The XY arranging macro basically ignores dx/dy parameters by always padding out the space between "pages". Here's the existing ConTeXt macro for reference - removing \vss and \hss makes it do the right thing (imo). I'd give a simple patch, but I think the ideal behaviour might be to pad if (and only if) dx/dy were not specified, which is starting to push my TeX skills. \def\pusharrangedpageXY#1% {\doglobal\increment\arrangedpageN \reportarrangedpage\arrangedpageN \doglobal\increment\arrangedpageM \global\setbox\arrangedpageB\hbox \ifdim\@@ppwidth>\zeropoint to \@@ppwidth \fi {\ifvoid\arrangedpageB\else \unhbox\arrangedpageB\hss\hskip\@@ppdx\hss \fi \box#1}% \ifnum\arrangedpageM<\arrangedpageX\else \global\setbox\arrangedpageA\vbox \ifdim\@@ppheight>\zeropoint to \@@ppheight \fi {\offinterlineskip \ifvoid\arrangedpageA\else \unvbox\arrangedpageA\vss\vskip\@@ppdy\vss \fi \box\arrangedpageB}% \doglobal\newcounter\arrangedpageM \fi \ifnum\arrangedpageN<\arrangedpageT\else \poparrangedpages \fi} Minimal test, note the dx/dy distances: \definepapersize[label][width=30mm,height=20mm] \setuppapersize[label][A4] \setuppaper[dx=1mm,dy=1mm,nx=2,ny=6] \setuparranging[XY] \showframe[edge] \starttext \dorecurse{6}{test \recurselevel \page} \stoptext -- - Gus