---
name: "pdf123-multi-page-layout"
description: "Place several PDF pages on each sheet, in a grid. Runs the PDF123 \"Multiple Pages Per Sheet\" tool (pdf123.xyz) over its REST API with curl, no account needed. Use when the user wants this done to their file. Also known as: 每张多页, 每張多頁."
compatibility: "Needs curl 7.76+ and outbound HTTPS to pdf123.xyz, or PDFX_API_BASE pointing at a self-hosted pdfx-server."
---

# Multiple Pages Per Sheet (PDF123)

Place several PDF pages on each sheet, in a grid.

Web version: https://pdf123.xyz/multiple-pages-per-sheet · All tools: https://pdf123.xyz/skills/pdf123.md

## When to use

- Print a 20-page handout on 5 sheets with 4 pages per sheet
- Make an overview sheet of a long document at 9 pages per sheet
- Save paper when printing drafts at 2 pages per sheet

## Run it

Replace the sample file names and values with the user's, then run:

```bash
API="${PDFX_API_BASE:-https://pdf123.xyz}"
curl -sS --fail-with-body -X POST "$API/api/v1/general/multi-page-layout" \
  -F "fileInput=@input.pdf" \
  -F "pagesPerSheet=2" \
  --output-dir "pdf123-output/$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)" --create-dirs -OJ -w '%{filename_effective} %{content_type}\n'
```

## Inputs

Everything is `multipart/form-data`. The command above already sends each field with its default; keep them all and change only the values the user asked for, since some endpoints reject a missing optional field.

| Field | Type | Required | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `fileInput` | file | yes | | .pdf (one file) |
| `pagesPerSheet` | number | yes | `2` | Pages per sheet |

## Result

curl saves the result in a new `pdf123-output/<timestamp>/` directory under the server's file name and prints its path and content type. Several output files come back as one ZIP. Tell the user where the file is.

## Limits

- No margins, gaps, borders or paper-size choice
- The sheet is larger than normal paper; print with fit-to-page scaling
- Pages are scaled to the first page's size, which stretches pages of a different shape
- At most 100 pages per sheet
- Upload limit on this website: 500 MB per file, sent in chunks above about 95 MB. A single direct API request body is capped at 100 MB.

## Errors

- A non-zero curl exit means the request failed. The saved file then holds `application/problem+json`; read it and report its `detail` to the user instead of retrying blindly.
- `413`: the upload exceeds 100 MiB. `429`: wait for `Retry-After` seconds, then retry once.
- Send `X-API-KEY: $PDFX_API_KEY` only if the user has a PDF123 API key; anonymous calls work without it.

## Privacy

Files are uploaded to the API host, processed, and deleted once the response is sent. For confidential files, ask before uploading, or use a self-hosted server via `PDFX_API_BASE`.