Installation: iText 7 Core is available via Maven on The Central repository. If you need all iText 7 modules, then you don't need to add the individual modules and you can just add this XML snippet in your pom.xml. Maven will then do all the heavy lifting for you and download the required modules from The Central Repository. Simply add iText 7 as a dependency to your pom.xml:

	<properties>
	<itext.version>RELEASE</itext.version>
</properties>
	<dependencies>
		 <!-- add all iText 7 modules -->
		 <dependency>
		   <groupId>com.itextpdf</groupId>
		   <artifactId>itext7-core</artifactId>
		   <version>${itext.version}</version>
		   <type>pom</type>
	 </dependency>
</dependencies>

NOTE: We use "RELEASE" as the iText version in this installation, which will ensure you install the current release versions of the iText 7 modules. If your project requires a specific version of iText 7 to function correctly, ensure you replace this with your desired version number in your pom.xml.

Create booklet from A4 document

31st May 2016

iText

This example was written in response to questions such as:

MakeA3Booklet.java

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/*
    This file is part of the iText (R) project.
    Copyright (c) 1998-2019 iText Group NV
    Authors: iText Software.
 
    For more information, please contact iText Software at this address:
    sales@itextpdf.com
 */
/**
 * Example written by Bruno Lowagie in answer to a question on StackOverflow:
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34019298
 */
package com.itextpdf.samples.sandbox.merge;
 
import com.itextpdf.kernel.geom.PageSize;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfReader;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.canvas.PdfCanvas;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.xobject.PdfFormXObject;
import com.itextpdf.samples.GenericTest;
import com.itextpdf.test.annotations.type.SampleTest;
 
import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
 
@Category(SampleTest.class)
public class MakeA3Booklet extends GenericTest {
    public static final String DEST = "./target/test/resources/sandbox/merge/make_a3_booklet.pdf";
    public static final String SRC = "./src/test/resources/pdfs/primes.pdf";
 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        File file = new File(DEST);
        file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
        new MakeA3Booklet().manipulatePdf(DEST);
    }
 
    public void manipulatePdf(String dest) throws IOException {
        PdfDocument srcDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(SRC));
        PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter(dest));
        // Note that it is not necessary to create new PageSize object,
        // but for testing reasons (connected to parallelization) we call constructor here
        pdfDoc.setDefaultPageSize(new PageSize(PageSize.A3).rotate());
 
        PdfCanvas canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
        float a4_width = PageSize.A4.getWidth();
        int n = srcDoc.getNumberOfPages();
        int p = 0;
        PdfFormXObject page;
        while (p++ < n) {
            page = srcDoc.getPage(p).copyAsFormXObject(pdfDoc);
            if (p % 2 == 1) {
                canvas.addXObject(page, 0, 0);
            } else {
                canvas.addXObject(page, a4_width, 0);
                canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
            }
        }
        pdfDoc.close();
        srcDoc.close();
    }
}

MakeBooklet.java

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/*
    This file is part of the iText (R) project.
    Copyright (c) 1998-2019 iText Group NV
    Authors: iText Software.
 
    For more information, please contact iText Software at this address:
    sales@itextpdf.com
 */
/**
 * Example written by Bruno Lowagie in answer to a question on StackOverflow:
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34432502
 */
package com.itextpdf.samples.sandbox.merge;
 
import com.itextpdf.kernel.geom.AffineTransform;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.geom.PageSize;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfReader;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.canvas.PdfCanvas;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.xobject.PdfFormXObject;
import com.itextpdf.samples.GenericTest;
import com.itextpdf.test.annotations.type.SampleTest;
 
import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
 
@Category(SampleTest.class)
public class MakeBooklet extends GenericTest {
    public static final String DEST = "./target/test/resources/sandbox/merge/make_booklet.pdf";
    public static final String SRC = "./src/test/resources/pdfs/primes.pdf";
 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        File file = new File(DEST);
        file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
        new MakeBooklet().manipulatePdf(DEST);
    }
 
    public void addPage(PdfCanvas canvas, PdfDocument srcDoc, PdfDocument pdfDoc, int p, float x) throws IOException {
        if (p > srcDoc.getNumberOfPages()) {
            return;
        }
        PdfFormXObject page = srcDoc.getPage(p).copyAsFormXObject(pdfDoc);
        canvas.addXObject(page, x, 0);
    }
 
    public void manipulatePdf(String dest) throws IOException {
        PdfDocument srcDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(SRC));
        PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter(dest));
 
        float a4_width = PageSize.A4.getWidth();
        float a4_height = PageSize.A4.getHeight();
        PageSize pagesize = new PageSize(a4_width * 4, a4_height * 2);
        pdfDoc.setDefaultPageSize(pagesize);
 
