Lined Paper
Wide (11/32 in), college (9/32 in), narrow (1/4 in) and Gregg ruling, metric rulings such as 8 mm, or any spacing you like, with a margin line where you want it. Download a PDF for Letter, A4 or any page size, or print straight from the page.
Preview and download
Scaled-down preview; the printout is full size. Dashed lines show the margins and don’t print.
Print at 100% or Actual size, not “Fit to page”. Then check the ruler at the foot of the sheet: it should measure exactly 4 in.
- Sheet
- Letter, 8.5 × 11 in, portrait
- Pattern
- 36 lines
- Ruler
- 4 in, in the bottom margin
- 1 page, vector, no watermark
Paper
Ruling
Lines and colour
Margins
From each paper edge to the pattern. Most printers can’t print the outer 0.2 in or so of a sheet.
Header and mixed pages
Pages and printing
How to make lined paper
- Pick a ruling. Tap Wide, College, Narrow or Gregg for US paper, or 8, 7 or 6 mm for A4-style rulings. To match a notebook you already have, measure ten line spaces and divide by ten.
- Place the margin line. It is measured from the left edge of the paper, as on a notebook, and drawn in red unless you choose another colour. Turn it off for plain ruled paper.
- Add a header if the page needs one. Name and Date, or Name, Date and Class, as labelled lines across the top.
- Choose the page and print. The rules run across the full width between the margins, in whole rows centred top to bottom. Download up to 50 pages at once.
Ruling sizes
| Ruling | Spacing | Same in other unit | Lines on Letter | Lines on A4 | Usually for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wide ruled | 11/32 in | 8.73 mm | 30 | 31 | Younger students, large handwriting; legal pads |
| College ruled | 9/32 in | 7.14 mm | 36 | 38 | Most notebooks from middle school up |
| Narrow ruled | 1/4 in | 6.35 mm | 41 | 43 | Small handwriting, dense notes |
| Gregg ruled (centre line) | 1/3 in | 8.47 mm | 31 | 32 | Shorthand and steno pads |
| 8 mm | 8 mm | 0.315 in | 32 | 34 | The usual A4 refill-pad ruling |
| 7 mm | 7 mm | 0.276 in | 37 | 39 | Narrower A4 ruling |
| 6 mm | 6 mm | 0.236 in | 43 | 46 | Narrow A4 ruling |
Lines on a portrait sheet with the starting margins (1/2 in on Letter, 10 mm on A4), as the generator draws them. Printed notebooks often leave a deeper band at the top, so they carry a few lines fewer.
No law or standard fixes these spacings. They are the rulings US stationery has long been sold in, and the metric ones are those of common A4 pads. Choose by handwriting size. A rule of thumb: if your lower-case letters fill more than about half the space between lines, go a size wider. The methodology page lists the sources for each ruling.
Useful setups
- Cornell notes. Margin line at 2 1/2 in for the cue column; Layout set to two parts, top and bottom, lined at 80% over blank space; border on. The summary box at the foot comes out about 1.9 in tall on Letter, close to the 2 in the method calls for.
- Margin on the right. For the back of a sheet in a binder, put the margin line at 7 1/4 in on Letter, or 185 mm on A4.
- Steno pad pages. A custom 6 × 9 in page with Gregg ruling: 25 lines with a centre line, ready to cut from a Letter sheet or print on 6 × 9 in stock.
- Lab and science notebooks. Under Layout, lined paper above and graph paper below, or graph paper with a lined notes column.
- Letters and journals. College or wide ruling with the margin line off and a light grey line colour, which looks less like school paper.
Printing it
For a sheet you write on straight away, a small scaling error doesn't matter much. It does matter for refills that should match a notebook or a pre-printed form: print at Actual size and check the ruler at the foot of the page, or measure ten line spaces (college ruling: 10 × 9/32 in = 2 13/16 in; 8 mm ruling: 80 mm). The guide to printing at actual size explains the print settings. For children learning letter shapes, use handwriting paper, which adds a midline.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between wide ruled and college ruled paper?
The line spacing. Wide ruled lines are 11/32 in (8.7 mm) apart and college ruled lines 9/32 in (7.1 mm), so college ruling fits more lines on a page: 36 against 30 on a Letter sheet with 1/2 in margins here. Wide ruling is the usual choice in elementary school, where handwriting is larger; college ruling is more common from middle school on.
How far apart are the lines on lined paper?
In the US: 11/32 in for wide ruled, 9/32 in for college ruled and 1/4 in for narrow ruled, with Gregg ruling at 1/3 in (three lines to the inch). On A4, 8 mm is the most common ruling and 7 mm and 6 mm the narrower ones. None of these is set by a binding standard; they are the rulings stationery makers print, and individual brands can differ slightly.
Where does the margin line go?
On US wide and college ruled paper, the red margin line is about 1 1/4 in (about 32 mm) from the left edge, and that is where the generator puts it; metric sheets start it at 25 mm. Type any distance from the left edge of the paper to move it, including one near the right edge for writing on the back of a binder sheet, or turn it off for plain ruled paper.
Can I make Cornell notes paper?
Yes. A Cornell page has three parts: a wide column for the notes you take during a lesson or reading, a narrow cue column on the left for the questions and key words you add when you go over them, and a box across the foot for a few sentences summing up the page. To revise, cover the notes and answer the cues from memory. Moving the margin line out to make the cue column and leaving a blank band at the bottom gives all three; the exact settings are under Useful setups.
What is Gregg ruled paper?
Paper ruled three lines to the inch (1/3 in apart) with a vertical line down the centre, made for writing Gregg shorthand in two narrow columns. Steno pads are ruled this way. The Gregg preset sets the spacing, draws the centre line and leaves out the left margin line, on any page size; Useful setups gives the 6 × 9 in pad page.
What ruling is used in the UK and Europe?
A4 pads in the UK are most often "8 mm feint ruled with margin": pale lines 8 mm apart and a margin line on the left. Narrow feint is usually 6 mm (some pads use 7 mm), and some primary-school books use wider rulings such as 15 mm. Exercise books in other countries vary, so measure a page of the book you want to match and type its spacing in.