A folding former of a folder for a web-fed newspaper press has a former nose and a pivot point or pivot axis, the folding former being pivotable about the pivot point or the pivot axis. A former inclination angle is changed by pivoting the folding former to horizontally displace the former nose. A former spread angle is also changed as a function of the former inclination angle. To align the outer edges of sections to be folded in the folding former, the former inclination angle and the former spread angle are set as a function of the number of pages in the sections to be folded.