User Guide Cancel

Print thumbnails and oversized documents

  1. InDesign User Guide
  2. Get to know InDesign
    1. Introduction to InDesign
      1. What's New in InDesign
      2. System requirements
      3. Common questions
      4. Use Creative Cloud libraries
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Contextual task bar
      3. Customize your workspace in InDesign
      4. Toolbox
      5. Set preferences
      6. Properties panel
      7. Touch workspace
      8. Default keyboard shortcuts
      9. Undo edits and manage History panel
      10. Document recovery and undo
    3. Generative AI (Not available in mainland China)
      1. Text to Image
      2. Generative Expand
      3. Generate Effect in InDesign (Beta)
      4. Generative AI FAQ
  3. Create and layout documents
    1. Documents and pages
      1. Create documents
      2. Work with parent pages
      3. Work with document pages
      4. Set page size, margins, and bleed
      5. Work with files and templates
      6. Convert PDFs to InDesign files in InDesign (Beta)
      7. Create book files
      8. Add basic page numbering
      9. Number pages, chapters, and sections
      10. Convert QuarkXPress and PageMaker documents
      11. Share content
      12. Understand a basic managed-file workflow
      13. Save documents
    2. Grids
      1. Grids
      2. Format grids
    3. Layout aids
      1. Rulers
      2. Align and distribute objects using rulers
      3. Measure objects using the Measure tool
  4. Add content
    1. Text
      1. Add text to frames
      2. Threading text
      3. South-East Asian Scripts
      4. Arabic and Hebrew features in InDesign
      5. Create type on a path
      6. Bullets and numbering
      7. Insert MathML to create math expressions
      8. Glyphs and special characters
      9. Text composition
      10. Text variables
      11. Generate QR codes
      12. Edit text
      13. Align text
      14. Wrap text around objects
      15. Anchored objects
      16. Linked content
      17. Format paragraphs
      18. Format characters
    2. Typography
      1. Using fonts in InDesign
      2. Kerning and tracking
      3. Scale and skew type
      4. Apply color effects to type
    3. Format text
      1. Format text
      2. Auto Style text
      3. Work with Style Packs
      4. Tabs and indents
    4. Review text
      1. Track and review changes
      2. Add editorial notes in InDesign
      3. Import PDF comments
    5. Spell check and language dictionaries
      1. Check spelling, autocorrect, and dynamic spelling
      2. Create, add, and manage dictionaries and words
      3. Change dictionary preferences
      4. Duden dictionary
    6. Add references
      1. Create a table of contents
      2. Footnotes
      3. Create an index
      4. Endnotes
      5. Captions
    7. Styles
      1. Paragraph and character styles
      2. Map, export, and manage styles
      3. Object styles
      4. Drop caps and nested styles
      5. Work with styles
      6. Leading
    8. Tables
      1. Format tables
      2. Create tables
      3. Table and Cell styles
      4. Select and edit tables
      5. Table strokes and fills
    9. Interactivity
      1. Hyperlinks
      2. Dynamic PDF documents
      3. Bookmarks
      4. Buttons
      5. Forms
      6. Animation
      7. Cross-references
      8. Structure PDFs
      9. Page transitions
      10. Movies and sounds
    10. Graphics
      1. Understand paths and shapes
      2. Draw with the Pencil tool
      3. Draw with the Pen tool
      4. Apply line (stroke) settings 
      5. Compound paths and shapes
      6. Edit paths
      7. Clipping paths
      8. Change corner appearance
      9. Frames and objects
      10. Align and distribute objects
      11. Linked and embedded graphics
      12. Integrate AEM assets
    11. Color and transparency
      1. Apply color
      2. Use colors from imported graphics
      3. Work with swatches
      4. Mix inks
      5. Tints
      6. Understand spot and process colors
      7. Blend colors
      8. Gradients
      9. Flatten transparent artwork
      10. Add transparency effects
  5. Find and replace
    1. Find and replace text
    2. Find and replace fonts
    3. Find and replace glyphs
    4. Find and replace using GREP expressions and queries
    5. Find and replace objects
    6. Find and replace colors
    7. Search options to find and replace
  6. Share
    1. Save and access cloud documents
    2. Organize, manage, and share cloud documents
    3. View and manage versions in cloud documents
    4. Common questions about InDesign cloud documents
    5. InCopy on the web (Beta)
    6. Share and collaborate        
    7. Share for Review
    8. Review a shared InDesign document
    9. Manage feedback
    10. Invite to edit
  7. Export, import, and publish
    1. Place, export, and publish
      1. Publish online
      2. Publish online dashboard
      3. Copy, insert graphics
      4. Export to Adobe Express
      5. Export content for EPUB
      6. Adobe PDF options
      7. Export to HTML5
      8. Export content to HTML (Legacy)
      9. Export to Adobe PDF
      10. Export to JPEG format
      11. Import SVG files
      12. DPS and AEM Mobile overview
      13. Supported File Formats
      14. Export and import User Settings
    2. Printing
      1. Print booklets
      2. Printer's marks and bleeds
      3. Print documents
      4. Inks, separation, and screen frequency
      5. Overprinting
      6. Create PostScript and EPS files
      7. Preflight files before handoff
      8. Print thumbnails and oversized documents
      9. Prepare PDFs for service providers
      10. Prepare to print separations
  8. Extend InDesign
    1. Automation
      1. Data merge
      2. Plug-ins
      3. Capture extension in InDesign
      4. Scripting
  9. Troubleshooting
    1. Fixed issues
    2. Known issues
    3. Crash on launch
    4. Preference folder read-only issue
    5. Troubleshoot file issues
    6. Unable to export InDesign file to PDF
    7. InDesign document recovery

