File preparation for double-sided printing (DSP) and cutting has never been easier, both for rectangular and non-rectangular shapes. When preparing double-sided boards or sheets, PrimeCenter helps you save valuable time, as it automatically generates the side B, and correctly places the margins and the cutting marks to reduce manual errors.
Methods
PrimeCenter supports multiple methods to handle different double-sided printing scenarios.
Create backside from frontside
- Input: Single PDFs or multipage PDFs
- Process: The software generates the backside (B) based on images of the frontside (A).
Warning
If you use this method with true shape nesting, make sure your input images are symmetrical. Asymmetrical images may result in overlaps.
Create backside from even pages
-
Input: A mulitpage PDF where:
- Odd pages = frontside (A)
- Even pages = backside (B)
- If the even pages are not already mirrored, the software can mirror them automatically.
Warning
This will also mirror text elements, so ensure this is acceptable for your design.
📌 Recommendations to avoid misalignment issues
- Ensure all pages in the multipage PDF are the same size.
- The backside elements should have the same contours and size as the frontside.
Tips & tricks
- You can filter files by odd/even pages in the File manager.
- Starting with PrimeCenter V4.5, an alert is triggered when there is a misalignment between sides to help you detect potential issues and reduce errors. However, due to a current limitation, no alert is triggered if the nesting rotation is set to 0°, 90°, 180°, or -90°/270°, even when the content dimensions don’t match. A visual check is still recommended before sending your job to production.
📌 Limitations
- Double-sided printing can't be used with roll media.
- Double-sided printing is not compatible with the Mirror tool. You must choose either double-sided printing or Mirror, as both can't be applied simultaneously. Note that mirror options are already included within the double-sided printing tool.
Accessing double-sided printing settings
Select a recipe and go to Double-sided printing module .
-
In the recipe configuration panel, go to the Layout tab and open Layout and editing tools.
PrimeCenter V4.0
- Click to open the tool list.
- Select Double-sided printing to open the tool configuration.
- Configure its settings, then click Back to add it to the recipe.
-
In the recipe configuration panel, go to the Layout tab and open Layout and editing tools.
PrimeCenter V4.4
- Click to open the tool list.
- Select Double-sided & Multi-layer to open the tool configuration.
- Select the Double-sided mode.
- Configure its settings, then click Back to add it to the recipe.
For more information on the Multi-layer mode, read this article.
DSP settings
V4.0
Tips & tricks
Your DSP precision depends on your printer’s mechanical alignment and the media.
Layout flip direction
Horizontal |
Vertical |
Back side (B)
Mirror images
Enable Mirror image to mirror the backside B, in case of the even pages of your input file are not mirrored or if you want to generate mirrored side B.
Disable Mirror image if the even pages of your input file are already mirrored.
Common mistakes not to reproduce
Warning
The software always considers the bottom of an image to be placed at the bottom of the image.
Double-sided printing uses the bottom of the images as a reference to generate the side B and align the images. This means that if you want to rotate your images before generating the side B, you must rotate the original images outside the software. As a result, the "Rotate page" fixup is not compatible with double-sided printing, because even with rotation, the bottom of the image used as a reference will still be the same.
Generate automatically (based on side A images)
Enable Generate automatically if your multiple-page input file doesn't contain side B images to generate backside B images based on frontside A images.
Disable Generate automatically if your input file already contains side A and side B images.
Info
In the case of a simple-page input file, no need to enable Generate automatically (based on side A images), it will do it by default.
Common mistakes not to reproduce
If you want to generate side B without mirroring images and using true shape nesting, your images must have symmetry.
| Side A | Side B |
Otherwise, the images will overlap:
| Side A | Side B |
Method
Mirror images on side B
- Automatically mirrors all backside images.
- Use when input files are not already mirrored.
Warning
- The bottom of the image is always considered the reference for the alignment of the two sides.
- "Rotate page" check/fix profile is not compatible with DSP. If you need to rotate images, do it before importing them.
Use even pages as side B
- Use when multipage PDFs already contain predefined back pages.
Good to know
Even if this option is enabled, you can mix:
- Multipage PDFs: Even pages are used as side B.
- Single PDFs: Side B is generated automatically.
