At-Home Printing Guide for PDF Inserts

This guide walks you through how to print, trim, and hole-punch your inserts at home using the files included with your purchase. Because home printers and setups can vary, we’ve provided multiple file options and clear, step-by-step instructions so you can choose what works best for you. You don’t need a professional printer setup, just a standard home printer, the right file for your needs, and a few simple checks before printing.

Most of our inserts are designed as double-page spreads (DPS), meaning the left and right pages work together as a single spread. For this reason, we recommend printing double-sided to avoid blank pages throughout your planner. This can be done using either a duplex-ready printer or a single-sided printer. We’ll walk you through both options so you can choose the method that best suits your printer and setup.

If you are a visual learner, we also have a print instructions YouTube video which can be found here.

How This Guide Is Structured

To keep things clear and easy to follow, this guide is broken down into four sections.

Understanding Your Files

To make printing at home as easy as possible, your inserts are provided in four key sizes and layouts; A5 Single, A4 DPS, Half-Letter Single, and Letter DPS. The document you will need to print from will be based on your printer capabilities and the size you would like your final inserts to be. Use the flow chart below to work out what PDF you need to use:

Scaling options and printer settings for the above are covered in the ‘Printing Your Inserts’ section. Now that we know which file type works for you and your needs, let's go through some info you’ll need to know when viewing your inserts.

Collated PDFs for Duplex Printing

All of our inserts are collated PDFs meaning they will look out of order when viewed on screen. This is intentional as they are organised so they will be in the correct order after printing double sided.

If your printer does not support automatic duplex (double-sided) printing, you can still print double-sided manually using our manual duplex instructions. Duplex printing is ideal to reduce bulk and wasted pages in your discbinder. It also uses half the paper!

Still want to print single sided? That’s ok! We have a note on how to do this at the end of our ‘Printing Your Inserts’ section.

A Note About Trimming & Crop Marks

To keep printing simple and to reduce unnecessary trimming, our inserts are intentionally designed without crop marks.

For Double Page Spread (DPS) files, you can cut straight down the centre of the page to separate inserts:

A4 paper: Cut at 148.5 mm (5.85 inches)
Letter paper: Cut at 5.5 inches (139.7 mm)

This single centre cut creates two evenly sized pages, ready for punching and planning.

Printing from a PDF Reader

For best results, we recommend opening and printing your files using Adobe Acrobat Reader or a similar PDF reader, rather than printing directly from your web browser. Printing from a browser can sometimes cause unexpected scaling or margin changes. All print setups in these instructions are based on Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is free to use and widely supported across most printers and operating systems.

Printing Your Inserts

To print your inserts, follow the instructions for your chosen PDF.

Both sets of print instructions will cater for automatic Duplex (printers that are set up for double-sided printing) and manual duplex (printers that do not support double-sided printing).

There are also instructions for single sided printing at the end of the Single Printing section. These instructions can also come in handy if you ever need to print a single page to add into your planner.

Single Printing

Step 1: Choose the correct file and reader program

Make sure you have downloaded Adobe Acrobat Reader (it is free!) or another trusted PDF reader you are comfortable using. Open either the A5 Single or Half Letter Single PDF. You can follow the instructions up to Step 5 regardless of your printing setup. From Step 5 onwards, the instructions will split into automatic duplex printing and manual duplex printing.

Step 2: Open the Print Menu

Open your PDF and select Print from the Menu drop down or by clicking the printer icon.

Step 3: Page selection & orientation

Set the following options:

Pages to Print: All Pages
Orientation: Portrait (or auto if it has set your orientation correctly in the preview)
Pages per Sheet: 1

See end of Step 5 for screenshot of full print instructions

Step 4: Paper size & scaling

Choose settings based on the paper you are printing onto:

Printing on A5 or Half Letter paper

Paper size: A5 or Half Letter
Scaling: Actual Size (100%)

Printing on A4 or Letter paper

Paper size: A4 or Letter
Scaling: Fit to Page

These settings ensure your inserts are correctly sized and centred. Make sure the settings you choose in your computer printer settings are the same as your printer setup. Most printers will prompt you if there is a mismatch of information (ie. A4 printer paper loaded instead of A5)

Step 5: Duplex settings (Duplex compatible printers only)

If your printer is not set up for automatic double-sided printing, please move onto the alternative instructions below. If your printer is capable of printing duplex, follow the below settings:

Select Print on both sides
Set to Flip on Long Edge (also written as Flip Over in some programs)
Print your document

NOTE: Some printers have special requirements for duplex printing and may set flip parameters differently. Please follow your printer’s instructions for duplex printing if they differ from the steps above.

You can now move to ‘Step 6: After Printing’ to organise your pages in the correct order

Alternative: Manual Duplex Printing

To manually print double sided, you need to work out the way your printer feeds your pages through, so you know you are printing your pages on the right side and the correct orientation.

Print a test page first!

