Printer cuts off edges or prints the wrong size

Measure first: print a ruler

Print the printer alignment test page or the printer test page, which both include a 100 mm ruler, with scale set to 100% / Actual size. Measure the ruler with a real ruler:

• Exactly 100 mm: scaling is correct. Any cut-off is about margins or the printable area.
• Shorter, for example 94–97 mm: the page was shrunk to fit, usually by Fit to page or by an A4/Letter mismatch.
• Longer: the page was enlarged, often by a borderless setting or a zoom option.

100% vs Fit to page

Fit to page (also called Shrink to fit, Fit to printable area or Scale to fit) resizes the content so it fits inside what the printer reports it can print. That avoids clipping but changes the size. Actual size or 100% keeps the true size and clips anything outside the printable area. Use 100% when size matters, such as rulers, templates, labels and forms, and Fit when you only need everything on the sheet.

A4 and Letter mixed up

A4 is 210 × 297 mm; US Letter is 8.5 × 11 in (216 × 279 mm). A4 is narrower and taller. An A4 document on Letter paper loses the bottom, or is shrunk to fit; a Letter document on A4 loses the sides. Check three places match: the paper size in the document or PDF, the paper size in the print dialog, and the paper actually loaded and set on the printer.

Margins and the printable area

Most printers cannot put ink or toner right up to the edge of the sheet. The unprintable strip differs by printer and paper type, often a few millimetres, sometimes more at the bottom on inkjets. There is no universal figure, so keep important content well inside the edges. Borderless printing, where supported, enlarges the image slightly so it runs off the edge, which also cuts a little off every side.

Browser print settings

• Scale: set it to 100 or Default, not Fit, when size matters.
• Margins: Default margins add the browser's own margins; None can push content into the unprintable area.
• Background graphics: off by default in most browsers, which leaves colour blocks and shaded areas blank. Switch it on for test pages.
• Headers and footers: the date and URL the browser adds take space and can push content to a second page.

If the browser result is hard to control, download the PDF and print it from a PDF viewer at actual size.

Phones, tablets and PDF viewers

Phones and tablets often scale pages automatically to the paper they think is loaded. In the print options, look for a paper size and a scaling or fit option, and choose the size you actually loaded. PDF viewers have their own scaling choice, often labelled Fit, Shrink oversized pages or Actual size; the PDF viewer's setting overrides the printer's. If a PDF made for A4 must print on Letter, choose Fit and accept that it will be about 6% smaller, or print it at actual size and accept losing the bottom margin.

If settings are right and it still cuts off

If the ruler measures 100 mm at the correct paper size and content near one edge is still missing, check the paper guides are snug and the paper is not skewed; a crooked page shifts content off one side. See the alignment page for skew. For double-sided jobs, the duplex test page shows whether the back side lines up.