        PdfCanvas canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
        int n = srcDoc.getNumberOfPages();
        int p = 1;
        while ((p - 1) / 16 <= n / 16) {
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 3, 0);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 12, a4_width);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 15, a4_width * 2);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p, a4_width * 3);
            AffineTransform at = AffineTransform.getRotateInstance((float) -Math.PI);
            at.concatenate(AffineTransform.getTranslateInstance(0, -a4_height * 2));
            canvas.saveState();
            canvas.concatMatrix(at);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 4, -a4_width);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 11, -a4_width * 2);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 8, -a4_width * 3);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 7, -a4_width * 4);
            canvas.restoreState();
 
            canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 1, 0);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 14, a4_width);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 13, a4_width * 2);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 2, a4_width * 3);
            canvas.saveState();
            canvas.concatMatrix(at);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 6, -a4_width);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 9, -a4_width * 2);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 10, -a4_width * 3);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 5, -a4_width * 4);
            canvas.restoreState();
 
            if ((p - 1) / 16 < n / 16) {
                canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
            }
            p += 16;
        }
        pdfDoc.close();
        srcDoc.close();
    }
}

MakeBookletA3.java

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/*
    This file is part of the iText (R) project.
    Copyright (c) 1998-2019 iText Group NV
    Authors: iText Software.
 
    For more information, please contact iText Software at this address:
    sales@itextpdf.com
 */
/**
 * Example written by Bruno Lowagie in answer to a question on StackOverflow:
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/34432502
 */
package com.itextpdf.samples.sandbox.merge;
 
import com.itextpdf.kernel.geom.PageSize;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfDocument;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfReader;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.PdfWriter;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.canvas.PdfCanvas;
import com.itextpdf.kernel.pdf.xobject.PdfFormXObject;
import com.itextpdf.samples.GenericTest;
import com.itextpdf.test.annotations.type.SampleTest;
 
import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
 
@Category(SampleTest.class)
public class MakeBookletA3 extends GenericTest {
    public static final String DEST = "./target/test/resources/sandbox/merge/make_booklet_a3.pdf";
    public static final String SRC = "./src/test/resources/pdfs/primes.pdf";
 
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        File file = new File(DEST);
        file.getParentFile().mkdirs();
        new MakeBookletA3().manipulatePdf(DEST);
    }
 
    public void addPage(PdfCanvas canvas, PdfDocument srcDoc, PdfDocument pdfDoc, int p, float x) throws IOException {
        if (p > srcDoc.getNumberOfPages()) {
            return;
        }
        PdfFormXObject page = srcDoc.getPage(p).copyAsFormXObject(pdfDoc);
        canvas.addXObject(page, x, 0);
    }
 
    public void manipulatePdf(String dest) throws IOException {
        PdfDocument srcDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfReader(SRC));
        PdfDocument pdfDoc = new PdfDocument(new PdfWriter(dest));
        PageSize pageSize = new PageSize(
                PageSize.A4.getWidth() * 2,
                PageSize.A4.getHeight());
        pdfDoc.setDefaultPageSize(pageSize);
        PdfCanvas canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
        float a4_width = PageSize.A4.getWidth();
        int n = srcDoc.getNumberOfPages();
        int p = 1;
        while ((p - 1) / 4 <= n / 4) {
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 3, 0);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p, a4_width);
            canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 1, 0);
            addPage(canvas, srcDoc, pdfDoc, p + 2, a4_width);
            if ((p - 1) / 4 < n / 4) {
                canvas = new PdfCanvas(pdfDoc.addNewPage());
            }
            p += 4;
        }
        pdfDoc.close();
        srcDoc.close();
    }
}

Results & Resources

Resources

primes.pdf

Click the following link to see the legacy example for iText 5. Except for security fixes, iText 5 is no longer being developed.