How to print a coloring page properly

Every drawing on this site is a 300 dpi PDF sized for A4. The file is sharp enough that the result depends on what happens between the file and the paper: scale, quality setting and paper weight. Get those three right and a basic home printer produces a sheet as clean as a coloring book.

1. Print the PDF, not the web page

Printing the web page prints a small preview, plus whatever the browser adds in the margins. Open a sheet and press Print: the PDF opens in a new tab, ready for your browser's print dialog. Download saves the same file, which is the better choice if you print from an app, a USB stick or someone else's computer.

2. Pick the scale that matches your paper

This is the setting behind most bad prints, and the right answer depends on the paper in the tray.

• A4 paper (most of the world): set the scale to 100 % or “Actual size”. “Fit to page” shrinks the drawing a little and leaves uneven margins.
• US Letter (the US and Canada): choose “Fit to printable area”, “Fit” or “Scale to fit”. Letter is a little wider than A4 but shorter, so at 100 % the top and bottom of the drawing are cut off. Fitting shrinks it by roughly 6 %, which nobody notices once the crayons are out.
• Orientation: portrait. Every sheet here is drawn upright.

Windows

In Chrome or Edge, press Ctrl + P in the PDF tab, open More settings and set Scale. Check Paper size in the same panel. In Adobe Acrobat Reader, the choice sits under Page Sizing & Handling: Actual size for A4, Fit for Letter. Quality and toner saving live in the printer's own preferences, reached through Printer Properties or Print using system dialog.

Mac

Open the PDF in Preview or Safari, press Cmd + P and click Show Details if the dialog is small. Set Paper Size, then either Scale 100 % for A4 or Scale to Fit for Letter. Quality settings are usually in the dropdown menu in the middle of the dialog, under a name such as Printer Features or Media & Quality, depending on the printer.

iPhone and iPad

Open the sheet, press Print, then tap the Share button and choose Print. AirPrint fits the page to the paper by itself and offers few settings: pick the printer, the number of copies and, if it appears, the paper size. If the printer is not listed, it is not on the same Wi-Fi network as the phone, or it does not support AirPrint and needs its maker's app.

Android

Download the sheet, open it, then use the three-dot menu and Print. Choose the printer at the top and tap the small arrow under it to see Paper size and Orientation. If no printer shows up, the printer's own app or a print service plugin from the Play Store usually fixes it.

Chromebook

The same dialog as Chrome on Windows: Ctrl + P, More settings, then Scale and Paper size.

3. Turn off draft mode and toner saving

A coloring page is nothing but black line. Draft, eco and toner-saving settings thin those lines into gray, and a gray line is much harder for a child to stay inside, or for anyone to see under colored pencil. Normal quality is enough; Photo quality only uses more ink. If you choose Grayscale or Black only, the lines print from the black cartridge alone, which is what you want.

4. Choose paper for what goes on it

US paper weights and metric gsm do not map one to one across paper types, so these are the standard equivalents for everyday printer paper and card stock.

• Crayons and colored pencils: ordinary 20 lb (75 gsm) or 24 lb (90 gsm) copy paper. Heavier paper takes more layers if you blend pencils; the colored pencils guide explains which sets are worth layering.
• Water-based markers and felt tips: 28 lb (105 gsm) or, better, 32 lb (120 gsm) paper, and a scrap sheet underneath.
• Alcohol markers: they go through printer paper of any weight. Use 65 lb cover card stock (176 gsm) or heavier, and keep a spare sheet under it. The markers guide covers alcohol against water-based in detail.
• Watercolor pencils and paint: 80 lb cover (216 gsm) card stock at the least, or the sheet buckles as it dries. Use a light touch with the water either way.
• Anything cut out, hung up or given as a card: 65 lb cover (176 gsm) or 110 lb index (199 gsm) card stock.

Before loading card stock, check the heaviest paper your printer accepts, listed in its manual or on the maker's website. Many home printers take thicker sheets more easily one at a time through a rear or manual feed slot than from the main tray.

5. Print a pack of sheets as one PDF

Hardly anyone prints just one coloring page. Under every sheet there is an Add to pack button. Collect a birthday party's worth, or a rainy afternoon's, then press Print all or Download as one PDF in the bar at the bottom of the screen. The sheets come back stitched into one file, so the scale and paper settings above are chosen once.

The pack is kept in your browser, with no account, and it stays filled while you move from one collection to another. Tap the count in the bar to see the list and remove a sheet you added by mistake. A pack holds up to 40 sheets.

Double-sided printing

Some printers and office machines print on both sides by default. For coloring pages, turn it off (look for “Print on both sides”, “Two-sided” or “Duplex”). Markers show through to the drawing on the back, and a child who colors the back page presses into the front one. Double-sided only works with crayons or pencils on 24 lb (90 gsm) paper or heavier.

Turning a sheet into a card

Load card stock, open the print dialog and set Pages per sheet to 2 (under More settings in Chrome, or in the Layout section on a Mac). The drawing prints at half size on one half of the page. Fold the sheet in two so the drawing is on the front, and the inside stays blank for a message. A colored card from a grandchild tends to stay on the fridge a long time.

Printing for a class or a party

If you are running off thirty copies, print one first and look at it. Check that the thinnest lines are solid black and that nothing is clipped at the edge. Thirty bad copies take the same time as thirty good ones.

For a mixed-age group, print a few different sheets from the same collection rather than one sheet thirty times. On collection pages, the Quick to color and Lots of detail buttons filter the grid by how much fine detail each drawing has, so the younger children can take the bold ones and the older ones the busy ones. The full list of collections is the place to start.

If you print several sheets a week, the machine matters more than the settings. A black line drawing is the one job a cheap monochrome laser does better than an inkjet, and its toner does not dry out during the months nobody prints anything.

No printer at home

The PDFs are ordinary files. Download them, or build a pack and download it as one PDF, then take them on a USB stick or send them by email. Most public libraries have printers, and many let you send a file from your phone; ask at the desk how they take files and what a page costs. Print shops and office supply stores print from a USB stick or an upload and can print on card stock too.

Tell the staff the file is A4. On US Letter, ask for it to be printed fit to page, in black and white, not draft. Black and white is the cheaper rate, and the page has no color to lose.

Troubleshooting

• Edges cut off: the page is A4 on Letter paper at 100 %. Switch to fit.
• Uneven white margins: the page is being shrunk on A4 paper. Switch to 100 % and check the paper size.
• Faint or gray lines: draft or toner saving is on, or the black ink is low. Also check that you printed the PDF and not the web page.
• Streaks or gaps across the page: run the printer's nozzle check or head cleaning from its maintenance menu, then print again.
• Ink bleeding through: the paper is too light for the markers. Move up a weight, switch to water-based markers, or slide a spare sheet underneath.
• Printer smudges the lines: inkjet ink needs a moment to dry on heavy or coated paper. Let the sheets sit before stacking them.
• Nothing happens when you press Print: the PDF opens in a new tab. If it does not appear, use Download and open the saved file instead.

If a particular sheet still prints wrong after all that, the problem may be the file. Tell us which one.

What goes onto the paper afterwards is its own question. The supplies page covers pencils, paper and printers.