Reply To: Page formatting in InDesign

Yes David, that's the way it should work. All your pages should be in the correct order, from 1 to whatever page number you have.

You can do what you want to do from the consecutive laid out pages under File>Print Booklet.

Nearly all printers request the file sent as consecutive pages. As they have advanced imposition software that is geared towards their press, the grip on the press and plate, the size of paper, or perhaps they'll print 16 pages on one machine and 4 pages on a different machine, then wrap the 4 around the 16, or something very similar. They do this to speed up their process. Or perhaps the guy on the smaller press has nothing else to do so rather than waste a printer there they'll make sure he's working lol.

If you supply a preimposed PDF you are hindering the printers and increasing the cost of you print job, by the printers having to resort the pages and impose it to suit their machines, or the printer will use a less efficient printing machine to accomplish the job, and it ends up costing you.

There's plenty of reasons why it's 100 times better to provide pages to a printers in consecutive order. I maintain that if a printers ask you to supply them already imposed I urge you to find another printers. Any printers worth their salt would be able to impose from a consecutive supplied booklet.