Making the PDF…
About printable lined paper
Ran out of notebook paper? This free tool makes lined paper as a PDF, ready to print. Choose the line spacing, add the red margin line, and print one page or fifty.
Everything is made in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no sign-up.
Wide, college or narrow ruled?
- Wide ruled — 11/32 inch (8.7 mm) between lines. Easier for children and for large handwriting
- College ruled — 9/32 inch (7.1 mm). The usual notebook paper for older students and adults
- Narrow ruled — 1/4 inch (6.35 mm). More lines on a page, for small handwriting
- Large — 10 mm, for young children learning to write
- Custom — any spacing you like, in mm or inches
The red margin line
Most notebook paper has a red line on the left, 1¼ inches (32 mm) from the edge. It keeps writing away from holes and binding, and gives teachers room for marks. Turn it on or off with one tick box.
All the settings
- Paper type — graph paper, dot grid, lined paper or isometric. You can switch at any time
- Spacing — the common sizes are in the list, in millimetres and inches. Choose Custom for any other size, from 1 to 60 mm
- Line colour — light grey is easy to write over and hardly shows on a scan. Blue and green look like school paper
- Line weight — thin, normal or bold. Bold helps when the copy is printed on a weak printer
- Darker line every 5 or 10 squares — for graph paper, like engineering paper
- Red margin line — for lined paper, at the usual 1¼ inches (32 mm) from the left edge
- Space for name and date — a header with two lines to write on
- A4 or US Letter, portrait or landscape, and up to 50 pages in one PDF
Printing at the right size
The squares are exact in the PDF. To keep them exact on paper, print at Actual size or 100%, not "Fit to page". "Fit" shrinks the page a little, and a 5 mm square comes out at about 4.8 mm.
The pattern stays at least 13 mm from every edge, so even printers that cannot print near the bottom of the page print the whole grid.
The squares are always whole: the grid is centred, and the space left over is split evenly between the edges. No page ends in half a square.
What people use it for
- Homework and essays written by hand
- Handwriting practice for children
- Letters — a neat sheet looks better than a page torn from a pad
- Notes for a binder, at the size you like
- Exams and tests printed by teachers
How to use it
- Lined paper is already selected
- Pick wide, college or narrow ruled, or Custom
- Turn the red margin line and the name and date space on or off
- Choose A4 or US Letter and the number of pages
- Press Print, or Download PDF, and print at Actual size
Related tools
- Printable Graph Paper — squares, for maths and drawing
- Printable Lined Paper — ruled lines for writing
- Printable Dot Grid Paper — dots for bullet journals
- Printable Calendar — a month or a year to write in
- Printable Checklist Maker — lists with tick boxes
