Print Margin Calculator

How to use the print margin calculator

1. Fill in the fields — they start with a worked example.
2. Read the answer, and the arithmetic shown beneath it.
3. Copy the results, or adjust the inputs to compare scenarios.

About this tool

Margins are not decoration. They carry the physical limits of the press or printer, the space a binding swallows, and the white the eye needs to read a block of text comfortably. This calculator subtracts all of that from the sheet and reports what is genuinely left for content.

The gutter is the part people forget. Binding consumes width at the spine, and it consumes it from alternating sides on facing pages, so a document with equal left and right margins ends up looking lopsided once it is bound. Adding a gutter to the inside edge is what keeps the text block centred in the reader's view rather than on the flat sheet.

There is also a hard limit that has nothing to do with taste. Most desktop printers cannot print to the edge at all — they grip the sheet to feed it, which costs a few millimetres on every side. Set a margin below that and the printer will silently shrink the page or clip it. This flags the case rather than letting it surprise you at the paper tray.

Common uses

• Setting a text block width for a book or report before laying it out.
• Checking that a document's margins clear a desktop printer's unprintable edge.
• Sizing a binding gutter so text does not disappear into the spine.

Frequently asked questions

What margins should a printed document have?

Around 20 mm on each side is a safe default for A4, rising to 25 mm or more at the inside edge once the document is bound.

What is a binding gutter?

Extra space added at the spine edge to replace the width the binding takes. Without it, text on a bound page curves into the fold and becomes hard to read.

Why can my printer not print to the edge?

It has to grip the sheet to move it through, so rollers occupy a few millimetres at each edge. True edge-to-edge printing needs a borderless-capable printer or a larger sheet trimmed down.