Warning
This option is not compatible with multipage files that contain an odd number of pages. Using such files will result in a missing page for side B, leading to an error.
⚠️ Use even pages as side B in manual mode
When you enable Use even pages as side B and import a multipage file, follow these rules carefully to avoid errors or incorrect prints:
- Insert only odd pages to produce a correct double-sided printing.
- Inserting only even pages will put even pages on side A and odd pages on side B.
- Mixing odd and even pages will trigger an error.
Inserting both the odd and even pages produces:
Prior to V4.4
- Side A: odd page + even page
- Side B: even page + odd page (pages were swapped)
Starting from V4.4
- Side A: the odd page is automatically converted to the corresponding even page
- Side B: contains only the odd pages
Always double-check your page selection before generating layouts to ensure correct double-sided printing results.
Export settings
This part focuses on settings dedicated to double-sided printing included in the export settings.
Print files
You can choose to export side A and side B either as separate files or combined into a single multipage file.
Automatic mode
The export format (separate or multipage) is applied automatically to all exported files.
Manual mode
- Separate files: Only the layouts you select in the generated layout list will be exported.
- Multipage file: The multipage file is exported regardless of which layouts are selected in the list.
Warning
If you remove the Double-sided & Multi-layer tool from your recipe after generating layouts, the double-sided printing export options will no longer be available. In that case, layouts can only be exported as separate files.
Cut files
If exporting cut files automatically, choose to generate cut files for:
- All sides: 1 cut file for side A + 1 cut file for side B
- Side A only
- Side B only
Print/Cut file name template
You can use the dspSide tag in your file name template to easily identify which exported file corresponds to side A or side B.
If you export print files as a multipage file, the tag value will be "AB", since both sides are grouped into a single file.
Examples
📌 Input file
A multipage PDF (downloadable here) with:
- Odd pages = side A
- Even pages = side B (not mirrored)
|
Page 1 Side A-1 |
Page 2 Side B-1 |
Page 3 Side A-2 |
Page 4 Side B-2 |
Page 5 Side A-3 |
Page 6 Side B-3 |
Page 7 Side A-4 |
Page 8 Side B-4 |
Warning
All pages must be the same size.
📌 Process
- Open the PDF in the File manager > Sort by odd pages.
- Select all odd pages > Insert them into the Studio.
- In the Double-sided printing settings:
- ✅ Enable Mirror images.
- ✅ Enable Use even pages as side B.
- Select Vertical as Layout flip direction.
- Configure other recipe settings.
- Generate the layouts.
📌 Result
| Frontside A layout = Odd pages | Backside B layout = Mirrored even pages |
📌 Input file
A multipage PDF (downloadable here) where:
- Odd pages = side A
- Even pages = side B (already mirrored)
|
Page 1 Side A-1 |
Page 2 Side B-1 |
Page 3 Side A-2 |
Page 4 Side B-2 |
Page 5 Side A-3 |
Page 6 Side B-3 |
Page 7 Side A-4 |
Page 8 Side B-4 |
Warning
All pages must be the same size.
📌 Process
- Open the PDF in the File manager > Sort by odd pages.
- Select all odd pages > Insert them into the Studio.
- In the Double-sided printing settings:
- ❌ Disable Mirror images.
- ✅ Enable Use even pages as side B.
- Select Vertical as Layout flip direction.
- Configure other recipe settings.
- Generate the layouts.
📌 Result
| Frontside A layout = Odd pages | Backside B layout = Even pages |
📌 Input file
A multipage PDF (downloadable here) with only side A.
|
Page 1 Side A-1 |
Page 2 Side A-2 |
Page 3 Side A-3 |
Page 4 Side A-4 |
Warning
All pages must be the same size.
📌 Process
- Open the PDF in the File manager > Sort by odd pages.
- Select all odd pages > Insert them into the Studio.
- In the Double-sided printing settings:
- ✅ Enable Mirror images.
- ❌ Disable Use even pages as side B.
- Select Vertical as Layout flip direction.
- Configure other recipe settings.
- Generate the layouts.
📌 Result
| Frontside A layout = Generated from original pages | Backside B layout = Auto-mirrored from side A |