How to print a calendar

Printing from Share a Calendar takes seconds. A couple of settings decide whether you get a calendar you can write on or a cramped one you can't, so they're worth knowing.

1. Open the month you want

Use the arrows or the month/year menus at the top of the calendar. Click a day and type to add notes. They come out on the print-out exactly as you typed them.

2. Click Print

Click the red Print button (or press Ctrl+P / Cmd+P). Menus, buttons and adverts are hidden automatically. You get the grid and a small title, nothing else.

3. Choose landscape or portrait

In the print dialog, pick Landscape for a wide calendar with more room to write in each day, or Portrait if you prefer a taller page. The grid resizes to fill the paper.

4. Pick the paper size

Letter (8.5 × 11 in) is the default in the US and Canada; A4 in Europe. For a wall calendar, pick Legal or 11 × 17 (Tabloid) under "Paper size" or "More settings". If part of the grid gets cut off, turn on Fit to page or Scale: Fit to printable area.

5. Remove headers and footers

Browsers print the page URL and date in the margins by default. In Chrome and Edge open More settings and untick Headers and footers. In Firefox choose Page Setup › Margins & Header/Footer and set them to blank. In Safari untick Print headers and footers.

6. Print background colours (optional)

If you highlighted days with colours, tick Background graphics (Chrome/Edge) or Print backgrounds (Firefox/Safari) so the colours are printed.

Save as PDF instead

Choose Save as PDF as the destination printer to get a PDF file, or use the Download PDF button under the calendar, which builds a PDF with your notes included. For other layouts (yearly, two months per page, a notes column) see printable calendar templates or Make a Calendar.

Printing without an internet connection

Download a PDF or the Excel calendar while you're online. Both print later from any computer, no connection needed.

Getting a bigger calendar

The single most common request is simply "make it bigger". There are three ways. First, switch to landscape. On Letter or A4 paper that alone widens every day box by about a third. Second, print on larger paper: Legal (8.5 × 14 in) gives you extra height, and Tabloid (11 × 17 in) or A3 produces a proper wall planner. Most home printers won't take those sizes but any copy shop will, and you can hand them the PDF straight off your phone. Third, use the Cell height option above the on-screen calendar to make each row taller before you print, which increases the writing space without changing the paper.

Printing several months at once

Printing twelve separate pages from the browser one month at a time is tedious. Instead use Make a Calendar, choose the monthly layout and set the number of months to 12; you get a single PDF with one month per page that prints in one job. The same page gives you two, four or six months per sheet if you'd rather save paper.

Common problems and fixes

The calendar is cut off at the right or bottom: Your printer's unprintable margin is larger than the browser assumed. Turn on "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages", or reduce the print scale to about 95%.
It prints on two pages instead of one: Almost always an orientation mismatch, or the browser zoom level being above 100%. Reset zoom with Ctrl+0 (Cmd+0 on a Mac) and try again.
My highlight colours print as white: Background printing is off by default in every browser. Tick "Background graphics" in Chrome or Edge, or "Print backgrounds" in Firefox and Safari.
My typed notes are missing from the printout: Click somewhere outside the day box first so the note is committed, then print. The Download PDF button picks the notes up on its own.
Menus and buttons appear on the printed page: That happens if the page is printed from a browser reader mode or a screenshot tool rather than the normal print dialog. Use the Print button on the calendar itself.