Printing Help & Troubleshooting
Which file to print, the exact settings in Reader, Chrome, Preview and on a phone, and the fix when a print comes out small, blurry, cut off or upside down.
Your files are print-ready — the same PDFs professional print shops run every day. When a print comes out wrong it is almost always one setting in the print dialog, and every one of those is fixed below. If you cannot find your problem here, write to us with a photo of the print and we will sort it out with you, free.
Before anything else: three settings
- The right file. Home printer PDF for your own printer. Print shop PDF for a shop (it has bleed and crop marks that a home printer cannot trim). Reading order PDF only for screens — it is not imposed for folding.
- Scale 100 % / Actual size. Never “Fit to page”, “Shrink to fit” or “Fit printable area”. Fit-to-page shrinks the artwork by 4–8 %, the fold no longer lands in the middle and everything looks slightly off-centre.
- Two-sided, correct flip edge. Folded programs flip on the short edge. Cards, bookmarks and the guest book flip on the long edge. The line beside each file on your download page tells you which.
Then print one sheet, fold it, and check the pages read in order before you print the rest. That single test sheet catches nine problems out of ten.
Where the settings are, app by app
| Where you open the PDF | Scale | Two-sided |
|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat Reader (recommended, free) | Page Sizing & Handling → Actual size | Tick Print on both sides of paper, choose Flip on short edge or long edge |
| Chrome / Edge (the browser's own viewer) | More settings → Scale → Default or Custom 100 | More settings → Print on both sides → choose the edge. If the edge option is missing, use Reader instead. |
| macOS Preview | Untick Scale to Fit; Scale 100 % | Two-Sided → Short-Edge binding or Long-Edge binding |
| Windows “Microsoft Print to PDF” / Photos / Edge | Prefer Reader. If you must: Scale → Actual size | Printer preferences → Duplex → flip on the short or long edge |
| iPhone / iPad (AirPrint) | Options → Scale 100 % (iOS 16+); older versions always fit-to-page — use a computer | Double-sided → On; the flip edge is not selectable on most phones, so test one sheet |
| Android | Depends on the printer app; most cannot hold 100 %. Use a computer, or a print shop. | — |
Adobe Acrobat Reader is free at get.adobe.com/reader and gives you every setting above. If a print keeps coming out wrong from a browser or a phone, opening the same file in Reader fixes it more often than not.
Problem → fix
| What you see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The program is smaller than the sheet, with a white border all round | “Fit to page” was on, or the print shop file was used at home | Scale 100 % / Actual size. Use the home printer file. |
| Lines and little marks printed at the corners | The print shop file was used at home — those are crop marks for a trimmer | Print the home printer file instead. |
| The back page is upside down after folding | Wrong flip edge | Change short edge ↔ long edge and print one test sheet. |
| Pages are in the wrong order after folding | The reading order file was printed | The reading file is for screens. Print the home printer or print shop file — the pages are already arranged so they fall right when folded. Why they look shuffled flat. |
| The fold is not in the middle | Scale was below 100 %, or the paper was not Letter / A4 as the file expects | Scale 100 %; load the sheet size shown beside the file on your download page. |
| Text or the border is cut off at one edge | The printer cannot print to the very edge (most home printers leave 3–5 mm unprintable) and the design runs to the edge | Normal for a home printer — a print shop trims through the bleed and gives a clean edge. At home, choose a design with a white margin, or accept a hair of white at the edge; the words are always kept 3 mm inside the trim. |
| A thin white line at one edge, or the colour stops just short of the edge | Same as above: the unprintable margin | Trim 2–3 mm off with a guillotine or a ruler and craft knife, or have a shop print it. |
| The photo looks blurry, blocky or grainy in print but fine on screen | The photo you uploaded is small (a screenshot, a WhatsApp forward, a Facebook download) — screens hide this, paper does not | Find the original: the camera roll, the person who took it, a scanner at 300–600 dpi for a printed photo. The editor warns when a photo is under 200 dots per inch at print size. Then reopen the editor from your download page, replace the photo, and download fresh files — free. |
