How to use it
- Choose the square size: 5 mm or 1/4 inch for maths and notes, 1 cm for primary school, 1 inch for large drawings and games.
- Pick A4 or Letter to match the paper in your printer, and a margin if your printer cannot print to the edge.
- Turn on the heavier line every 5 or 10 squares if you plot graphs or count squares.
- Download the PDF and print it at 100% scale.
Which grid size do I need?
1/4 inch (6.35 mm, “quad ruled”) is the US school standard. 5 mm is the European default for maths exercise books and bullet journals. 1 cm squares suit young children and bar charts. For floor plans, a common choice is 1/4 inch = 1 foot.
Graph paper, grid paper, quad paper
They are names for the same thing: paper ruled in equal squares. “Quad ruled” usually means four squares per inch. Engineering paper is graph paper with a heavier line every 5 or 10 squares.
Printing to scale
In the print dialog choose “Actual size” or 100% scale. “Fit to page” shrinks the sheet by a few percent and the spacing will no longer be exact.
Questions
Will the squares be exactly 5 mm when printed?
Yes, when you print at 100% scale. The PDF page is exactly 210 × 297 mm (A4) or 8.5 × 11 in (Letter), and every line sits at an exact multiple of the cell size. The grid is centred and trimmed to whole squares.
How many squares fit on a page?
With 10 mm margins, a 5 mm grid gives 38 × 55 squares on A4 and 39 × 51 on Letter. A 1/4 inch grid gives 29 × 43 on A4 and 30 × 40 on Letter. The exact count is shown under the preview.
Can I print graph paper without margins?
Set the margin to none. Most home printers still leave a 3–6 mm unprinted strip at the edges, so the outer squares may be cut off.