Lined paper to print
Horizontal rules at whatever spacing you need. Set the rule height from 6 to 10 mm, choose the colour and weight, and print on ordinary paper — A4 or US Letter.
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.
Choosing the rule spacing
This is the only setting that really changes the page, and the right value follows handwriting size, not age.
- 6 mm — tight adult handwriting and dense note-taking. Close to what stationery sells as narrow ruled.
- 7 to 8 mm — the everyday spacing of most notebooks, and roughly what US wide ruled paper offers. Pick this if unsure.
- 9 to 10 mm — large handwriting, or a hand still learning. Also easier for anyone using a thick pen or struggling to see fine lines.
The fastest test: print one page at 7 mm and one at 9 mm, write the same sentence on both, and keep the one where your hand isn't working to stay inside the line.
Margin, holes and the header line
Three options change how the sheet is used more than the ruling does. The coloured left margin sits 16 mm from the edge and gives every line the same starting point. The hole punch guides mark the standard four-hole positions at 80 mm centres, so you can punch straight before filing. The Name / Date line reserves 14 mm at the top — useful for work that gets handed in, wasted on a rough draft.
Ink weight and photocopying
Ruling that is too dark competes with the writing; too light and it vanishes when copied. The default blue-grey is a compromise: visible enough to guide the hand, quiet enough to sit behind the text. If you photocopy a lot, go one step heavier rather than one step darker — a fine dark line bleeds on the copier, a medium pale line holds.
Paper size matters here
Choose Letter if you are printing in the United States or Canada, and A4 everywhere else. An A4 layout sent to a Letter tray gets cropped at the bottom; the reverse leaves a blank band. The generator redraws for the size you pick rather than scaling a fixed drawing, so the rule spacing stays exactly what you asked for either way.
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.