The four settings
- Paper size: pick A4 or US Letter in the tool panel before you download, not in the printer dialogue. The layout changes with it rather than being cropped.
- Scaling: set it to 100 percent, Actual Size or None. Fit to Page shrinks everything by three to five percent, which ruins any template that has to fit something.
- Colour: choose greyscale or black and white for line art. It is faster, sharper and uses a fraction of the ink.
- Quality: normal for most things, best for detailed colouring sheets. Draft thins fine lines into dotted ones, which lets pen ink bleed between regions.
Paper and card weights
80gsm copier paper is fine for colouring with pencils, word searches, quizzes and anything disposable. 100gsm to 120gsm is what you want for felt tips, paint, glue and letters that will be kept. 160gsm card is the standard for gift tags, baubles, certificates and cut-outs. 200gsm to 250gsm is for place cards that must stand, wearable hats and gingerbread house panels.
Most home printers take up to 250gsm through a rear or straight-through tray and jam on anything over 160gsm through a cassette. If your printer has both, use the rear tray for card.
Where the ink goes
Two things waste most of it. Printing line art in colour mode, where the printer lays down a composite black made from three colours instead of using the black cartridge. And borderless printing, which oversizes the page by a few percent and sprays past the edge.
Turn both off. A sheet of line art in greyscale at normal quality costs a fraction of the same sheet printed in colour, and looks better, because composite black on plain paper is slightly brown.
Checking a template printed at the right size
Every template prints its intended size next to the shape. Measure it with a ruler. If it reads 120mm and measures 114mm, scaling was on, and everything cut from that sheet will be five percent small. It takes five seconds and saves a batch.
Questions
- What scaling should I use to print a printable?
- One hundred percent, Actual Size or None. Fit to Page shrinks the sheet by three to five percent, which does not matter on a colouring page and ruins any template that has to fit something.
- What paper weight do I need for gift tags?
- 160gsm card. Lighter card bends at the punch hole and copier paper tears. For place cards that must stand up, go to 200gsm or 250gsm.
- Why does my printer use colour ink on a black and white sheet?
- Because it is in colour mode and mixing a composite black from three cartridges. Select greyscale or black and white, which uses the black cartridge, prints sharper and costs far less.
- Why are thin lines breaking up?
- Draft quality thins fine lines into dotted ones. Print detailed colouring sheets at normal or best quality, otherwise pen ink runs through the gaps between regions.
- Can my printer handle card?
- Most home printers take up to 250gsm through a rear or straight-through tray, and jam above 160gsm through a front cassette. Use the rear tray for anything heavier than paper.