How to fold a brochure or flyer

There are many ways a printed piece of paper can be folded. Below is a list of the most common ways in which brochures, leaflets, pamphlets or folders that are printed on a single page can be folded.

Z-fold

Once folded, each side or section of the printed piece is called a panel. The names of the folding schemes are not standardized, the list below shows the most common naming convention.

The recommendations on this page are fairly general: if you are a designer it is best to consult with your printer before designing a folded document. Many printing companies offer downloadable templates on their website.

Half fold or single fold

As the name implies, simply fold the page in half. Sometimes this is also called a gatefold, for example in the music industry where vinyl LP albums were often packaged in a gatefold cover.
The front cover (1) is the right panel of the first page and the back cover (2) is the left panel of the first page. Both panels have the same width.

How to fold a leaflet with a half fold

Tri-fold or letter fold

Trifolds are commonly used for marketing events, services, or products. The panels fold in on each other to form the finished size. The three panels do not have the same width since you need to compensate for the thickness of the paper in the fold and tolerances of the folding machine. For an 8.5″ x 11″ tri‑fold brochure or pamphlet, one approach is to make part 3 which folds to the inside 3.625″ wide while the 2 other panels are 3.688″ wide. Some printers recommend making panel 2 a bit less wide than panel 1. For users of the metric system, for example, an A4 page which is 297mm wide is often folded like this: panel 3 is 98 mm wide, panel 2 measures 99 mm and the front panel 1 is 100 mm wide.

You can use the guides in an application like InDesign to visualize this during the design of the document. Keep in mind that panel 2 is the back cover. The user first sees the front cover (panel 1) and then upon opening panel 3 so these two panels should have a matching or consistent style.

How to fold a leaflet with a trifold

Z-fold

This is a 6-panel accordion fold. Each fold opens in the opposite direction to its neighbor, giving a pleated or concertina effect. All the panels have the same width.

How to fold a leaflet with a Z-fold

Gate fold or window fold

With a gatefold the two outside panels 1 and 3 each fold towards the middle. They are slightly smaller than half of the sheet. For a 17” x 11” sheet, for example, panels 1 and 3 are 4.21875” wide while panel 2 is  8.5625” wide. For an A5 open size (210 x 148 mm) folded to an A6, panels 1 and 3 are 52 mm wide and panel 2 is 105 mm wide.

How to fold a leaflet with a gatefold

Double gate fold

This is a gatefold that is folded in two. Consult with the printer if you want to line up images that must go over the inside panels (1 and 4 in the example below).

How to fold a leaflet with a double gatefold

Double parallel fold

Paper is folded in half and then half again. The inside panels are slightly smaller than the outside panels.

How to fold a leaflet with a double parallelfold

French fold or right angle fold or quarter fold

This is a combination of two half folds – The page is first folded in half horizontally and then again vertically. This folding scheme is commonly used for cards and typically has printing on only one side.

How to fold a leaflet with a french fold

Roll fold or barrel fold or over-and-over

The paper is folded so that the panels roll in on each other, like a spiral. Panel 1 and 2 have the same size but then each subsequent panel gets a little smaller so that they can fit inside each other. For example: for an open 11” x 17” document panel 1 and 2 are 4.3125” wide, panel 3 is 4,21875” wide and panel 4 4.15625”.

How to fold a leaflet with a roll fold

Accordion fold or zig-zag fold or fan fold

Each fold opens in the opposite direction to its neighbor, giving a pleated or concertina effect. Usually, the panels have the same width although there are printers that recommend making the front cover panel slightly wider. This folding style cannot be machine inserted into envelopes.

How to fold a leaflet with an accordion fold

Other sources of information

Other pages with folding guidelines can be found here.

‘Fold of the week’ is a series of videos in which Trish Witkowski shares folding samples and production tips. In the video below a wrapped waterfall booklet is discussed. There are nearly 400 other videos about folded brochures, leaflets, cards, maps, and other products in the Foldfactory YouTube channel.

 

9 thoughts on “How to fold a brochure or flyer

  1. While folding a coated paper ( more than 170gsm ) it cracks on the folds and look really bad..With basic crease however it limit the cracks ..

    Good for know for customers who receive flat printed sheets

    1. I think an even bigger mystery is why they have to fold those brochures the way they do. First thing I always do is to refold it, simply folding it in half 3 times, and the only difference is that my fold is simpler and less annoying to fold/unfold.

  2. Good article. If someone needs, here is a brochure maker: Wilda.me
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