Printing guide

How to print a PDF so it comes out right

Five habits that turn a downloaded PDF into a sheet you actually want to use: the right paper size, no scaling, a quick preview, sensible ink and the right paper weight.

Match the paper size first

Every printable here states the size it was drawn for. A4 is taller and narrower; US Letter is shorter and wider. They differ by less than two centimetres in each direction, which is exactly why the mismatch is easy to miss and annoying to live with.

Choose the matching size in the printer dialog rather than letting it decide. If you only stock one size, that is fine — just expect a margin to shift, and check the preview before printing a set.

Print at actual size, not “fit to page”

“Fit to page” shrinks the sheet by a few per cent to stay clear of your printer’s unprintable edge. On a photo that is invisible. On a planner it moves every ruled line, and a page designed to be hole-punched or trimmed stops lining up.

Look for Actual size, sometimes labelled 100% or None, and select it. If content then falls off the edge, the paper size is wrong — fix that instead of scaling.

Read the preview before the first sheet

The preview catches the cheap mistakes: a trailing blank page, landscape content sent to a portrait tray, or margins your printer physically cannot reach.

It also tells you the page count before you commit a stack of paper to it. If you only need the first two pages of a ten-page pack, set the range here.

Decide about ink on purpose

Most planners and trackers read perfectly in grayscale, and printing them that way costs a fraction of the colour version. Keep colour for the sheets where it carries meaning — a chore chart, a colour-coded timetable, anything a child will use.

Draft or economy quality is usually enough for something you will write on and recycle in a week.

Use paper that suits the job

Standard 80 gsm office paper is right for anything you fill in and file. Move up to 160 gsm or heavier for cards, bookmarks, labels and anything that gets handled daily or stuck to a fridge.

Heavier stock usually wants the manual feed tray and a slower setting. Your printer’s manual will name the heaviest weight it accepts; going past it jams the rollers.

Why printables come out wrong

Almost every bad print comes from one of five things: the paper size does not match, the printer scaled the page, nobody looked at the preview, the ink settings fought the design, or the paper was too thin for what the sheet is for. Each one takes seconds to check.

A last look before you print

Print one copy before you print twenty. Hold it against the light, check the margins reached the edge you expected, and write on it — a planner whose lines sit too close together is only obvious once a pen is on the page.

Last updated 12 September 2026

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