A method of manufacturing a selected spacing folded, pleated media by preparing a pre-pleated sheet of filter media having pleats with peaks and troughs throughout its length applying an at least one adhesive element along the pre-pleated sheet of filter media; advancing and cutting the pre-pleated sheet of material; compressing the cut length of pre-pleated sheet of filter material, resulting in folding of the pleats and adherence of the pleats into a folded, pleated filter media stack that is selectively separable; selectively separating the media stack and selecting a pleat spacing for a selected pleat spacing section application of an at least one spacing support element at the peaks of each pleat and refolding and recompressing into a selected spacing folded, pleated media stack wherein the media stack is adhered and can be selectively removed to extend from a compacted state to a deployed state with the selected pleat spacing.