To fit multiple pages on a single page, you can create thumbnails—small preview versions of your document. Thumbnails are useful for verifying content and organization. Where appropriate, InDesign automatically changes the paper orientation to provide the best fit of the page to the paper; however, you’ll need to reset the original orientation if you deselect the Thumbnails option.

Note:

When you print thumbnails, printer’s marks and any items in the bleed and/or slug areas are excluded.

  1. In the Setup area of the Print dialog box, select Thumbnails.
  2. In the menu, choose the number of thumbnails per page.

Print oversized documents

Although you can create InDesign documents as large as 18-by-18 feet, most desktop printers cannot print such large pages.

To print an oversized document on your desktop printer, you can print each page of your document in pieces, called tiles, and then trim and assemble those pieces. If you prefer, you can scale the document to fit the available paper size.

Tile a document

A document’s dimensions do not necessarily match the paper sizes used by printers. As a result, when you print, InDesign divides the oversized document into one or more rectangles, or tiles, that correspond to the page size available on the printer. You can then assemble the overlapping sections.

You can have InDesign tile a document automatically, or you can specify the tiles yourself. Tiling manually lets you control the origin point for the upper-left corner of the tile, so that you determine where the page falls on the paper.

Oversized pages divided into printable tiles (left) and the overlapping sections in final assembly (right)

Tile a document automatically

  1. Choose File > Print.
  2. In the Setup area of the Print dialog box, select Tile.
  3. Choose one of the following options in the Tile menu:

    Auto

    Automatically calculates the number of tiles required, including the overlap.

    Auto Justified

    Increases the amount of overlap (if necessary) so that the right sides of the rightmost tiles are aligned at the right edge of the document’s page, and the bottom sides of the bottommost tiles are aligned at the bottom edge of the document’s page.

  4. For Overlap, type the minimum amount of duplicated information you want printed on each tile for ease in assembly. The Overlap option uses the unit of measure specified for the document. The value should be greater than the minimum nonprinting margins for the printer. You can specify up to half the size of the shortest side of the document page to overlap. For example, tiles for a page that measures 11-by-17 inches (279.4mm‑by‑431.8mm) can overlap up to 5.5 inches (139.7mm).

Tile a document manually

While tiling a document automatically prints all the tiles at once, tiling a document manually requires you to print each tile separately.

  1. If necessary, choose View > Show Rulers to display the rulers.
  2. Drag the intersection of the rulers to reset the zero point to the desired upper-left corner of the tile you want to print. Remember to leave room for overlap and printer’s marks.

    The size and shape of the area InDesign prints is determined by the current paper size and orientation.

  3. Choose File > Print, and then click Setup on the left.
  4. In the Setup area, select Tile, and then choose Manual in the Tile menu.

Scale documents

To fit an oversized document on a smaller piece of paper, you can scale the document’s width and height, either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Asymmetric scaling is useful when, for example, you’re printing film for use on a flexographic press: If you know in which direction the plate will be mounted on the press drum, scaling can compensate for the 2% to 3% stretching of the plate that usually occurs. Scaling does not affect the size of the pages in the document.

Note:

When you print spreads, each spread is scaled separately.

Scale a document manually

  1. Choose File > Print.
  2. In the Setup area of the Print dialog box, select Width to activate the Width and Height boxes.
  3. To maintain current document width to height proportions, select Constrain Proportions. Otherwise, make sure that this option is unselected.
  4. Type percentages from 1 to 1000 in the Width and Height boxes. If you selected Constrain Proportions, you need to enter only one value; the other is updated automatically.

Scale a document automatically

  1. In the Setup area of the Print dialog box, make sure that the Tile and Thumbnail options are unselected. (When these options are selected, the Scale To Fit option is unavailable.)
  2. Select Scale To Fit. The scaling percentage, which is determined by the imageable area defined by the selected PPD, appears next to the Scale To Fit option.

More like this

Get help faster and easier

New user?