How to print a poster on multiple pages
A home printer prints on letter or A4 paper. A poster is much bigger. To print a poster on multiple pages, you cut the picture into tiles, print one tile per sheet, and tape the sheets together. This page does the cutting for you. Pick an image, choose your paper and poster size, and download one PDF with every tile in order.
Everything runs in your browser. Your picture is not uploaded. The PDF has no watermark, and there is no limit on how often you use it.
Steps
- Choose an image. Use a JPG or PNG. A photo from a phone works well. You can also drop a file on the preview or paste one.
- Pick the paper. Letter, A4, Legal, Tabloid, A3 or A5, in portrait or landscape.
- Set the poster size. Choose how many pages across, or type a width or height in inches or centimeters. The tool keeps the shape of your picture.
- Check the preview. The grid shows where each sheet falls. The tinted strips are the overlap you will glue.
- Download the PDF and print. In the print dialog, choose 100% or Actual size. Do not choose Fit to page. That setting shrinks every tile and the pieces will not line up.
- Trim and glue. Trim the white margin along the solid marks. Place each sheet over its left and upper neighbor, line up the picture, and glue or tape it.
Margin and overlap
Most home printers cannot print close to the paper edge. Many leave a blank border of about 0.25 inch (6 mm). The printer margin setting tells the tool to keep the picture inside that safe area, so nothing is lost.
The overlap is extra picture that repeats on two neighboring sheets. It gives you a strip to glue, and it hides small errors when you line up the edges. A half inch (about 1.3 cm) is a good start. Use a larger overlap if you tape from the back. Use a smaller one if you want fewer sheets.
Worked example: a 24 x 36 inch poster
Say you have a 2:3 photo and you want a 24 x 36 inch poster. Each Letter page in portrait shows 8 x 10.5 inches of picture, after a 0.25 inch margin. With a 0.5 inch overlap, each new column adds 7.5 inches and each new row adds 10 inches.
Across, you need 8 + 7.5 + 7.5 + 7.5 = 30.5 inches to cover 24 inches, so 4 columns. Down, you need 4 rows. That makes 16 sheets. On landscape Letter, the same poster takes 3 columns and 5 rows, which is 15 sheets. The tool tries any setting in a moment, so you can compare before you print.
How many sheets do you need?
The table shows sheets for common poster sizes. It uses Letter or A4 paper, a 0.25 inch margin, a 0.5 inch overlap, and a picture with the same shape as the poster. The count is the same for Letter and A4 at these sizes.
| Poster size | Portrait paper | Landscape paper |
|---|---|---|
| 18 x 24 in | 3 x 3 (9 sheets) | 2 x 4 (8 sheets) |
| 24 x 36 in | 4 x 4 (16 sheets) | 3 x 5 (15 sheets) |
| 27 x 40 in | 4 x 4 (16 sheets) | 3 x 6 (18 sheets) |
| 36 x 48 in | 5 x 5 (25 sheets) | 4 x 7 (28 sheets) |
Poster width by pages across
The widths below are for portrait paper. If you set the number of pages across, the tool finds the width for you. The poster height follows the shape of your image.
| Pages across | Letter width | A4 width |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 15.5 in (39 cm) | 15.0 in (38 cm) |
| 3 | 23.0 in (58 cm) | 22.3 in (57 cm) |
| 4 | 30.5 in (77 cm) | 29.6 in (75 cm) |
| 5 | 38.0 in (97 cm) | 36.8 in (94 cm) |
| 6 | 45.5 in (116 cm) | 44.1 in (112 cm) |
How to print the PDF at actual size
The pieces only line up if every page prints at its true size. Look for a scale or page sizing setting in the print dialog.
- Adobe Reader: under Page Sizing and Handling, choose Actual size.
- Chrome: in the print window, open More settings and set Scale to Default.
- Mac Preview: in the print window, set Scale to 100%.
- Phone or tablet: share the PDF to your printer app or AirPrint, and check that the page is not scaled to fit.
Print one page first and measure it. The picture should fill the page except for the margin.
Will my picture look sharp?
The tool shows print quality in dots per inch (dpi). It divides the pixels in your image by the width of the poster in inches. About 150 dpi looks good from a normal viewing distance. 200 dpi or more looks sharp. Below 72 dpi, the poster looks blurry up close. A phone photo of 4000 pixels across is enough for a 24 inch wide poster at more than 150 dpi.
If the number is low, choose a smaller poster, or start from a larger file. A tiny web image will not look good at a large size.
Ideas for tiled posters
- Classroom maps, charts and bulletin board banners.
- Wall art from a family photo or a child's drawing.
- Party banners, birthday signs and yard signs.
- Sewing, quilting and woodworking templates at full size.
- Stencils and paint-by-number guides for murals.
For a banner, use a wide image, choose Height, and type a value that fits on one page, such as 8 inches on landscape Letter. The tool then builds a single strip of pages.