Graph paper
US Letter square grid at 1/4 inch, 29 by 36 squares
Graph paperstringmash.com/graph-paper
Printing it the right size
Pick a pattern, a spacing and your paper, then print with your browser. The grid is drawn in millimetres to fill the page inside the margins, so a quarter-inch square comes out a quarter of an inch.
That only holds if the printer doesn't shrink it. In the print dialog, set the scale to 100% or Actual size rather than Fit to page. Choosing Letter or A4 here also tells the dialog which paper to expect.
Download SVG saves the same sheet as a vector file. It keeps its size in millimetres, so it prints true from other programs too and stays sharp when you zoom.
Which spacing to pick
| Spacing | Squares | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 1 mm | 10 per centimetre | Millimetre paper, for accurate plots and scale drawings. Try bold lines every 10. |
| 2 mm | 5 per centimetre | Fine work where 1 mm is too dense to read |
| 5 mm | 2 per centimetre | Exercise books and notes, or dot grid for journals |
| 1 cm | 1 per centimetre | Young children, area and perimeter, big coordinate grids |
| 1/10 inch | 10 per inch | Detailed charts on US paper |
| 1/8 inch | 8 per inch | Small squares on US paper for pixel art and charted patterns |
| 1/5 inch | 5 per inch | Engineering paper |
| 1/4 inch | 4 per inch | Everyday quad paper for school and sketching plans |
| 1/2 inch | 2 per inch | Large squares for early years and for cutting out |
Kinds of graph paper
Quad paper, or quadrille paper, is the common kind. It has a sparse grid in light blue or grey that runs right to the edge of the sheet. In the US and Canada it usually has two, four or five squares to the inch. Paper with ten squares to the centimetre is called millimetre paper.
Engineering paper has five squares to the inch. It's traditionally light green or tan and slightly see-through. The grid is printed on the back and shows faintly through, so it doesn't clutter what's written on the front. Set Colour to green and Spacing to 1/5 inch for the look.
Dot grid paper puts a dot where the lines would cross, which guides the pen without boxing it in. Isometric paper uses three sets of lines meeting at 60° to make a grid of small triangles, which makes it easy to draw a 3D object on a flat page. Isometric dots give the same layout with less ink.
A short history
Printed grids are older than graph paper. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a pattern book from about 1596, each of its pages carrying a grid printed from a woodblock.
The first commercially published coordinate paper is usually credited to a Dr Buxton of England. He patented paper printed with a rectangular grid in 1794.
Questions
Why are my squares the wrong size?
The print was scaled. Open the print dialog again and set the scale to 100% or Actual size, and make sure the paper size matches the one chosen here.
Why can't I pick 1 mm dots?
Dots closer than 5 mm run together into a grey blur, so dot patterns start at 5 mm and 1/5 inch.
Can I get bold lines every centimetre?
Yes. Choose 1 mm or 2 mm spacing with a bold line every 10 or every 5 squares. Bold lines are for the square grid only.
Is the paper free to use in class?
Yes. Print as many sheets as you like for home or school.
Sources
Added and reviewed . What's new