How to Print a Calendar That Fits the Page (Letter, A4 and PDF)
By the Kindly Useful team, updated 2026-11-05
Printable calendars with holidays
Printing a calendar should be easy, yet it's the kind of job that ends with the last week cut off, holiday colors missing or a blank second page. These settings fix almost every problem in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
Step 1: Choose the right paper size
There are two common paper sizes, and calendars are designed to fit one or the other:
| Paper | Size | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| US Letter | 8.5 x 11 in (216 x 279 mm) | United States, Canada, Mexico, Philippines and some Latin American countries |
| A4 | 210 x 297 mm (8.27 x 11.69 in) | Almost everywhere else |
A4 is slightly taller and narrower than Letter. If you print an A4 layout on Letter paper (or the other way round), the bottom row is usually what gets cut off. Pick the size in the print dialog under Paper size (sometimes in "More settings").
Step 2: Orientation
- Year on one page: landscape usually gives the most readable result.
- One month per page: landscape for a wall calendar look, portrait if you want room for notes underneath.
Step 3: Margins and scale
Set Margins to "Default" or "Minimum". If something is still cut off, set Scale to "Fit to page" or try 95%, then 90%. Avoid "Actual size" when a layout is close to the page edges.
Step 4: Turn on background graphics
Holiday highlights and weekend shading are background colors, and browsers skip them by default to save ink. Tick Background graphics (Chrome/Edge), Print backgrounds (Firefox) or Print backgrounds in Safari's print details.
Step 5: Turn off headers and footers
Untick Headers and footers. Otherwise the browser prints the web address and today's date along the edges.
Saving as a PDF instead
Pick Save as PDF (on Windows it may say "Microsoft Print to PDF") instead of your printer. You get a file you can take to a copy shop, e-mail to your family or keep on a tablet.
Troubleshooting
The last row is cut off. Nine times out of ten the paper size is wrong. If it's right, drop the scale to 95%.
There's a blank second page. The calendar is a few millimeters too tall. Make the margins a little smaller or the scale a little lower.
Colors look faded. Use your printer's "best" or "high quality" mode, and make sure background graphics are on.
Holidays aren't marked. Make sure you opened the calendar for your country. Our country calendars highlight each country's public holidays.
Ideas for printed calendars
- Print a year calendar for the fridge and mark birthdays.
- Print one month per page, punch two holes and keep them in a binder as a planner.
- Print the holiday list for your country and plan your long weekends for the year.
Find a calendar to print: 2027 calendars with holidays for 100+ countries.