Import PDF pages and export print layouts on Mac.

Direct answer. Set the output Page Size in Inspector → Page, choose File > Add Content… (Command-O), and select a PDF plus any images. In the Import files dialog pick pages by thumbnail, with All/None, or type a range like Pages (for example, 1,3-5) — 1-based, ascending, within the source's page count. Click Import: every selected source page becomes one Frame at its original physical size, placed across your layout Pages. Arrange and resize Frames in mm, cm, or inches, then choose File > Export PDF... (Command-Shift-E) to save all Pages at their designed Page Size — vectors stay vectors and printer calibration is not applied. Print the exported PDF at 100% / Actual Size.

Pages, Frames, and Content: what importing actually creates

PrintExactly separates three layers. The Page is the output paper geometry you choose in Inspector → Page. A Frame is a positioned, freely sized rectangle on that Page. The Content is what sits inside the Frame — a photo, or one page of a source PDF. Each selected source PDF page becomes Frame Content; PrintExactly may add layout Pages as needed for placement. That is why a five-page PDF imported with pages 1,3-5 selected gives four Frames — placed for you on layout Pages, with new Pages added when space runs out — and why changing the Page Size never rescales an imported page by itself.

The workflow

1. Choose the output Page Size. In Inspector → Page, pick the paper size the exported PDF should use. The Page Size is the output paper geometry, not the size of anything you import — every imported PDF page arrives as a Frame placed on the Page you set here.
2. Open the Content picker with File > Add Content…. Use the menu command File > Add Content… or press Command-O, then select the PDF and image files you want in the picker. Only unencrypted PDFs that allow printing can be imported; password-protected files are rejected.
3. Select pages in the Import files dialog. For a multi-page PDF the Import files dialog shows a thumbnail grid with All and None buttons and a range field labeled Pages (for example, 1,3-5). Page numbers are 1-based and count the source PDF's own pages. Type ranges that ascend — 1,3-5 is valid, 5-3 is not — and every number must exist in the source. A range like 1,3-5 needs a source with at least 5 pages. Invalid or out-of-range input clears the selection and disables the Import button, so nothing is imported until the range is valid.
4. Import — each page becomes a Frame at its original size. Click Import. Each selected source PDF page becomes one Frame at the page's original physical size. PrintExactly places the new Frames in the workspace, spreading them across the existing layout Pages and adding layout Pages when they run out of room; the output Page Size you chose is a separate setting. A single-page PDF imports straight into one Frame without the selection dialog.
5. Arrange Frames and resize them in mm, cm, or inches. Drag Frames to arrange the PDF pages beside your photo Frames, and set each Frame's width and height deliberately in millimeters, centimeters, or inches. Fit, Crop to Fill, Fit Width, and Fit Height control the Content inside a Frame — they never change the Page Size. PDF Content is not text you can re-type; the page arrives as its own drawing, so scale and position the Frame instead.
6. Export the layout with File > Export PDF.... Use File > Export PDF... or press Command-Shift-E, choose a destination in the save panel, and save. The exported PDF contains all output Pages at their designed Page Size, keeps source PDF vector text and lines as vectors, and does not apply printer calibration. Before saving, PrintExactly warns when Frames fall outside the printable area; Content that is outside the printable area but still inside the Page boundary remains in the PDF. Only Content outside the Page boundary is clipped, and printer margins do not change the exported Page size. Export Anyway saves the layout as arranged.
7. Print the exported PDF at 100% and verify. Print the exported PDF with scale 100% (Actual Size), the paper matched to the Page Size, and Scale to Fit off where your print dialog offers it. The export excludes printer calibration, so the file is neutral paper-sized output. Measure a known Frame on the printout with a ruler for the final tolerance check — no software step replaces that measurement.

Worked example: four Frames from pages 1,3-5

You have a five-page PDF of a building plan: a cover sheet, plans on pages 2–4, and a notes page. Set the Page Size to A4 in Inspector → Page, press Command-O, and pick the PDF. In the Import files dialog, type 1,3-5 in the range field — the source has at least 5 pages, so the range is valid. Click Import: four Frames arrive, one each for pages 1, 3, 4, and 5, each at that page's original physical size, placed on layout Pages automatically. Drag them beside a photo Frame, set the Frame widths you need, and if the plan pages are wider than A4, either raise the Page Size or scale those Frames down deliberately — no automatic fit resizes them for you. Then export with File > Export PDF... (Command-Shift-E) and print the result at 100% / Actual Size.

Mixing a PDF Frame and a photo Frame on one Page

Importing creates the Frames and also places them automatically: PrintExactly spreads imported Frames across the layout Pages and adds layout Pages when the current ones run out of room, so a completed import is never a promise that everything landed on a single Page. Arrange each Frame deliberately for the layout you want, and treat the Page as shared space rather than a container that resizes what sits on it. This layout uses a portrait A4 Page (210 × 297 mm) and, purely for illustration, a Printable Area of 190 × 277 mm. That Printable Area is an assumption, not a property of your printer: check the Printable Area that Inspector → Page reports for the printer and paper you actually selected, because each printer reserves different margins.

