its font size to 1 pt by typing 01 in the Font size box and pressing Enter.
    6. If that still leaves the blank page, go to Layout > Margins > Custom Margins and reduce the bottom margin slightly, such as to 0.3 inches.
    7. If the empty paragraph has Page break before enabled, right-click it, open Paragraph Settings, go to Lines and Page Breaks, and clear Page break before.

    For booklet printing specifically:

    1. Go to Layout > Margins > Custom Margins.
    2. Set Multiple pages to Book fold.
    3. Check File > Page Setup and confirm the paper size is correct. The final booklet page size is half the paper size.
    4. When printing, use File > Print and print on both sides. If printing manually, follow the prompt and flip the sheets on the short edge according to the printer instructions.

    One more thing to check: booklet page counts often need to align to the folded sheet layout. A similar case with a 26-page booklet printed correctly after setting the page count to 28, which accounted for the needed blank pages in booklet layout.

    Also avoid using Manual duplex with Book fold plus Front of the sheet selected, because that combination is documented to print incorrectly in Word.

    References:

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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