0. For your convenience, I suggest printing this instruction page before proceeding. In this way you will not have to toggle back and forth between this page and the applications you are using while working your way through this set of instructions. Incidentally, although there are 12 steps described below, the operation is much simpler than you may think. It only takes me about 45 seconds to actually implement the 12 steps below to generate 10 folded tracts. If I were less careful I could probably do it even more rapidly!
1. From the website’s main page click on the “Reach Out” Tab.
2. Next click on the link labeled “Tract formatted Light-Drops“.
3. Click on the link for the tract you want to print. This will download the tract in PDF format and should open up the Adobe Acrobat reader (or, perhaps similar software) if that is loaded on your computer.
4. In the adobe acrobat reader (or similar application which you may be using) select the option to print the document. This should bring up your printing options window. Tracts are formatted to be printed two per page on an 8.5″ x 11” sheet of paper.
5. Select the two sided printing option for printing the top of both pages (the front page and the back page) at the same end of one sheet of paper. This 2 sided option should be described by the words such as “head to head,” “flip on long edge,” or similar wording.
6. When you have printed the number of two sided tracts that you desire, each sheet will contain 2 tracts. Use a paper cutter to separate them by cutting each sheet perpendicular to the long edge 5.5″ from either end of the 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper on which the tracts were printed. I find that my paper cutter can easily handle a stack of 5 sheets at a time (10 tracts) for this entire preparation process (including the following steps). Thus I combine the resulting 2 stacks of 5 half-sheets into one stack of 10 half-sheets. Make sure they are each oriented the same way.
7. Next, take the resulting stack of 10 half-sheets (each of which is a complete tract), and fold it in half perpendicular to what is now the 8.5″ long edge. Make sure that the title page is on the outside of the fold.
8. Finally, place the creased end of the set of 10 folded tracts 3 and 1/2″ (3.5″) from the cutter edge. This will leave 3/4″ of the open end of the folded tract stack protruding off the edge of the paper cutter. Carefully cut off this protruding 3/4″ edge from the open ended edge of the stack. Since the half-sheets have been folded in half, by this point, you will actually be cutting through 20 thicknessess of paper (my paper cutter handles this well). This will leave you with a nested set of 10 tracts ready to distribute. They should be approximately 5.5″ long by 3.5″ wide and fit comfortably into a shirt pocket.
9. If you prefer, you can un-nest the 10 tracts from each other and stack them on top of one another. I, personally, have found it convenient to leave them nested until the actual moment of distribution so that each stack of multiple tract titles (in my shirt pocket) can be quickly distinguished from, each other, thereby facilitating selection of the particular title you wish to distribute at a given moment.
10. If your printer is working the same as mine, the above process should create pairs of tracts (from each sheet) in which corresponding margins are almost identical for each of the two tracts on a sheet. Even if not exact, small variations are quite tolerable. If you have unacceptable variations you may need to adjust the scaling factors of the printing application which is printing the PDF file on a sheet of paper. I always select the option to avoid scaling which leaves the text at 100% of original size.
11. While you have the Adobe Acrobat reader (or other application which your system may be using to print the tracts) loaded, you can easily save the PDF file for a tract to whatever location you desire on your hard drive for future off-line use.
12. If you would like one of the Light-Drops put into PDF print-ready tract format, which does not yet appear on the page of tract formatted Light-Drops, please leave me a post so that I can prioritize the tract formatting of that particular Light-Drop for your use.
12. If you have other printing problems which you would like to discuss with me, please leave a post on the web site for me to get back with you. If necessary, we can exchange additional contact information to facilitate communication.
Thank you for your commitment to spread Light-Drops to your friends, neighbors, co-workers, and other contacts. We are praying that the Lord will make them effective for His glory!
-Tom & Kathy
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