How to Print On Legal Size Paper

Lawrence Bonk is a copywriter with a decade of experience in the tech space, with columns appearing in Engadget, Huffington Post and CBS, among others. He has a cat named Cinnamon.

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Lawrence Bonk is a copywriter with a decade of experience in the tech space, with columns appearing in Engadget, Huffington Post and CBS, among others. He has a cat named Cinnamon.

All Articles by

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If you’ve used legal-size paper before, you already understand its negatives, like not fitting in a regular file folder, and worst of all, you’d have a difficult time trying to get them to fit into a standard-size cabinet drawer. Thankfully, printing on legal paper is a simple process of changing your printer’s settings.

Key Takeaways_

• Legal-size paper is three times longer than standard paper at 8.5 X 14 inches.
• Legal-size paper is commonly used in U.S. offices and businesses for drafting contracts such as those done in accounting, legal, and real estate.
• For most printers in the U.S., letter size is the default printing option. However, you can still change the settings to legal-size paper when you need to use this format.

Legal-size paper is three inches longer than standard paper at 8.5 X 14 inches, and most all-in-one printers can print legal paper. Below we will show you how to adjust the printer preference settings on your high-quality printer to print on this paper.

However, if you need to print a different style document like a postcard, we also have a guide on printing half-letter size paper. Alternatively, we also have a guide on how to print on photo paper if you need to print out some fond memories or artwork.

Difference between Legal and Letter Size

Legal and letter-size papers are perhaps the two most commonly used papers around businesses in the U.S. You are probably familiar with both formats, though they serve different functions.

Letter size is the most prevalent paper in the U.S. and measures 8.5 x 11 inches. If you’ve used a printer before, it was most likely with a letter-size paper. So, considering its size, you are probably wondering if it will fit in your printer.

Legal-size paper is much longer than letter size, measuring in at 8.5 x 14 inches. Its extra length comes in handy when drafting contracts such as those done in accounting, legal, and real estate.

Many printers in the market can print legal-size paper as long as you can tweak the correct settings on your printer so that you are only left with adjusting for its increased length. The same is required when it comes to photocopying legal-size paper.

STAT: The average U.S. office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper in a single year. Companies in the U.S. spend more than $120 billion on printed forms per year, and about 45% of printed paper in offices gets trashed by the end of the day. (source)

Printing Legal Size Letters

Most multi-functional printers can print legal-size paper with no issues. All you need to do is change the printer preference settings to legal-size paper. The same procedure is done for other formats.

It is important to note that exact steps can vary by software and printer models.

To print legal-size paper, do the following

For Windows:

1. Open the document.
2. Go to “File” and select “Print.”
3. Choose your printer
4. Look for an option that says something along the lines of “Page Setup” or “Properties.”
5. Select the paper size. May be listed as “Legal” or by dimensions (8.5 x 14 inches)
6. Print your document.

For Mac:

1. First, open the document.
2. Go to “File” and select “Print.”
3. Choose your printer
4. Look for an option that says something along the lines of “Page Setup” or “Paper Size.”
5. Select the paper size. May be listed as “Legal” or by dimensions (8.5 x 14 inches)
6. Print your document.