N-Up PDF
Combine multiple PDF pages onto a single sheet. Supports 2-up, 4-up, and custom layouts for printing.
N-Up PDF
Layout multiple PDF pages onto a single sheet β 2-up, 4-up, 6-up, 8-up, or 9-up.
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Print Multiple Pages Per Sheet to Save Paper
You have a 40-slide presentation that needs to be printed as handouts for a workshop. Printing one slide per page wastes paper and makes it hard to see the overall flow. Drop the PDF into the N-Up tool, select 4-Up (a 2x2 grid), and the tool creates a new PDF with 4 slides per sheet -- reducing 40 pages to 10. The visual preview shows exactly how the grid will look before you print.
Choose from 2-Up (side by side), 4-Up (2x2), 6-Up (2x3), 8-Up (2x4), or 9-Up (3x3). The output sheet uses the same dimensions as your source PDF, so it prints cleanly on standard paper. For a letter-size source, each output sheet is also letter size with the original pages scaled down proportionally into grid cells.
When N-Up printing saves real time and money
A 60-slide training deck at 4-Up produces 15 handout pages instead of 60. At $0.05 per page, that saves $2.25 per session. For a 20-person workshop, the savings are $45 per event. The preview confirms the layout before printing.
A 200-page contract at 4-Up produces 50 sheets. During a deposition, flipping through 50 sheets is faster than 200. The 8-up layout works for dense text where readability at reduced size is acceptable, cutting the stack to 25 sheets.
A 30-page brand guidelines document at 9-Up produces 4 overview sheets. Seeing all pages on 4 sheets makes it easy to spot layout inconsistencies, check page numbering, and verify visual flow across the entire document before final printing.
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How the Layout Algorithm Positions Pages on Each Output Sheet
The layout is defined by a grid of cols x rows cells. For a 4-Up layout, that is 2 columns and 2 rows -- 4 cells per sheet. For a 9-Up layout, that is 3 columns and 3 rows -- 9 cells per sheet. The tool calculates the cell dimensions as pageWidth / cols and pageHeight / rows, then embeds each source page into its cell at the scaled size.
How pages are scaled and positioned
Each source page is embedded using embedPage() and drawn at the cell position with drawPage(). The source page is scaled proportionally to fit the cell -- if a cell is 306x396 points (half a letter-size page for 2-Up), a source page with the same aspect ratio fills it exactly. Pages with different aspect ratios are scaled to fit within the cell while preserving proportions, which may leave whitespace on two edges.
For a concrete example: a 10-page letter-size document at 4-Up produces 3 sheets. The first two sheets have 4 pages each, arranged in a 2x2 grid. The third sheet has 2 pages in the left column and 2 empty cells in the right column. Each source page is scaled to approximately 50% of its original size to fit the 2x2 grid on the same letter-size output sheet.
Why the output preserves sharpness
Source pages are embedded as vector objects using pdf-lib's embedPage() method. Vector content -- text, lines, shapes -- is redrawn by the PDF viewer at the display resolution, so it remains sharp regardless of the scale. Raster images are scaled by the viewer at display time, the same as zooming out. There is no rasterization or resampling in the N-Up operation itself.
The output sheet uses the same page dimensions as the first page of the source PDF. If your source is A4, the output is A4. If your source is letter size, the output is letter size. The tool does not change paper size -- it only scales and positions pages within the existing dimensions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does N-Up mean?
N-Up places N original pages onto a single output sheet. 2-Up puts 2 pages side by side. 4-Up arranges 4 pages in a 2x2 grid. 6-Up uses a 2x3 grid, 8-Up uses 2x4, and 9-Up uses a 3x3 grid. It is commonly used for printing handouts, saving paper, or creating document overviews.
Is my file uploaded to a server?
No. All processing happens in your browser. Your file never leaves your device -- there is no server upload at any point.
Does N-Up reduce PDF quality?
Pages are scaled down geometrically -- no re-encoding occurs. Vector content (text, lines, shapes) remains sharp because it is redrawn by the PDF viewer at display resolution. Raster images are scaled by the viewer, same as zooming out. There is no quality loss from the N-Up operation itself.
What output paper size is used?
The output sheet uses the same dimensions as the first page of the source PDF. If your source is letter size (612x792 points), the output is also letter size. If your source is A4, the output is A4. The tool does not change paper size -- it only scales and positions pages within the existing dimensions.
How are incomplete sheets handled?
If the total page count is not evenly divisible by the N-Up factor, the last sheet will have empty cells. For example, a 10-page document at 4-Up produces 3 sheets: the first two have 4 pages each, and the third has 2 pages with 2 empty cells.
Can I create custom N-Up layouts like 3-Up or 5-Up?
The tool supports five predefined layouts: 2, 4, 6, 8, and 9. These cover the most common N-Up configurations. Custom layouts would require different grid calculations and are not currently available.
Is the output suitable for double-sided printing?
The N-Up operation creates a single-sided layout. For double-sided printing, you would need to print the N-Up output and flip the pages manually, or use a duplex configuration in your printer settings. The tool does not handle duplex layout logic.