Print multiple documents on a single sheet

When printing small documents like labels or postcards, it’s more efficient to place several on a single sheet of paper. This reduces paper waste and saves printing costs. In OL Connect, this can be done using N-up impositioning, a technique that arranges multiple designs on one page during output creation. Each label or document is designed and composed individually, and the imposition layout is applied during printing.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to print 28 labels on one A4 sheet using OL Connect Designer and a pre-made template. The same process can be used with 8 1/2″ x 11″ or other paper sizes, if required. The documents are arranged on the sheets using the Cut and Stack imposition method so that, after cutting, the resulting pieces can be stacked in the correct order. The output includes crop marks to make cutting easier.

Steps

Prepare the template

  1. Open the template in OL Connect Designer.
  2. Load the accompanying data.

In our example we use a pre-made product label template.

Screen image of a label template opened in OL Connect Designer to show the design of the product label.

Set up the print job

  1. Go to File > Print > Advanced to open the Print Options.
  2. Select a printer model; in our example we’ll use Generic PDF.
  3. Enable the Imposition checkbox.
  4. Click Next to access the Imposition Options page.
  5. Under Imposition Sheet, choose A4 and set orientation to Portrait.
  6. In the Layout section, make the following settings to arrange 28 labels on one sheet:
    • Set Horizontal to 4.
    • Set Vertical to 7.
    • Set Sides to Simplex, since we only need to print on one side of the sheet.
  7. Set Crop Marks to Standard to include cutting guides.
  8. Click Print to generate your multi-document output sheet.
Image of the Imposition Options dialog highlighting the Imposition Sheet field, the Horizontal and Vertical repeating fields and the Cropmarks settings.

The following image shows the final output in Acrobat Reader.

Screenshot of the final output showing 28 labels on a single sheet of paper.

Document Copies

The steps above support the use of copies, which replicate the merged documents during the output stage. This means the document is merged only once, then duplicated as needed during output—making the composition process much more efficient.

Screendump of the Print Wizard user interface where the Copies input field is highlighted to show the customer where this is located.

In this scenario, each copy is placed on the next sheet, ensuring that after cutting and stacking, the resulting pieces are in the correct order. This approach maintains proper sequence while keeping the output process efficient.

For more information, see the OL Connect documentation on Imposition Settings.

Storing and reusing the settings

In the example above, the settings were made directly in the Print dialog. To make these reusable, you can set them in an Output Preset file. Presets let you apply the same setup without reconfiguring everything each time.

You can use Output Presets in the Print Wizard, or in automation tools like OL Connect Workflow or OL Connect Automate (for users of Professional and Enterprise editions).

To create an Output Preset:

  1. Go to File > New > Presets > Output Preset, or click New from the Welcome Screen and select Presets.
  2. Enable the Imposition checkbox and follow the same steps as above.
  3. Click Finish to save the Output Preset file.

The next time you use the Print dialog, you can load your saved preset by clicking the Folder icon next to the Output Preset field. This automatically applies all the saved settings to your print job.

Screendump of the Print dialog where the Folder icon is highlighted to show the user where this option is located.

For more information, see the OL Connect documentation on Output Presets.