Printing tips: scaling, margins and paper

Your browser handles the final print, so a few of its settings decide how the cards come out. These are the ones that matter, using Chrome's names (Edge, Safari and Firefox use similar ones).

The four settings to check

1. Paper size: match the paper in your printer. Cards are laid out for Letter, Legal, A5, A4, A3 and A2 sheets.
2. Scale: use 100% or Default. "Fit to page" can shrink cards or push them onto a second page.
3. Margins: leave on Default. Each sheet already leaves about 0.4 inches of margin so nothing lands in the printer's dead zone.
4. Background graphics: turn it on, or colored canvases and cell colors print white.

Paper and ink

• Card stock (around 65–110 lb / 175–300 gsm) survives markers, dabbers and candy far better than copy paper.
• Laminate a set, or slip cards into sheet protectors, and play with dry-erase markers to reuse them every year.
• Dark designs use a lot of ink. For big batches, choose a lighter design in the Design step.
• Print one test page before running hundreds.

Headers and footers

If the date or the web address shows at the edge of the page, untick Headers and footers in the print dialog. Here's how in each browser.

Saving a PDF for later

Choose Save as PDF as the destination to keep a file you can send to a print shop or reprint next year. Print shops usually want 100% scale and no extra margins added.