How to Create a Double Sided Document in Illustrator

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Print illustrations on two sides of the paper.

Prior to the introduction of artboards in Adobe Illustrator CS4, printing illustrations on two sides of paper involved you having to create a single artboard the size of the two papers and tile the pages in a command buried in the Print dialog box. With artboards, you can now simply create two artboards and print them as a double-sided document.

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Create the Two-Sided Document

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Step 1

Click on the "File" menu and select "New."

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Step 2

Enter "2" in the "Number of Artboards" box. Select the desired page size from the "Size" drop-down menu or enter the dimensions in the "Width" and "Height" boxes.

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Step 3

Add your artwork for the first page to the first artboard and the artwork for the second page on the second artboard.

Step 1

Click on the "File" menu and select "Print."

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Step 2

Click "Setup" to access the printer's options.

Step 3

Click on "Preferences."

Step 4

Click through the tabs to locate the "Print on Both Sides," "Duplex Printing" or "Two-sided Printing" check box, dialog box or drop-down menu if available. Every printer has a different option for printing on two sides; some do not have this option.

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Step 1

Click on the "File" menu and select "Print."

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Step 2

Click on the "Select Range" radio button.

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Step 3

Enter the page numbers for odd pages with commas in between in the "Range" box. Click "Print."

Step 4

Reinsert the pages into the printer so that the printer will print on the blank side. This may take some trial and error to determine how your printer prints.

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Step 5

Click on the "Select Range" radio button.

Step 6

Enter the page numbers for even pages with commas in between in the "Range" box. Click "Print."

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