A4 vs US Letter for QR code sheets: grids, margins and printing at 100%

A4 and US Letter differ by about 0.6 cm in width and 1.8 cm in height. The difference is enough to change the grid of QR codes on the sheet. A PDF laid out for one format also gets scaled or cropped when you print it on the other.

All numbers here are for the default margin, gap and frame of the generator, and these defaults are the same for both formats. Any of the grids shows up in the preview when you lay out a QR code sheet on A4 or Letter.

Two sheets, two grids

A4 is 21×29.7 cm (8.3×11.7 in). US Letter is 8.5×11 in (21.59×27.94 cm), wider and shorter than A4. The generator takes all sizes in centimeters. After a 1.7 cm margin on each side, the working area for the codes is 17.6×26.3 cm on A4 and 18.19×24.54 cm on Letter.

Only whole cells fit into the working area, and a cell is the code with its frame. A column or a row that does not fit whole is dropped. At 2.5 cm (about 1 in) the extra width of Letter is enough for a fifth column, while A4 has 4, so Letter fits 30 codes and A4 fits 28.

The height works the other way. At 2 cm (about 0.8 in) both sheets have 5 columns, but A4 has room for 8 rows and Letter for only 7. A4 fits 40 codes, and Letter fits 35. With 5 cm codes (about 2 in), Letter gets 3 columns and A4 gets 2. The table is for "Portrait". In "Landscape" the grid changes, so read its count in the preview.

A 1.5 cm code gives the most codes per sheet, but a code with a link should stay at 2 cm or more, because phone cameras struggle below that. With 3 cm (about 1.2 in) and 4 cm (1.57 in) codes, captions do not change the count on Letter: 20 codes and 12 codes with or without them. At these two sizes the Letter grid leaves spare height at the bottom of the sheet, and the caption strips fit into it.

Margins and gaps are the same on both

The generator uses one set of defaults for every sheet format: a 1.7 cm margin at the sheet edges, a 0.6 cm gap between codes and a 0.3 cm frame on each side of a code. When you switch from A4 to Letter, only the sheet changes, and the generator redraws the grid for it.

Keep the 1.7 cm margin on Letter as well as on A4. An office printer leaves a strip at the paper edge blank, and a smaller margin on an unfamiliar printer can leave the outer codes cut off. The field is "Margin at the sheet edges (cm):" in the "Margins" group of "Fine tuning". The frame has its own "Frame" group next to "Margins", and a wider frame takes space from the grid the same way a wider gap does.

For a sheet you plan to cut, raise "Gap between codes (cm):" to about 1 cm and turn on "Cut marks". The marks appear at the corners of the cells only when the gap is 0.5 cm or more. After you widen the gap, compare the number of sheets in the preview with the table, because a wider gap can cost a row or a column on either format.

Pick the format in the form, not in the print dialog

In "Step 2 · Look and size", choose the paper in "Sheet:". The options include A4 and "US Letter (8.5×11 in)", with "Portrait" and "Landscape" next to them. The PDF from "Download PDF" is laid out for that sheet, margins included.

If a PDF made for A4 goes to a printer with Letter paper, the printer scales the sheet down or crops the part that does not fit. Scaling turns a 2 cm code into a 1.9 cm one. Switch "Sheet:" to your paper and download a new PDF, and leave the paper size in the print dialog alone.

When you print, set the scale to 100% or "Actual size" and turn off "Fit to page", which shrinks the sheet even when the paper matches. Then measure one printed code with a ruler. If it measures the size you set, for example 2 cm, the sheet printed as laid out. If it is smaller, the dialog is still scaling, so turn scaling off and print again.

If you print the same list on A4 in one office and on Letter in another, make two PDFs. Download the first one, switch "Sheet:" to the other format and download the second. The codes and captions stay the same, and each PDF gets the grid of its own paper.

How many sheets for the print run

At 2 cm with captions, 100 codes take 3 A4 sheets or 4 Letter sheets. The largest run, 1,500 codes, takes 43 A4 sheets or 50 Letter sheets, 7 more on Letter. With 3 cm codes and captions the formats come out even, and 100 codes take 5 sheets on A4 and 5 sheets on Letter.

For a list of another length, divide the number of codes by the count per sheet from the table and round up. The preview shows the number of sheets for your list too, and it reflects any change you made to the margin or the gap.

If the lines are in a spreadsheet, import the list from Excel or CSV, and the second column becomes the caption under each code. The steps for a run of 100, from the list to a pilot sheet printed before the rest, are in the article on how to print 100 QR codes.

For more on code size and paper, browse the knowledge base.

FAQ

Next step

In "Sheet:", pick the paper that is in your printer, paste your list and compare the number of sheets in the preview with your count from the table. The two numbers should match. If they differ, check the orientation, the captions, the margin and the gap.

Lay out your QR codes on the paper you have: A4, US Letter, A3, A5 or A6, in portrait or landscape.