Guide
Fit to printable area vs actual size
Two options in the same dropdown, and the difference decides whether your print is the size it says it is. Actual size prints at 100% and lets the margins fall where they fall. Fit to printable area shrinks the page — usually 3–6% — so nothing is lost at the edges.
Every option in the dropdown
The names change between applications; the behaviour does not. These are the four things a scaling control can do.
Actual size
also: 100%, None, Default, Do not scalePrints every dimension exactly as the file specifies. A 100 mm line measures 100 mm.
- Use it for
- Anything measured: rulers, sewing and craft patterns, scale drawings, label sheets, templates, tiled posters.
- Watch for
- If the page is larger than the printable area, the edges are clipped rather than shrunk.
Fit to printable area
also: Fit, Shrink to fit, Scale to fit, Fit to pageScales the page down until it fits inside the margin your printer can physically reach — typically 94–97% for A4 or Letter.
- Use it for
- Reading copies, drafts, and any document where nothing is measured and losing the edge would be worse than losing 4% of the size.
- Watch for
- Every dimension shrinks silently. Nothing warns you, and the result looks entirely normal.
Shrink oversized pages
Acrobat’s conditional variantBehaves as Actual size when the page fits, and as Fit only when it does not.
- Use it for
- A reasonable default for mixed documents — but it means the same setting can produce true scale one day and 96% the next.
- Watch for
- The inconsistency is the danger: you cannot tell from the setting alone what happened.
Custom scale
a percentage you typeMultiplies every dimension by the figure you enter.
- Use it for
- Deliberate resizing — A4 artwork onto A3 at 141%, or correcting a printer that runs slightly small.
- Watch for
- Easy to leave set from a previous job. Check it before every measured print.
Where the 4% comes from
No consumer printer prints to the edge of the paper. Rollers have to grip the sheet, and the print head cannot travel past the point where the paper is still supported, so a band of roughly 3–5 mm around the sheet is mechanically unreachable — often wider at the trailing edge.
Fit to printable area measures that reachable rectangle and scales the page down until it sits inside it. On A4, losing about 4 mm from a 210 mm width means printing at roughly 96%. That is where the familiar figure comes from, and it explains why the error is so consistent: it is not random drift, it is arithmetic. It also explains why the same setting shrinks by different amounts on different printers.
A 4% error is invisible on a photograph and fatal on a sewing pattern, a scale drawing or a sheet of labels that has to line up with pre-cut stock. That is the whole reason this setting deserves attention out of proportion to how small it looks.
Settle it by measuring
You cannot tell by looking — a page at 96% looks entirely normal. The print scale calibration test prints a 100 mm square with two independent line references; measure one, type in the reading, and it returns the exact percentage your printer produced along with the corrective scale to reprint at.
If the answer turns out to be Fit and you want it gone for good, the guide to turning off Fit to page permanently covers where each application stores the setting and why it comes back.
Frequently asked questions
What is the actual difference between Fit to printable area and Actual size?
Actual size sends the page to the printer at 100% and lets the edges fall where they fall — if part of the page lies outside what the printer can reach, that part is simply not printed. Fit to printable area shrinks the whole page first, so nothing is lost at the edges but nothing is the size it claims either. One preserves dimensions and risks the margins; the other preserves the margins and quietly sacrifices dimensions.
How much does Fit to printable area shrink the page?
Usually between 3% and 6% on A4 or Letter, because that is roughly how much of the sheet a typical home printer cannot reach — commonly 3 to 5 mm on each edge, and often more at the trailing edge where the rollers release the paper. The figure is not fixed: it depends on your printer model, the paper size and whether borderless mode is available, which is why two printers given the same file can produce visibly different results from the same setting.
Which one should I use?
Actual size for anything you will measure, cut, assemble or trace — patterns, rulers, templates, scale drawings, label sheets, poster tiles. Fit to printable area for anything you will only read. The question worth asking is not which is better but whether the page carries dimensions that matter; if it does, a 4% error is a wrong result, and if it does not, a 4% smaller page is invisible.
Why does Fit to printable area exist at all?
Because most documents are designed edge to edge on a full sheet while no consumer printer can print to the edge of a sheet. Without some accommodation, a normal PDF would lose a few millimetres of every margin, occasionally clipping a footer or a page number. Shrinking slightly is the less objectionable failure for the vast majority of printing, which is why so many dialogs make it the default.
How can I tell which one was actually used?
Measure something. That is the only reliable test, because the print looks correct either way — a page at 96% has no visual signature at all. Print our calibration sheet, measure the 100 mm square, and the reading tells you the percentage your printer produced. If it reads about 96 mm you were on Fit; if it reads 100 mm you were on Actual size.
Does Fit ever enlarge the page?
Some dialogs will, when the page is smaller than the paper — Acrobat’s plain “Fit” does, while “Shrink oversized pages” never enlarges. Enlargement is the more dangerous direction because it is unexpected: a business card template printed with Fit onto A4 can arrive several times its intended size. If you are printing something small onto a large sheet, Actual size is the only safe choice.
Is borderless printing the same as Actual size?
No, and it works against it. Borderless mode removes the unprintable margin by deliberately enlarging the page 1–3% so ink overshoots the sheet edge. That solves the margin problem and introduces a scaling error at the same time. For measured work, leave borderless off and accept the white edge.