1. Start from the source page size. Import a source PDF page that measures 100 × 150 mm (10 × 15 cm). It arrives as one Frame at that size.
2. Set the Frame size deliberately. Choose Frame Size → Custom and type a width of 80 mm and a height of 120 mm (8 × 12 cm). Leave Content Fit at Fit and add no rotation, flip, border, bleed, or crop marks.
3. Give the photo its own Frame. Import a landscape 3:2 photo and set its Frame to 90 × 60 mm (9 × 6 cm). Those 90 × 60 mm are a Frame size you choose: the physical rectangle on the Page. They are not the source photo's pixel dimensions, which the file keeps as they are, and they are not the Page Size.
4. Place them side by side. Put the two Frames next to each other with a 10 mm gap: 80 + 10 + 90 = 180 mm of width, and the tallest Frame is 120 mm. Both fit inside the example Printable Area, 180 mm being inside its 190 mm width, with bleed and crop marks switched off. Bleed or crop marks need additional clearance inside the Printable Area, so recheck the numbers before turning them on.

Resizing the PDF Frame from 100 × 150 mm to 80 × 120 mm keeps the source page's 2:3 proportion (100 ÷ 150 = 80 ÷ 120), so Fit fills the new Frame edge to edge. A source with a different proportion behaves differently: with Fit, the Content keeps its own proportion and can leave empty space inside the Frame; with Crop to Fill, it covers the Frame but loses Content at the edges. Neither mode changes the Frame size.

Two boundaries stay separate here. The Page Size is the output paper and does not set any Frame size; choosing custom paper alone never resizes imported Content. And the new Frame size deliberately rescales the placed PDF page — it does not edit the source file, and it does not preserve an original blueprint scale. If a 1:100 plan has to stay 1:100, compute the Frame size from that scale instead of typing a convenient one.

Because the import already spread the Frames across layout Pages and added Pages as needed, this one-Page example needs intentional rearrangement: move the two Frames deliberately onto the Page and position them side by side as described. Keep every required Frame and its Content; nothing has to be deleted to arrange the example. In a larger import, do not count on one automatic Page holding everything.

Printing a PDF page at a chosen size in cm or mm

To print a PDF page at a size other than its own, set the Frame size in millimeters or centimeters rather than changing the paper. The same portrait A4 Page and the example 190 × 277 mm Printable Area apply, and the Printable Area of your own printer is still the one to check.

1. Import the PDF page and confirm the Frame starts at the source size, 100 × 150 mm.
2. Choose Frame Size → Custom, then type width 80 and height 120 with the currently selected unit set to millimeters — the same Frame as 8 and 12 in centimeters.
3. Keep Content Fit at Fit, with no rotation, flip, extra Content zoom, border, bleed, or crop marks.
4. Confirm the Frame sits inside the Printable Area. 80 × 120 mm fits the example area with room to spare; adding bleed or crop marks would need additional clearance.

Because 100 × 150 mm and 80 × 120 mm share the 2:3 proportion, Fit scales the whole page into the Frame without cropping and without empty bands. A differently proportioned source page either leaves whitespace with Fit or loses Content at the edges with Crop to Fill. Neither mode changes the Frame, and neither edits the source PDF.

The numeric fields use whatever unit is currently selected for Frame Size, and you enter plain numbers into them — one unit per value, not a suffix mixed into the field. Entering 80 in millimeter mode and 8 in centimeter mode therefore produce the same 80 mm Frame width; pick the units setting you prefer before typing. What does change the printed result is the deliberate Frame size: the placed PDF page is rescaled, the source file stays as it is, and the layout makes no promise about the source document's original scale.

Print the exported layout at 100% / Actual Size, with paper matching the A4 Page Size and Scale to Fit off where the print dialog offers it, then measure the 80 × 120 mm Frame with a ruler on the test print. That measurement is the only check of the physical result, and it can still show a small printer tolerance.

Limits and boundaries

• Import restrictions. Only unencrypted PDFs that allow printing. Password-protected files are rejected. PDF annotations and form fields are not included.
• No automatic fit. Larger source pages can overflow the Page. Adjust the Page Size or the Frame size explicitly; nothing rescales imported pages for you.
• Clipping. Content outside the Page boundary does not appear in the exported PDF, and printer margins do not change the exported Page size.
• Vectors and raster. Vector text and lines from the source stay vector. Scanned or raster PDF pages are images and do not gain resolution; effective DPI is reported for image Content, not for PDF vectors.
• Export scope. The export writes all output Pages — there is no selected-Page export — and it excludes printer calibration.

Troubleshooting

• The Import button is disabled. The range text is invalid or out of range — ascending ranges only, each within the source's page count, and at least one page selected. The dialog shows the exact hint, for example “Enter valid page numbers within the PDF page range.”
• A PDF was rejected. It is encrypted or does not allow printing. Remove the protection in the app that created the file; PrintExactly does not open password-protected PDFs.
• An imported page is bigger than the Page. The Frame starts at the source page's original physical size. Raise the Page Size, or set the Frame's width and height to fit — Fit, Crop to Fill, Fit Width, and Fit Height only arrange the Content inside the Frame.
• The export warns about Frames outside the printable area. Content outside the printable area but inside the Page boundary still appears in the exported PDF; only Content outside the Page boundary is clipped, and printer margins do not change the exported Page size. Fix the layout or click Export Anyway to save with any clipping.
• The printed export is the wrong size. The export excludes printer calibration, so the PDF itself is neutral. Check the print dialog for 100% / Actual Size, matched paper, and Scale to Fit off, then measure a known Frame with a ruler.
• Text from the PDF looks soft. If the source page is a scan, it is an image inside the PDF and does not gain resolution. Vector pages stay sharp. Effective DPI describes image Content only.

Frequently asked questions