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Print Your Timeline Across Multiple Pages

One of the most requested Preceden features has been the ability to print your timelines across multiple sheets of paper.

We've added it, but it takes a few extra steps: most printers try to squeeze extra-wide content onto a single sheet, so printing across multiple pages needs a workaround.

The first tutorial below is for Mac users, the second for Windows users.

Some people have also had success printing large timelines on a plotter: Print on a Plotter.

For Mac Users

  1. Click the Share button above your timeline and choose PDF.

  2. Click More Options to expand it, set Paper Size to "Stretch across multiple sheets of paper", and click Download Now:

    The Download PDF dialog with More Options expanded, Paper Size set to Stretch across multiple sheets of paper, and a Download Now button below the Magnification menu

    More Options is collapsed every time you open the dialog, so the Paper Size menu stays hidden until you expand it.

    In this mode Preceden always includes the timeline, leaves out the event list, and uses landscape orientation, so the Content checkboxes and the Paper Orientation menu do not apply.

  3. Use Preview to convert the PDF to an image. Click the File > Export menu:

    Preview's File menu with Export highlighted between Rename and Revert To

    For the Format, choose PNG:

    The Format menu in Preview's export sheet, listing JPEG, JPEG-2000, OpenEXR, PDF, PNG and TIFF, with PNG checked

  4. Open the PNG in Safari:

    A Finder right-click menu on the exported PNG, with Open With expanded and Safari selected in the list of applications

  5. Click the File > Print menu:

    Safari's File menu with Print highlighted at the bottom of the list

  6. Adjust the print options:

    The page range and scale determine how many pages wide your printed timeline will be.

    To print across four pages, set the page range from 1 to 4 and set the scale to 400%:

    The macOS print dialog with the page range set from 1 to 4 and the scale set to 400 percent, both outlined in red

    To print across eight pages, set the page range from 1 to 8 and set the scale to 800%.

    This keeps your timeline at the correct magnification and stops your printer from printing blank pages.

    If your timeline is multiple pages tall, you might need to double or triple the number of pages, but keep the scale the same.

  7. Print your timeline.

    Printed across four pages, it looks like this:

    Four printed sheets laid side by side on the floor, each carrying one quarter of the timeline's bars

    Printed across eight pages, it looks like this:

    Eight printed sheets laid side by side, spreading the same timeline across twice the width

  8. Finally, cut and tape the timeline together.

    Once the pages are printed, cut and tape them together and display the timeline however you'd like.

For Windows Users

Printing PDFs across multiple pages in Windows is straightforward:

  1. Click the Share button above your timeline and choose PDF.

  2. Click More Options to expand it, set Paper Size to "Stretch across multiple sheets of paper", and click Download Now:

    The Download PDF dialog with More Options expanded, Paper Size set to Stretch across multiple sheets of paper, and a Download Now button below the Magnification menu

  3. Open your PDF in Acrobat, then open the print dialog. Under Page Sizing & Handling, choose Poster, where you can set the scale to print the image at and how much the pages overlap:

    Acrobat's Windows print dialog with Page Sizing & Handling outlined and Poster selected, showing Tile Scale and Overlap fields beside a 51 by 11 inch preview

  4. Click Print, then cut and tape the pages together and display the timeline however you'd like.