How to Print Lined Paper at the Right Size
A ruled template is only as accurate as the print settings behind it. Here is how to get true-to-size lines from a home or office printer, and how to check them with a ruler.
Quick answer
Download the PDF that matches the paper in your printer (US Letter in North America, A4 almost everywhere else) and print at 100% or "Actual size", not "Fit to page". Then measure ten line gaps with a ruler to confirm the spacing.
Step by step: from download to printed sheet
- Pick a template from the template library and download the version for your paper: US Letter or A4.
- Open the PDF in a PDF viewer or in your browser, rather than printing from a file preview or thumbnail.
- Open the print dialog (Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac) and choose your printer.
- Set the paper size to the paper that is actually in the tray.
- Set the scale to 100% or Actual size. Turn off "Fit to page", "Shrink oversized pages" and similar options.
- Choose standard or high print quality rather than draft, so pale lines are not thinned out.
- Print a single page, measure it (see below), then print the rest.
Where to find the scale setting
Every program hides the scale option in a different place. These are the settings to look for in the most common ones:
| Program | Where to look | Choose | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome and Edge | Print dialog → More settings → Scale | Custom, set to 100 | Fit to page, Fit to printable area |
| Firefox | Print dialog → Scale | 100% | Fit to page width |
| Preview (macOS) | Print dialog (Show Details) → Scale | 100% | Scale to Fit |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Print dialog → Page Sizing & Handling | Actual size | Fit, Shrink oversized pages |
Our template PDFs also ask the viewer to print at actual size, and many viewers follow that request. Some print dialogs remember the last setting you used instead, so it is worth checking once in each program you print from.
Check the result with a ruler
A single gap between lines is too small to measure precisely. Measure across ten gaps instead, from one line to the eleventh line below it, and compare the result with this table:
| Template | Line spacing | 10 gaps should measure |
|---|---|---|
| College ruled | 7.1mm (9/32") | 71mm (about 2 13/16") |
| Wide ruled | 8.7mm (11/32") | 87mm (about 3 7/16") |
| Narrow ruled | 6.35mm (1/4") | 63.5mm (2 1/2") |
| A4 lined, 8mm | 8mm | 80mm |
| A4 lined, 10mm | 10mm | 100mm |
If your measurement comes out a few percent short, the page was scaled to fit: at 96%, for example, ten college ruled gaps measure about 68mm instead of 71mm. Go back to the print dialog, set the scale to 100% and print again.
Printer margins: why lines stop short of the edge
Most home and office printers cannot print all the way to the edge of the sheet. They leave a narrow unprinted strip, usually a few millimeters, on each side. Our lined templates draw their lines from edge to edge, so on those printers the lines simply end a little before the paper does. That is expected, and the spacing between the lines is unaffected as long as the scale is 100%.
Do not switch to "Fit to printable area" to bring the line ends back: it shrinks the whole page, ruling included. Borderless printing, on printers that offer it, usually enlarges the page slightly so it bleeds off the edges, so leave it off for ruled paper as well.
Choosing the paper
Ordinary copy paper is fine for most templates. Heavier paper is worth it when you write with wet ink or use both sides of the sheet:
| Paper weight | US bond equivalent | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 75–80 g/m² | 20 lb | Everyday notes in pencil, ballpoint or gel pen |
| 90 g/m² | 24 lb | Fountain pens and felt tips; less show-through on double-sided pages |
| 100–105 g/m² | 28 lb | Wet inks, heavy annotation, pages that get handled a lot |
If the lines print too light
- Turn off draft, economy or toner-saving mode in the printer properties.
- Print in color. In grayscale, light blue lines come out as a very pale gray.
- Pick a darker line color: open the template in the online generator, choose gray or dark lines, and download your own PDF.
Double-sided printing and binders
For a sheet ruled on both sides, print the page twice with duplex printing and choose flip on long edge, the right setting for portrait pages. If your printer has no duplex option, print the first side, put the stack back in the tray and print again; run one test sheet first to learn which way your printer wants the paper turned.
Punch holes after printing. On our margined templates, the holes of a standard three-hole punch on Letter, or a two- or four-hole punch on A4, fall in the strip left of the 32mm margin line. On the back of a double-sided sheet, the margin ends up on the side away from the holes. If you would rather have plain backs, print A4 lined paper without a margin, or turn the margin off in the editor for those pages.
Printing from the online editor
If you type or draw on a page in the online generator, you have two ways to get it onto paper. Print sends the pages to your printer through the browser’s print dialog, so the same scale rules apply. PDF saves a file sized to the paper you chose in the editor, which you can print later or share. A document can hold up to 20 pages, and the export shows its progress while it builds the file.
Choose the paper size in the editor before you export. A PDF made for A4 and printed on Letter has the same problem as any other mismatched template; the paper sizes guide explains the difference.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my printed lines look smaller than in my notebook?
Most often the page was scaled down to fit. Print again at 100% or Actual size. If the scale was already 100%, compare the rulings: your notebook may be wide ruled (8.7mm) while you printed college ruled (7.1mm).
Can I print an A4 PDF on US Letter paper?
Not at true size. Letter is about 18mm shorter than A4, so at 100% the bottom of the page is cut off, and scaled to fit, every line shrinks by about 6%. Download the US Letter version instead, or set Letter in the editor and export your own PDF.
The lines are too light. How do I make them darker?
Turn off draft or toner-saving mode and print in color. If that is not enough, open the template in the editor, choose gray or dark lines and download a new PDF.
Can I print lined paper edge to edge?
Only if your printer supports borderless printing, and even then it usually enlarges the page slightly, which changes the spacing. Most printers leave a few millimeters blank at the edges; the lines stop there, but the spacing stays correct at 100% scale.
How many pages can I export from the editor?
Up to 20 pages per document, saved as one PDF. The printable templates are single pages, so print as many copies as you need.