Occasionally I need to proof a PDF document that is too small to read comfortably when printed in the usual way. This is the case with my columns for SIAM News, as SIAM News is A3 format whereas my printer is A4.` ‘ A simple solution is to use the Poster option under “Page Size & Handling” in Adobe Acrobat’s print dialog box. Acrobat will print each page over multiple pages that, if joined together, reproduce the original pages (except for the white margins). The preview window in the dialog box shows how each page will be split into pieces. You can adjust the percentage in the “Tile Scale” box to increase or decrease the number of printed pages per original page.

(This screen capture shows Adobe Acrobat version 11.0.19; the dialog box may be different in other versions of Acrobat.)

Here is a photograph of the result laid out on my office floor, with the four A4 sheets arranged to match the original document. (This is the proofs of my April 2017 SIAM News column.)

This Poster option is no doubt particularly intended for proofing posters on an A4 or A3 printer, as they are typically designed for printing at A0 or A1.

You may notice that in the screen capture above my printer is Fineprint. This is an application that acts as a Windows printer driver and captures and displays what is printed to it, possibly from multiple print commands. It allows the user to reorder, magnify (via the “Enlarge” option), and edit pages before actually printing them, and printing can be 1-up, 2-up, 4-up, or 8-up. I have been using FinePrint for many years and could not live without it. It saves me paper and by allowing me to reduce the margins makes documents much easier to read. The following screen capture shows FinePrint after printing the document shown above with the Poster option at 120%.