Graph paper to print
Even squares, from 4 to 10 mm a side. 5 mm is the European standard ; the larger sizes suit column arithmetic and drawing, the smaller one suits dense tables.
To get a PDF: click Print, then choose “Save as PDF”. Untick “Headers and footers”, and check that the scale is set to 100% — that is what makes your squares measure a true 5 mm.
Which square size
- 4 mm — dense. For tight tables, readings, and freehand technical sketching.
- 5 mm — the European standard and the most common squared notebook. Fine for maths, charts and tables.
- 8 and 10 mm — for setting out column arithmetic one digit per square, or drawing without fighting the grid. Also the right choice for younger children.
Note that this is metric squared paper. It is not the US quarter-inch (6.35 mm) or five-squares-per-inch ruling, and it is not the four-quadrant paper sold for coordinate geometry.
One digit per square
Squared paper only helps arithmetic if a digit occupies exactly one square. That is what puts units under units and tens under tens, and it is half the work of a written addition. For a child's hand, 8 or 10 mm makes one-digit-per-square achievable; at 5 mm the writing spills over, the columns drift, and the grid stops earning its place.
Squares or dots?
For sketching and notebooks, grid lines stay visible under the drawing and box it in. A dot grid gives the same alignment cues but disappears once the page fills up. For arithmetic and tables, squares still win — you need the lines themselves, not only the intersections.
Not the same as millimetre paper
Squared paper has one line weight and one spacing. Millimetre paper layers three weights — fine at 1 mm, medium at 5, firm at 10 — so that a distance can be read off it accurately. If you are plotting measured values rather than writing in the squares, that is the page you want.
Printing at the right scale
A stated spacing only holds if the print is not resized. In the print dialog, find the Scale setting and put it at 100%: “Fit to page” shrinks the ruling slightly. Untick the browser's headers and footers too, since they push the ruling down the sheet.
To check: ten 5 mm squares should measure exactly 5 cm against a ruler.