Print multiple slides per page

Updated on October 15, 2026

Exams are coming and your teacher has posted the slides online: 280 pages, one slide per page. Printing them like that costs a pile of paper, a stack of print credits and a binder that won’t close anymore. Put four or six on one sheet and your course becomes a lot easier to handle.

Why not just use the printer?

Your computer’s print dialog can sometimes put several pages on one sheet too. But that doesn’t work the same everywhere, and on a shared printer or at your campus print shop, you often can’t control that setting.

If you make a new PDF first, you see exactly how it will turn out before you print. You can send the file to your classmates, take it to the print shop on a USB stick, or read it on your tablet with less scrolling.

How to make handouts

1. Open the Pages per sheet tool.
2. Drag your PDF into the box or click to choose it.
3. Choose how many pages per sheet. Pick 2, 4, 6 or 9 per sheet, or 3 + notes for a layout with lines.
4. Choose the Paper size. Pick A4 or US Letter. In the US and Canada, that’s usually US Letter; in most other countries, A4.
5. Choose the Orientation. Pick Automatic, Portrait or Landscape. Automatic picks the direction in which your pages come out largest on the sheet.
6. Choose the Order. Pick Across, then down or Down, then across.
7. Add a frame if you like. Tick Thin frame around each page. That makes the edges between slides clearer.
8. Click Make sheets, download the PDF and print it.

Which layout fits?

• 2 per sheet: text-heavy courses or slides with small print. Easy to read, but you save less.
• 3 + notes: the classic handout. The slide on the left, room on the right to write along in class.
• 4 or 6 per sheet: most PowerPoint slides. Six is still readable if the slides use large text.
• 9 per sheet: only for reviewing or as an overview. Small text quickly becomes unreadable here.

Not sure? Print one sheet as a test first. That costs less than reprinting a whole course.

Your course isn't uploaded

Course materials are often protected material from your teacher or school, and sometimes you’re not allowed to share them freely. Many online tools upload your file to their server to convert it. You’d rather not do that with someone else’s course material, and the same goes for your own notes.

With PDFCommunity, arranging the pages happens in your browser. Your files are processed on your own device and not uploaded. Check it yourself in your browser’s network tab; Verify that no PDF is uploaded shows you how.

Prefer an editable version to type notes in? Read Convert a lecture PDF to PowerPoint.

Good to know

• Links, bookmarks and form fields no longer work in the result. Filled-in values do stay visible. Keep your original if you need the links.
• The text stays sharp and selectable. So you can still search your handout.
• Large courses on a phone can be slow or too heavy for your device’s memory. According to the tool page, files up to about 50 MB work well on most devices; for larger files, use a computer instead.
• Double-sided printing is something you set when you print. That halves the number of sheets again.
• Check the result before you print a whole stack, especially at 6 or 9 per sheet.

Have separate PDFs per chapter? Merge them first with Merge PDF, then turn them into handouts in one go.

Frequently asked questions