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How to Download Tracts (text) for Layout for Printing

We receive many requests for our tracts from other countries, hoping we'll send a big shipment for free. Unfortunately, we are just a small faith mission in the mid-west prairies of Canada, and we do not have the financial resources to ship out parcels of tracts around the globe. Even to send just a small box of tracts overseas is very expensive!

Even if you cannot afford to place an order from us, and pay for it, you may have them free if you know how to download and print them, right from this site.

We take advantage of the internet to help you, by placing all our tracts - copyright free - on this site. This means that you already have our permission to download and print the tracts where you are for you to use right there. This is a greater blessing for you than you may realize.

If you have a computer or laptop that is able to connect to the internet, and if you have a simple home printer, perhaps an inkjet or ink toner based printer, and if you have a package of letter or copy paper, and perhaps extra cartridges for your printer if you are going to print a LOT of tracts - then you have all you need.

How to Download the Tracts

Step 1: Select the Tract(s)

Come to our website. Read the tracts and decide which ones you want to print. (You may have all of them if you wish). Here is the Main Tract index
On that page are links to the other sub-categories, like;
Books and Booklets
Children's Tracts - Articles and Stories for Children
Christian Growth and Life Tracts
Evangelism/Gospel Tracts
Seasonal and Holiday Tracts
Tracts On the Cults and Occult
Free Tracts - While Quantities Last

From each of these indexes you will find links to the individual tracts. On each tract's page is the full text of that tract. (That is, all but some booklets).

Step 2: Download the Text Body of a Tract

Many tracts, especially the older ones, do not have a PDF edition attached. In this case, you must drag your mouse or cursor over the text from top to bottom, (or from bottom to top if you like) until it is all highlighted. (Leave out the header of the web page, and the menu of links on the left and at the bottom of the page).

Now, right-click (right-side button on your mouse) to open the fly-out menu. There you click on "copy". now all that text is in the short-term memory of your computer.

Open your word processing program (ie. MS Word, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, KWord, etc.) Open a new document. Click your mouse into that new document. Then right-click again, and on the new fly-out menu that pops up, click on "Paste".

You should see the text of the tract appear there. You have just downloaded a tract.

But now you should click on "File" and "Save As..." so that you will not lose the text when you shut down your computer.

Step 3: Layout the Text for Your Tract

The text you have pasted into your word processing program, as it is now, would just fill up a page with dense text and not create an attractive tract. Taking into account the kind of paper you have to work with, there are several ways to layout a tract.

Layout 1: Two Leaflets

On a new page, use "columns" in the formatting features, and divide the page into two columns. Insert two "frames" in each column and work to balance the sizes of them so you have four equal squares on the page. Now go back to the text of the tract, and copy (right-click again, highlight that section of paragraphs, including the title), switch back to your layout page, and paste the text into the box on the top of the second column.

Go back to the text file and copy the second quarter amount of text, switch to the layout page, and paste that into the bottom frame on the first column. Return to the tract text, and copy the third quarter amount of text, and switch back again to paste that into the bottom frame on the second column. Finally, go back to get the final quarter of text and paste it into the first frame in the first column of the layout page.

You may find that you still need to adjust the font size or the alignments so that none of the tract text is missing, or appears in an awkward position. When it is satisfactory, and you have proof-read for typos and fixed all errors, you are ready for the next step.

To get two copies of the same tract on one sheet of paper, you need to create a second page below this one. Again with four frames in the two columns. But this time you will paste the contents of the two bottom frames at the top of this new page. Paste the contents of pages 4 and 1 in the bottom frames on this page.

If you have space to spare you may even wish to insert a graphic to illustrate your tract. Be sure to repeat it on the same frame/page on both the upper and lower sheet-side.

Test Print Your Tract

Print only the first page of this file through your printer. Turn that sheet over and give the computer the command to print page 2 of this file. When that sheet of paper comes out cut it in half between the upper frames and the lower frames with a scissor or a paper cutter. Now fold each half so that pages 4 and 1 are on the outside and pages 2 and 3 inside the folded leaflet. There. You have two new tracts ready to give away!

When you are sure you are happy with the layout and the printing results, go ahead and print more copies.

Layout 2: Tri-fold Brochure

After copying and pasting (downloading) the text of a tract, and saving it to your computer as a new file, you may want to print it as a three-fold brochure.

A. Open a new blank file.
B. Format the page to be landscape, and to have three columns with a space between them about twice the width of your setting for the outside margin of this document. Insert a frame in each column.
C. Tentatively divide the text you downloaded into six fairly equal portions.
D. Copy and paste the first portion into the third frame on the far right.
E. Copy and paste the sixth, last portion into the middle frame.
F. Copy and paste the fifth portion into the first frame on the left.
G. In the three columns in the lower row, paste the portions for columns 2, 3, and 4 into these columns/frames.
H. Now move down to start another page/sheet for this file. The three columns will appear, but you will need to create a frame in each column again.
I. This time reverse the rows. Paste the columns 2, 3, and 4 in the upper row, and the ones for columns 5, 6, and 1 in the bottom row.
J. Now adjust the text - you may need to move some into the column that is to be before or after the one you are working on. This is the trickiest or hardest step.

Test Print Your Brochure Tract

Print the first page/sheet of this file. Then turn it over and place into the feed tray again so that you can print on the other side. Give the command to print the second sheet/page. When it is done fold it into a brochure and see if your margins look good, or whether you have more adjustments to make. When you are satisfied start printing more copies!

Arranging the layout is the hardest part of all this work. The downloading and the printing are quite easy. If you can master the layout work, or find someone who is good at it to do that part for you, then you may easily help yourself to as many of our tracts from our website that you want to publish.

If you want to translate the text of the tract before you do the layout and printing stages you are welcome to do that too, but then you should not print our name on the tract. Print your own instead. Provide also your address so that if an inquirer wants to know more about the message in the tract they can find you.