How to Print Smaller Planner Pages

Printing Letter size pages are super easy because most copy paper is already sized correctly and your printer is expecting the standard 8.5" x 11" page. But how should you go about printing something smaller like and A5 or Pocket size? We have some tips to make it as simple as possible.

Paper Trimming

At some point you will need to trim your paper down to the desired size. There are two methods for this. You can either print on a Letter size page, then use crop marks to trim down to the correct size. Or, you can trim your paper first, then print on the smaller page. There are benefits and drawbacks to both.

It all depends on the printer and software you are using. Some printers do not easily print on smaller pages. Check your operating instructions for guidance on your particular printer.

Print With Crop Marks

For easy sizing guidance, print on Letter sized paper and trim using marks. Some of our planner come in two versions, one with crop marks on each page, and one without marks. We are planning to phase out the crop marks, but there is an easy way to print them on your own.

1. In Adobe Acrobat, go to the print screen then click the Advanced button next to the printer selection.
2. In the Advanced menu select Marks and Bleed on the left.
3. Make sure that Print as Image is not checked. 
4. Check the box next to Trim Marks.
5. Click Ok and proceed printing.

After all pages have printed, use a paper trimmer or scissors to uniformly cut the page at the trim marks. We like this paper trimmer by Fiskars: https://amzn.to/2YAAdUk

Print on Pre-Sized Paper

If your printer can print on smaller page sizes easily, you may wish to cut the paper first, then print planners. It can be trickier to get the size right, but not too difficult. 

After the paper is trimmed and loaded into the printer, print the file version that does not have crop marks. In the printer menu you will need to change the paper size to reflect the size that is loaded. Every printer and system is different, but you will usually find the settings by going to the Print screen, then select the Printer button for advanced options specific to that printer.

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