Which grid size should I use?
| Grid | Good for |
|---|---|
| ¼ inch (4 squares per inch) | US school math, plotting graphs, floor plans at ¼″ = 1′ |
| 5 mm | Handwriting in maths, notes, small sketches |
| 1 cm | Younger students, counting squares, area and perimeter |
| ½ inch and 1 inch | Early years, large diagrams, cutting out shapes |
If you are not sure, ¼ inch on Letter paper or 5 mm on A4 is what most school graph paper uses.
How to print graph paper at the right size
Press Print or open the downloaded PDF, then set the scale to 100% (sometimes called Actual size). “Fit to page” and “Shrink oversized pages” make every square slightly smaller. Each sheet has a small ruler at the bottom: if the inch mark does not measure one inch, the scale was changed somewhere. The printing guide covers each browser.
What you can change
- Grid size from 5 mm to 1 inch.
- Darker line every 4, 5 or 10 squares, which makes counting and scaling easier.
- Line colour and weight: light blue is easy on the eye; black copies better on a photocopier.
- Name and date line for handing out in class.
- Up to 50 pages in one PDF for a whole class set.
Your last settings are remembered on this device, and the page address updates as you change them, so you can bookmark or share an exact sheet.
Letter or A4?
Use Letter (8.5 × 11 in) in the United States, Canada and parts of Latin America. Almost everywhere else uses A4 (210 × 297 mm). Printing an A4 sheet on Letter paper, or the other way round, cuts off the edge or adds a margin. The squares stay the right size either way, but the grid will not fill the page.