Grab a scrap piece of paper and mark an X in the top right corner and place it in your feeder or tray face up.
Print a single page and note where the X is on your final print job. This will let you know if your pages need to be face up or face down, and which ends are the top and bottom of your pages.
Once you work this out, we suggest writing or drawing a little reference guide for yourself and either sticking it on the side of the printer, or keeping it close by for future reference. This way you should only have to do this test once.

Now that you have worked out your printer's feed orientation, we can move onto printing a manual duplex page.

Print a single page of your insert PDF by selecting ‘pages: 1’ in the pages to print section of the print window
Once the page has printed, put that printed page back into your printer. Make sure the blank side is going to be the side printed on and that your page will flip on the long edge to avoid upside down pages.
Print a single page of your inserts PDF but this time select ‘pages: 2’ from the pages to print section. This will print the second page of the document on the back of page 1 that we previously printed

Once you have completed this test and know your pages print double sided with the correct orientation, you can move onto printing the whole document.

In the pages to print section, select ‘Print odd pages’ (This may be in the more options section of pages to print)
For your odd pages you tick the reverse box. If you do not print your pages in reverse for your odd pages, your final pages will not be in order
Once the pages have printed, put those printed pages back into your printer. Make sure the blank side is going to be the side printed on and that your page will flip on the long edge to avoid upside down pages.
Change your pages to print section to ‘Print even pages’ and untick the reverse box to put your pages back in the correct order.

Your double sided pages are now printed and you can move onto the next step.

Step 6: After printing

You’re almost there! We just need to bring a page to the front:

This will place your inserts in the correct order and you are now ready to punch! Jump ahead to the next section ‘Hole Punching Your Inserts’.

Double Page Spread (DPS) Printing

Step 1: Choose the correct file and reader program

Make sure you have downloaded Adobe Acrobat Reader (it is free!) or another trusted PDF reader you are comfortable using. Open either the A4 DPS or Letter DPS PDF. You can follow the instructions up to Step 5 regardless of your printing setup. From Step 5 onwards, the instructions will split into automatic duplex printing and manual duplex printing.

Step 2: Open the Print Menu

Open your PDF and select Print from the Menu drop down or by clicking the printer icon.

Step 3: Page selection & orientation

Set the following options:

Pages to Print: All Pages
Orientation: Landscape
Pages per Sheet: 1

NOTE: The DPS PDFs are already set up with 2 pages per sheet so you do not need to select 2 pages per sheet.

See end of Step 5 for screenshot of full print instructions

Step 4: Paper size & scaling

Choose settings based on the paper you are printing onto:

Printing on A4

Paper size: A4
Scaling: Actual Size (100%)

Printing on Letter paper

Paper size: Letter
Scaling: Actual Size (100%)

Step 5: Duplex settings (Duplex compatible printers only)

If your printer is not set up for automatic double-sided printing, please move onto the alternative instructions below. If your printer is capable of printing duplex, follow the below settings:

Select Print on both sides
Set to Flip on Short Edge (also written as Flip Up in some programs)
Print your document

You can now move to ‘Step 6: Trimming Your Inserts’ to organise your pages in the correct order

Alternative: Manual Duplex Printing

To manually print double sided, you need to work out the way your printer feeds your pages through, so you know you are printing your pages on the right side and the correct orientation.

Print a test page first!

Grab a scrap piece of paper and mark an X in the top right corner and place it in your feeder or tray face up.
Print a single page and note where the X is on your final print job. This will let you know if your pages need to be face up or face down, and which ends are the top and bottom of your pages.
Once you work this out, we suggest writing or drawing a little reference guide for yourself and either sticking it on the side of the printer, or keeping it close by for future reference. This way you should only have to do this test once.

Now that you have worked out your printer's feed orientation, we can move onto printing a manual duplex page.

Print a single page of your insert PDF by selecting ‘pages: 1’ in the pages to print section of the print window
Once the page has printed, put that printed page back into your printer. Make sure the blank side is going to be the side printed on and that your page will flip on the short edge to avoid upside down pages.
Print a single page of your inserts PDF but this time select ‘pages: 2’ from the pages to print section. This will print the second page of the document on the back of page 1 that we previously printed

Once you have completed this test and know your pages print double sided with the correct orientation, you can move onto printing the whole document.

In the pages to print section, select ‘Print odd pages’ (This may be in the more options section of pages to print)
For your odd pages you tick the reverse box. If you do not print your pages in reverse for your odd pages, your final pages will not be in order
Once the pages have printed, put those printed pages back into your printer. Make sure the blank side is going to be the side printed on and that your page will flip on the short edge to avoid upside down pages.
Change your pages to print section to ‘Print even pages’ and untick the reverse box to put your pages back in the correct order.

Your double sided pages are now printed and you can move onto the next section to trim and arrange them in the correct sequence.