| Colours look duller, darker or slightly different on paper | Screens glow, paper reflects. Every print is a little darker and less vivid than the screen; inkjet on plain copier paper most of all | Use a heavier matte paper (100 lb text / 80 lb cover) — it holds colour far better than copier paper. In the printer settings choose Best / High quality and the correct paper type. A print shop's press will be closest to the screen. |
| Dark backgrounds print streaky, banded or with a wet look | Inkjets struggle with large solid areas on thin paper | Heavier matte paper, Best quality, let sheets dry a minute before stacking. Or a laser printer / print shop, where solids are perfect. |
| The two sides do not line up (back is shifted a millimetre or two) | Every home printer feeds the second side slightly differently | Normal within 1–2 mm; the layouts keep everything clear of the edges so it does not show. A print shop's duplexer registers exactly. |
| Cards or bookmarks: the cut lines are hard to see | Faint marks by design, so they vanish after the cut | Line a ruler up with the marks and cut with a craft knife, or ask a shop to cut — most do it for a dollar or two. |
| Card stock cracks along the fold | Heavy paper folds badly unless scored first | Score the fold line with a bone folder or the back of a butter knife along a ruler, then fold. Or use 100 lb text instead of cover stock. |
| The poster or welcome sign will not print | It is 11 × 17 in — larger than a home printer takes | Any print shop or office-supply store prints it on the spot. Send them the print shop file. |
| The print shop says the file is RGB / asks for CMYK | The file is RGB, which every digital press expects | Tell them to convert on their end; they do it routinely. Nothing changes in the design. |
| The print shop asks for “bleed” or “crop marks” | They are already in the print shop file (3 mm bleed, marks at every corner) | Send the print shop file, not the home file. |
| Fonts look different or letters are missing | The PDF was opened in an app that substituted fonts (rare — every font is embedded) | Open it in Adobe Reader or Chrome. If it still looks wrong, send us the file name; we regenerate it. |
| The file will not open, or shows an error | An interrupted download | Download again from your order page (the link in your email). If it fails twice, tell us and we regenerate the files. |
Paper
Copier paper works but looks thin and lets the back show through. For a program that feels right in the hand: 100 lb text, matte (a heavy magazine page — folds crisply, holds colour, goes through any printer). 80 lb cover is stiffer and more formal; score it before folding. Cards and bookmarks want cover stock. Matte beats gloss for reading and hides fingerprints. Office-supply stores sell both by the ream, and any print shop has them on the shelf.
At a print shop
Staples, Office Depot, FedEx Office, a local printer or an online printer all take the print shop PDF as it is. Say: “Double-sided, 8.5 × 11 flat, folded to 5.5 × 8.5, file has bleed and crop marks, 100 lb text matte, fold, no staple.” For cards: “Cut to the marks.” For a poster: “11 × 17, single-sided, trim to the marks.” If they do not know what to do with the file, send them the same line and they will.
How many to print
About one program per two attendees, plus twenty. Families more often run short than run over — people take one home, and relatives who could not come ask for one later.
Still not right?
A file that does not match what the editor showed you is our fault and we fix it, free — send your order number and a photo of the print. A wrong name or date is fixed by you in the editor from your download page, also free, within the correction window. Nothing you paid is lost either way.
Questions
- Why does my funeral program print smaller than the page?
- “Fit to page” is on in the print dialog, or the print shop file (which has extra margin for crop marks) was printed at home. Set Scale to 100 % / Actual size and use the home printer PDF.
- Why is the back of my program upside down?
- The wrong flip edge. Folded programs flip on the short edge; cards and bookmarks on the long edge. Change it, print one test sheet, then the rest.
- Why does the photo look blurry in print but fine on screen?
- The uploaded photo is small — a screenshot or a message-app copy. Paper shows what a screen hides. Replace it with the original camera photo or a 300 dpi scan in the editor and download fresh files, free.
- Why are the colours darker on paper than on screen?
- Screens glow and paper reflects, so every print is a little darker. Heavier matte paper and the printer's Best quality setting close most of the gap; a print shop's press comes closest.
- Can I print the 11 × 17 poster at home?
- Most home printers stop at Letter. Any print shop or office-supply store prints Tabloid while you wait — hand them the print shop PDF.
Make yours now. Pick a design, fill it in, download files that print in the right order.
Design your program now