Printing Legal Documents on Letter Paper: Tray & Scaling

Printing a US Legal document (8.5 × 14 inches / 215.9 × 355.6 mm) on standard US Letter paper (8.5 × 11 inches / 215.9 × 279.4 mm) is a frequent cause of missing text and printer error messages. While both sheets share the exact same 8.5-inch width, Legal paper is three full inches (76.2 mm) longer.

How to Prevent Clipped Content

If you print a Legal document on Letter paper at 100% scale, the bottom three inches—often containing signature blocks, legal terms, or footnotes—will be clipped off entirely.

To fit a Legal layout onto Letter:

1. Use “Fit to Page” or “Scale to Fit”: In your PDF viewer or word processor, select Fit under Page Sizing.
2. Apply Custom Scaling: The exact theoretical physical-sheet height fit is 78.57% (11 / 14 × 100), which can be rounded down to 78% as a safe whole-number sheet fit. Depending on the printer’s non-printable margins, a lower scale such as 72–75% may provide additional margin. Check the print preview before printing.
3. Verify Proportions: You can inspect side-by-side dimensions and area differences using our Legal vs Letter comparison tool or evaluate other formats in the paper size comparison tool.

Tray Configuration & Media Selection

When printing actual Legal sheets rather than scaling to Letter:

• Adjust Tray Guides: Extend your printer’s paper tray to the marked “Legal” position and latch the rear guide securely against the stack.
• Set the Control Panel: Confirm on your printer’s control panel that the tray is registered as Legal.
• Match Driver Settings: In your computer’s print dialog, choose Legal as the paper size and select the tray configured for Legal.

If your printer only supports Letter-sized trays, use scaling rather than forcing Legal paper through an unsupported feed path.