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Printing guide: getting a clean page every time
A printable is only as good as the print. Almost every complaint about a wrong size, a cut off edge or a shrunken worksheet comes down to two settings in the print dialogue, and both take a few seconds to fix. This page covers those two first, then the smaller things that make a difference: paper, ink, double sided pages and print shops.
Before you press print
- Open the right file for your paper Every printable includes both A4 and US Letter unless the product page says otherwise, and both are in the same download. A4 is standard in the UK, Europe, Australia and India. US Letter is standard in the United States and Canada.
- Open it in a real PDF reader A desktop browser or a proper PDF reader gives you the full print dialogue. A phone preview pane often hides the scaling controls, which is where the trouble starts.
- Set scaling to 100% or Actual Size Fit to Page, Shrink to Fit and Shrink Oversized Pages all resize the artwork by a few millimetres. Handwriting lines, cut lines and anything that has to match a real object stop being accurate.
- Check the paper size in the dialogue The reader may default to whatever the printer last used. Confirm it says A4 or Letter, and that this matches the sheets actually in the tray.
- Print one test page On the paper you intend to use. One test page saves a whole pack of paper on the days when something is set wrong.
Choosing paper
Ordinary copier paper is right for most things. It is only worth spending more when the page will be handled, cut, laminated or kept.
| What you are printing | Paper | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Worksheets, checklists, planner pages | Standard copier paper, 80 to 100 gsm | Cheap, takes pencil well, fine for pages used once |
| Flashcards, matching cards, game pieces | Card, 160 to 250 gsm | Survives small hands, does not curl, cuts cleanly |
| Wall charts and posters | 100 to 120 gsm, matt | Holds colour without showing through from the back |
| Invitations, menus, place cards | Card, 250 to 300 gsm | Feels like the real thing rather than a photocopy |
| Anything to be laminated | 120 gsm or heavier | Thin paper wrinkles inside the pouch |
Check your printer manual for the heaviest paper it takes. Many home printers stop at about 200 gsm through the main tray, and some have a separate rear feed for thicker card. Feeding card that is too heavy is the usual cause of a jam.
Saving ink
Colour cartridges are the real cost of printing at home, and most of our pages are designed to work without them.
- Choose greyscale or black and white in the print dialogue. The designs use strong outlines and clear contrast, so they stay readable.
- Use draft or economy mode for worksheets that get filled in and recycled. Save the best quality setting for things that go on a wall.
- Where a product includes a separate low ink version, the product page lists it among the files.
- Print one page of a long pack first. There is no point discovering a setting problem on page forty.
- Laminate or slip into a plastic wallet the pages you will reuse, and write on them with a dry wipe pen instead of reprinting.
Common problems and what causes them
Everything printed slightly too small
Your printer scaled the page down to make room for its own unprintable margin. In the print dialogue set Scale to 100%, or choose Actual Size, and switch off Fit to Page and Shrink Oversized Pages. This is behind almost every wrong size print.
The edges are cut off
Either the paper size in the dialogue does not match the paper in the tray, or you are printing the A4 sheet on US Letter, or the other way round. Every pack contains both sizes, so open the file that matches your paper and print that one.
There is a white border I did not expect
Nearly all home printers keep a small margin they cannot print into, usually three to five millimetres. Our designs allow for it, so the border is normal. If you need edge to edge colour, print at a shop and ask for full bleed.
The colours look wrong
Screens light the colour up and paper does not, so a print is always a little duller than the preview. Check the ink levels, print on white paper rather than cream, and choose the correct paper type in the driver so the printer lays down the right amount of ink.
The page came out blank or streaky
That is the printer rather than the file. Run the head cleaning routine from the printer utility, check the cartridge is seated, then print a test page. If the same PDF prints correctly on another printer, the file is fine.
Double sided pages do not line up
Choose Flip on Long Edge for portrait pages and Flip on Short Edge for landscape ones. If your printer has no duplex mode, print the odd pages first, then put the stack back in and print the even ones.
Using a print shop
A local copy shop or an online printer is a good idea for a big classroom set, for heavy card, or when you want a clean edge to edge finish. The licence allows it, as long as the copies are for your own use or your own classroom.
What to tell them:
- Print at 100% scale, with no fitting, shrinking or auto rotate.
- Use the A4 file or the US Letter file, whichever matches the paper you are asking for.
- Say the paper weight in gsm rather than describing it as thick or thin.
- Ask for full bleed only if you want colour running off the edge, and expect a small trim.
- Ask for a single proof copy first if the run is a large one.
Send them the PDF exactly as you received it. Do not convert it to an image or paste it into a document first, because that is where sharpness is lost. What you must not do is leave the file with the shop to keep, or let them print it for other customers. The licence terms set out the detail.
Still not printing properly?
Tell us the product name, the device and reader you printed from, and what came out. A photo of the printed page next to the screen tells us more than any description, and usually points straight at the setting that needs changing.
You may also want how to download, the FAQ or our guides and ideas.