Reading technical papers that were typeset with A4 (or worse, US letter) in mind, and printing those in an A5 booklet does not make for a pleasant reading experience.

Get yourself an A3 printer?

If you're using same amount of paper at the end, why bother with a bigger device with higher maintenance costs?

Edit: Some to same. Big Sur's autocorrect is a bit too aggressive it seems.

So you can save your eyes the strain of trying to read A4 pages at A5 size? Wasn’t that what the original issue was?

Stapling normal sheets from a corner doesn't have a net disadvantage when compared to booklet printing (when reading papers). Booklet allows saving paper by printing in a easily manageable format (you don't need to cut papers in half to read them properly) in a smaller form factor.

So, printing in booklet is just a convenient way to automatically downscale documents, nothing more, at least in this context.

But scaling down from A4 to A5 makes the text less readable.

Not all staplers can reach the middle of an A4 page.

Sew it. https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/educational/booka...

This. I just carry a pen, needle (foldable cushion thingy), thread, and my smartphone around university. Or I would if everything wasn't remote right now.

As long as you have access to printers, paper, and a way to store the latter, you don't really need more.

Can't just shove your ordinary stapler into your pocket, though I have seen tiny models. So it's really nice if you don't want to carry around a bag.

Seems like an invention that probably already exists: a pocketable handheld stapler, you load a single staple, push the device into the groove of some folded pages, staple exits the guide and pierced to other side (probably stabbing you!), tool is applied in a different way to bend over the staples from said other side. Booklet!

Not a portable solution, but I've definitely done something like this for making booklets.

1. Open up a regular stapler surface mode. 2. use a flattened shipping box as a backing surface, to give your fingers a break from the stabbing. 3. Staple through. 4. pull the paper and the staples up. 5. Start bending the staples down with pliers, to get a nice distinct fold started. 6. Bend the rest of the way by hand. 7. Masking tape the edge. (or, for more visual flair, washi tape).

I imagine you could also do something like hammer the staples a bit, but the tape really helps ensure the staples don't catch.

The staples won't have inward curve that staplers usually apply as the standard anti-catch measure, but I like this actually--combined with the tape, everything sits more flush.

Just open the stapler in half and staple on something soft. Most office upholstery doesn't mind being stapled (loosely woven thick fibers do not get damaged).

Get yourself a rotating 360 stapler. Great for booklets. Cheaper and less clumsy than a saddle stitch or long reach stapler. Good for regular stapling too.

This is amazing! I didn't realize this was a thing. You've made my world a little bit bigger and richer today, thank you.

Print it on A7 paper and fold into an A8 booklet. Most staplers can reach the middle of an A7 page. Be sure to keep a magnifying glass around at all times though :p

If you have scissors you can print a bunch of tiny pages on one piece of regular paper and fold it like a pocket mod: https://pocketmod.com/howto

Any printer that can handle A4 can handle A5.

Just do a standard double-sided print on Letter/A4 paper, then put 5 or 6 staples down the left side, very close to the edge to bind the pages together. Then fold the edge of the binding over, creasing it, so that the booklet lays flat.