How is this different from the bleed test file?

They test opposite ends of the same problem. This sheet is exactly A4 and asks what your printer can reach on a page of that size - it's about hardware margins. The bleed test file is deliberately larger than A4 (236 × 323 mm), carries crop marks and real TrimBox/BleedBox values, and is about a professional trimming workflow where a guillotine, not the printer, defines the edge. Use this one for your own printer; use the bleed file for a print shop.

Why is the border bigger on one edge than the others?

That's almost always the trailing edge, where the feed rollers have to hold the sheet. Most printers simply cannot put ink there. It's a mechanical constraint rather than a settings problem, and it's why many "borderless" printers are only borderless on three sides, or need to slightly overscale the image.

My printer's borderless mode cut off part of the design. Why?

Because many printers achieve borderless by quietly scaling the page up a few percent so the artwork overshoots the paper. You gain edge-to-edge colour and lose a couple of millimetres all round. That's exactly the trade this sheet lets you measure - print it borderless and check whether the 3 mm ring survived.

Can I use this to check A4 paper size itself?

Indirectly, yes. The page is a true 210 × 297 mm, so if you print at 100% scale and the artwork doesn't line up with the paper, either the scaling was wrong or the paper isn't actually A4 - US Letter is a common culprit, being shorter and wider.

A4 Printer Test Image

An A4 sheet that answers one specific question: how much of the paper can your printer actually reach? Colour runs to all four edges of a true 210 × 297 mm page, with dashed rings measured from the paper edge at 3, 5, 10 and 15 mm. Print it, and the white border left behind is your printer's hardware margin — read straight off the rings, no ruler needed.

What these files actually are

The PDF is a genuine A4 page (210 × 297 mm) with the artwork drawn in true DeviceCMYK and extending to the page boundary, so "borderless" is being asked of your printer rather than faked in the file. The rings are positioned by measurement from the page edge, not eyeballed. Note this is deliberately not a bleed file: there is no oversized media and no crop marks, because the thing under test here is the printer's own reach, not a trimming workflow.

a4-printer-test-a4.pdf

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a4-printer-test.png

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How to print this test sheet

Print at 100% scale ("Actual size") on A4 paper. Do not use "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages" - both will scale the sheet and every measurement on it becomes meaningless.
If your printer has a borderless or edge-to-edge option, print the sheet twice: once with it on and once off. The difference between the two is exactly what that setting buys you.
Measure the white border on each of the four edges, or just read which dashed ring is the first one fully printed. That distance is your printer's hardware margin.
Compare the four edges against each other. A larger margin on one edge - usually the trailing one - is normal: that strip is where the feed rollers grip the paper, and it isn't a fault.
If the colour reaches all four edges with no white at all, your printer genuinely does borderless on this stock.
Repeat on any stock you care about. Heavier card often forces a larger margin than plain paper on the same printer.

Common use cases

Finding out if a printer is really borderless

Marketing says borderless; the paper tells the truth. One sheet settles it for your specific printer and stock combination.

Setting margins in a template

Measure once, then set your document margins to something you know the printer can reach, instead of guessing and reprinting.

Diagnosing clipped documents

If page numbers or footers keep vanishing, this sheet shows whether they're falling inside the printer's unreachable margin.

Comparing printers in an office

Run the identical sheet on each printer to find which one can handle an edge-to-edge job before you send the job to the wrong machine.

Frequently asked questions

How is this different from the bleed test file?: They test opposite ends of the same problem. This sheet is exactly A4 and asks what your printer can reach on a page of that size - it's about hardware margins. The bleed test file is deliberately larger than A4 (236 × 323 mm), carries crop marks and real TrimBox/BleedBox values, and is about a professional trimming workflow where a guillotine, not the printer, defines the edge. Use this one for your own printer; use the bleed file for a print shop.
Why is the border bigger on one edge than the others?: That's almost always the trailing edge, where the feed rollers have to hold the sheet. Most printers simply cannot put ink there. It's a mechanical constraint rather than a settings problem, and it's why many "borderless" printers are only borderless on three sides, or need to slightly overscale the image.
My printer's borderless mode cut off part of the design. Why?: Because many printers achieve borderless by quietly scaling the page up a few percent so the artwork overshoots the paper. You gain edge-to-edge colour and lose a couple of millimetres all round. That's exactly the trade this sheet lets you measure - print it borderless and check whether the 3 mm ring survived.
Can I use this to check A4 paper size itself?: Indirectly, yes. The page is a true 210 × 297 mm, so if you print at 100% scale and the artwork doesn't line up with the paper, either the scaling was wrong or the paper isn't actually A4 - US Letter is a common culprit, being shorter and wider.