Binding is the method wherein printed sheets are put together to form books, magazines, catalogs, folders, directories, or product packaging. Binding can be a very valuable resource while creating a presentation or generally organizing some important documents. This is a good way to ensure that the documents are not assembled in a haphazard manner and can be located easily as and when required.

If printing a booklet, book, or multi-page report, it is suggested to plan how to put together the finished product before setting up the document in the page layout program. A suitable binding method can be chosen, from the several methods currently offered, depending on the purpose of the document, need for durability, best appearance, and cost.

Binding can be done in different forms, depending the type of documents being bound. Some of the most popular kinds of binding methods are ring binding methods, comb, coil, wire binding methods (otherwise popularly known as spiral binding), thermal binding methods, stitched binding methods, perfect binding methods, and case binding methods.

Quick development of fast-drying inks and fast-setting glues has brought an excellent speed and efficiency to edition binding and has vastly reduced the long waiting periods between binding steps to permit adhesives to cure. Development in the binding industry today ensures a book to become a fully bound volume in a matter of minutes. The binding industry dealing with the long run books even has fully automated equipment that can work with little or no human attention.

Case binding is similar to hand binding in the sense that they both involve the same procedures or steps. The signatures are to be put in order in the gathering machine. They are then fastened together using some form of sewing, most popular being the Smyth sewing, which allows the books to lie flat. The books are then trimmed to the final size by heavy knives, and then encased in a cover after required gliding or stain on the book.

Book covers or cases are usually prepared on case making machines wherein the boards and case liner are glued to the covering cloth. Finally, the book and its cover are brought together at the casing-in machine, where the glue is applied to the endpapers, and the super and endpapers are glued to the boards and sealed under heat and pressure.