Millimetre graph paper to print
Three line weights layered together : fine every millimetre, medium every 5 mm, firm every centimetre. This is the one sheet here where print accuracy genuinely matters.
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.
The three line weights
Millimetre paper isn't read like squared paper — it is read by weight. The firm line marks centimetres and carries the unit of reading. The medium line at 5 mm lets you find half a centimetre without counting. The fine line gives the millimetre, which you only read when taking a precise value. That hierarchy is what keeps the sheet legible despite its density; a uniform 1 mm grid is unreadable within seconds.
Here, scale is not a detail
On lined paper, a print reduced by 5% goes unnoticed. On millimetre paper it makes the sheet useless: a measurement read off a distorted grid is a wrong measurement. This is the standard trap with millimetre paper downloaded as a PDF, which the print driver quietly shrinks to "make it fit".
This page is built to avoid that trap. The ruling is described in real millimetres and the sheet is sent to the printer at its exact size, margins included — the margins you see are drawn inside the artwork rather than added around it.
One thing is still yours to do: in the print dialog set the scale to 100% rather than "Fit to page", and untick headers and footers. Then check it once with a ruler — ten stated centimetres should measure ten centimetres.
What it is actually for
Plotting a curve from measured points, working up a set of readings in a lab session, drawing a plan to scale, transferring dimensions. What all of these share is converting a distance on the paper into a real value: the grid is the measuring instrument, not a decorative background.
Settings that help you read it
Commercial millimetre paper is orange or pale blue for a reason: a pale coloured grid lets pencil work stand out against it, which dark grey does not. If you are drawing in pencil, pick a colour clearly different from graphite. If you are photocopying, do the opposite — keep the grid neutral and slightly heavier, or the fine lines will drop out of the copy entirely.