Step 6: Trimming Your Inserts

Once printed, cut each sheet straight down the centre to separate the pages. NOTE: Keep the pages in the same order they printed in. It is easiest to do this by placing them in side by side piles as you cut.

A4 paper: Cut at 148.5 mm (5.85 inches)
Letter paper: Cut at 5.5 inches (139.7 mm)

Step 6: Rearranging for correct page order

You will now have two stacks of pages; a left-hand stack and a right-hand stack.

This will place your inserts in the correct order and you are now ready to punch! Jump ahead to the next section ‘Hole Punching Your Inserts’.

Read For Single Sided Printing!

If you would still like to print single sided only and skip Duplex printing entirely, you can use the steps given in Single Printing with the following changes:

For Printing on the paper size directly

Skip Duplex Printing Instructions and print as you normally would
When reordering pages, you will need to take the last 2 pages of the document and place them on the top of your pile

For Printing on larger pages and trimming down the centre

You need to print 2 to a page and trim. Still use the A5 or Half Letter single PDF file.
Choose Landscape orientation
Select ‘Print 2 pages per page’
Skip Duplex Printing Instructions and print as you normally would
You will need to manually reorder the pages (flipping every second page over to create facing double-page spreads
When reordering pages, you will need to take the last 2 pages of the document and place them on the top of your pile

NOTE: Printing single-sided leaves many blank pages throughout your planner or journal so it is recommended to either use a Duplex capable printer, or use our manual double-sided printing guide above to print double-sided.

Hole Punching Your Inserts

All of our inserts are designed with extra space in the margin to allow room for discbound rings and hole punching.

Before punching, take a moment to check that your pages are oriented correctly, as punching on the wrong edge may place holes in the incorrect area.

Set up your discbound hole punch

Most discbound hole punches include adjustable paper size settings or alignment bars. Make sure you set your hole punch to match your paper size. Follow the instructions provided with your hole punch to align the paper correctly. Proper alignment ensures evenly spaced holes and smooth page turning once inserted into discs.

Punch your pages

Insert a small stack of pages (refer to your punch’s capacity guidelines)
Punch slowly and evenly for the cleanest result
Repeat until all pages are punched

Once punched, your inserts are ready to be added to your discbound system.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

If something doesn’t look quite right, don’t worry! Most printing issues are caused by a small setting that’s easy to adjust. Here are some common questions and fixes.

My pages printed the wrong size

This is usually caused by scaling.

Make sure you are printing from a trusted PDF reader program such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, not a web browser
Check your scaling settings:

A5 or Half Letter paper: Actual Size (100%)
A4 or Letter paper (Single Page files): Fit to Page
A4 or Letter paper (DPS files): Actual Size (100%)

Confirm the paper size in your printer settings matches the paper you loaded

My pages are out of order after printing

This is usually caused by incorrect selection of file type. Remember to choose the file type (collated, Standard, Single or DPS) depending on your printing preferences and printer capabilities.

Remember: collated files may look “out of order” on screen but this is intentional as they will need to be rearranged slightly after printing to fall into the correct order.

My double-sided pages are upside down

This is usually caused by the wrong flip setting.

For portrait documents: use Flip on Long Edge or Flip Over
For landscape DPS documents: use Flip on Short Edge or Flip Up
For manual duplex printing: Redo your test prints to ensure you have your orientation and page face mapped correctly
For automatic duplex printing: Check your printer’s duplex orientation options, as some printers label these differently.

I don’t see crop marks. Is something missing?

No. This is intentional.

Our inserts are designed without crop marks to reduce trimming on every edge and to ensure you don’t have unsightly crop marks on final pages. Single page files do not require trimming and DPS files only require a single cut. Refer to Double Page Spread (DPS) instructions for trimming guidelines.

My holes are punched in the wrong place or are uneven

This usually happens if the page is facing the wrong direction when punched, or pages are not aligned correctly into your hole punch.

Check that you are punching on the side with the extra margin space
Confirm your hole punch is set to the correct paper size
Ensure your pages are pushed in all the way to avoid shallow holes
Always double-check orientation before punching
Make sure your hole punch alignment bars or guides are set correctly
Don’t overload the punch. Follow the manufacturer’s capacity guidelines
Punch slowly and evenly for the cleanest result
Punching one test page first is highly recommended.

Can I use these inserts with other planner systems?

Of course! Our inserts are designed with discbound systems in mind, including spacing and margins for discbound ring punches. However, the extra margin space can also accommodate ringbound and spiral-bound systems, making these inserts a flexible option across different planning setups.

Depending on your system, you may need to adjust hole placement or punch type, but the page layout itself is designed to work across multiple binding styles.

Still stuck?

If something still doesn’t look right, we recommend:

Rechecking the file type (Standard vs Collated)
Reviewing your printer’s paper and duplex settings
Printing a test page before committing to a full set
Watching our helpful Inserts Printing video on YouTube here

If you need further help, feel free to reach out. We’re always happy to help: hello@preppamint.com