Half-Fold Brochures

A half-fold brochure is the simplest fold in mail: one crease down the center of a flat sheet, turning it into two equal panels and four printable faces (front cover, inside left, inside right, and back). Fold an 8.5x11 and you get an 8.5x5.5 finished piece; 8.5x14 gives 8.5x7; 9x12 gives 9x6; and an 11x17 folds to a full 8.5x11, a booklet-style piece with real page presence. With no second crease, the sheet opens flat in one motion to one wide spread, which is why it suits big photos and wide layouts.

Planning a half-fold is planning four faces around one fold. The front cover carries the hook, the back becomes the address panel when the piece mails, and the two inside faces open as a single uninterrupted spread, the widest continuous canvas any folded self-mailer gives you, ideal for a menu grid, a price table, or a real-estate photo that wants to run edge to edge. Because the inside is one spread rather than a set of narrow columns, you design across the center fold, not around it, keeping the crease clear of small type and faces so nothing critical lands on the seam.

We print flat on both sides, then finish in one pass: heavier stocks are scored so the center crease folds crisp instead of cracking through the ink, the sheet is folded once, and (when the piece mails) the open top edge is tabbed with nonperforated wafer seals in the DMM-prescribed positions. A single fold is easy to register, but its crease runs straight down the middle of the inside spread, so we score and fold to keep that line true and the two panels the same height, and we plan the panel layout before design so the address never crosses the fold.

Folded to letter dimensions with the crease to the bottom and the open edge tabbed, a half-fold mails at First-Class or Marketing Mail letter automation prices, the same class of rate as a #10 letter, with no envelope and no inserting cost. The address panel needs a clean barcode zone in the lower right and an address block clear of the indicia, and the folded piece has to hold the automation aspect ratio or it drops to nonmachinable. Two sizes fall outside letter limits: 8.5x14 folds to 8.5x7 and 11x17 folds to 8.5x11, both taller than a letter, so they mail as flats and we quote them that way.

Every half-fold moves through the same pipeline as our largest programs: the list is CASS-standardized, deduplicated, and matched to carrier routes (NCOA updating is an option); postage is presorted and optimized; the pieces print, score, fold, tab, and address in sequence; on the letter-size folds, camera verification is available as an add-on to read each piece as it runs and reconcile the count to your list; and the mailing enters USPS Full-Service for automation discounts and end-to-end tracking. You get a single-fold piece that behaves in automation, from list to print to finish to USPS, in one building in Vista, CA.

A half-fold self-mailer mails at First-Class or Marketing Mail letter automation prices, but only when the single center fold seats to the bottom as the closed spine and the open top edge is tabbed shut per DMM 201. Because there is just one fold, the closure is simple: typically two nonperforated wafer seals of 1 to 1.5 inches across the open edge, with the exact count set by finished size and paper weight. The address block lives on the back panel where it never crosses the fold. The finished piece has to land inside the USPS folded self-mailer limits (5 to 10.5 inches long, 3.5 to 6 inches high, no more than a quarter inch thick and 3 ounces) and hold the automation aspect ratio, which an 8.5x5.5 (folded from 8.5x11) or a 9x6 (from 9x12) does comfortably. The sizes that break the pattern are 8.5x14 and 11x17: folded once they finish at 8.5x7 and 8.5x11, both taller than the 6.125 in letter maximum, so they mail as flats rather than letters, and we price them that way. We build the fold-to-bottom, the tab positions, and the address panel into production, show every tab on the interactive mailpiece templates before you design, then price First-Class against Marketing Mail from your actual list so you know the rate before you commit.

• One center fold makes two equal panels and four printable faces: front cover, inside left, inside right, and back
• Finished sizes are half the flat sheet: 8.5x11 folds to 8.5x5.5, 8.5x14 to 8.5x7, 9x12 to 9x6, and 11x17 to a booklet-style 8.5x11
• The inside opens as one wide spread, the widest continuous canvas of any folded self-mailer, so design across the fold, not around it
• As a mailer the single fold seats to the bottom, the open top edge is tabbed, and the address rides on the back panel
• 8.5x5.5 (from 8.5x11) and 9x6 (from 9x12) mail at letter automation rates; 8.5x7 (from 8.5x14) and 8.5x11 (from 11x17) are taller than the 6.125 in letter maximum and mail as flats
• Stocks run 100lb Gloss Book and 100lb Text for marketing shine, 70lb Uncoated for an editorial, writable feel, and 100lb Gloss Cover or 100lb Cover for a substantial, self-supporting piece
• Heavier and coated stocks are scored before the fold so the center crease does not crack through the ink
• Keep small type and faces off the center crease, and keep the lower-right barcode zone clean on the address panel