Overview
This guide explains how to print Chronicles of Wordcraft puzzles so they look clean, readable, and book-worthy—whether you are printing a bonus pack at home or taking pages to a local shop.
We cover paper sizes, margins, scaling, grayscale settings, and common troubleshooting tips. We also recap what is and is not allowed when printing under our Permissions & Licensing and Terms of Use, and how affiliate printer recommendations are handled in line with our Disclosures and Affiliate & Partnerships pages.
This page gives practical tips only. It does not grant additional rights. If anything here seems to conflict with our Permissions & Licensing, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, Cookies, Disclosures, or any written license you have from us, those documents always prevail.
1. Paper sizes & orientation
1.1 Recommended sizes
Our printable puzzle PDFs are designed to work well on the most common home and office paper sizes:
- US Letter (8.5″ × 11″) — the default size for most North American home printers.
- A4 (210 × 297 mm) — the default size for most printers outside North America.
Each page is laid out to leave breathing-room margins for hole punches and binder rings while keeping the grid and word list comfortably sized.
1.2 Page orientation
Unless otherwise noted on the file itself, our puzzle pages are designed to be printed in portrait orientation (taller than they are wide). In your print dialog, choose:
- Orientation: Portrait
- Size: Letter or A4, matching your paper
- Pages: “All” or the exact page range you need
1.3 Scaling 6×9 book pages onto larger paper
If you are photocopying from a physical 6×9 puzzle book for personal, household, or in-room classroom use (as allowed under our Permissions & Licensing page), we recommend:
- Placing the book flat on the scanner with the spine supported so pages are not warped.
- Scanning at 300 dpi or higher.
- Printing at 100% scale on Letter or A4 paper — this preserves the original layout, with slightly larger outer margins.
Scanning or copying entire books for redistribution, uploading scans to public drives, or compiling our pages into new products is not allowed without a written license, even if the printer or copy shop is willing to do it.
2. Scaling, margins & “fit to page” settings
2.1 Getting the size right
In most PDF viewers and browsers you will see options like:
- Size: “Actual size”, “100%”, or “Scale: 100%”
- Fit: “Fit to page”, “Shrink oversized pages”, or “Scale to fit”
For our puzzle PDFs we recommend:
- Selecting “Actual size” or “100%” whenever that option is available. This preserves our carefully tuned grid size and margins.
- If your printer insists on a “Fit” option, choose “Shrink oversized pages” rather than “Enlarge small pages”, to avoid unexpectedly huge grids.
2.2 Margins and edge cropping
If the top or bottom of the page is getting cut off:
- Check that your paper size in the print dialog matches the paper loaded in the tray (Letter vs A4 mismatch can trim edges).
- Turn off “borderless” printing unless your printer absolutely requires it.
- If your printer has unusually large non-printable margins, try “Fit to printable area” as a last resort. The grid may shrink slightly but will remain readable.
3. Grayscale, ink use & print quality
3.1 Black-and-white vs color
Our puzzle PDFs are intentionally designed to work in black and white or grayscale. You do not need a color printer to enjoy them.
For most printers we suggest:
- Choosing “Black & white” or “Grayscale” in the print dialog.
- Leaving “Color correction” or “Photo enhancement” turned off.
3.2 Sharp text and readable grids
If letterforms look fuzzy or lines appear too light:
- Set quality to “Standard” or “High” instead of “Draft”.
- Ensure the PDF is opening in a proper viewer (Adobe Reader, Preview, or a modern browser) rather than a low-resolution email preview.
- Check that you are not printing a thumbnail or screenshot instead of the original PDF.
3.3 Saving ink and paper
If you need to be conservative with ink or paper, you can:
- Print double-sided if your printer supports duplex mode.
- Use “Draft” only when you are test-printing layout, not for final puzzle pages.
- Print only the pages you are actively working on instead of whole packs at once, especially for large bonus sets.
4. Printing at copy shops & for groups
4.1 Taking files to a print shop
You are welcome to take legitimately obtained PDFs (bonus packs or downloads sent by us) to a local print shop for your personal, household, or in-room classroom use, provided:
- You do not ask the shop to remove our branding, signatures, or copyright notices.
- The shop prints copies only for you or your group, and does not keep or resell our files or printed pages as their own products.
If your print shop asks for confirmation that you are allowed to print, you may show them both this page and our Permissions & Licensing page.
4.2 Classroom, library & club use
Teachers, librarians, and club leaders may print reasonable quantities for in-room activities with their own groups, as described on the Permissions & Licensing page. Wider redistribution (district-wide packs, membership portals, or paywalled downloads) requires a written license from us.
5. Respecting our artwork, layouts & press kit assets
All puzzle layouts, artwork, and decorative frames are protected by copyright, even when delivered as free downloads. Printing does not transfer ownership of the underlying art.
5.1 What you may do
In summary, you may:
- Print for yourself, your household, and your in-room class, club, or reading group.
- Store the PDFs privately on your own devices or cloud folders as a personal library, so long as you do not share direct download links publicly.
5.2 What you may not do without written permission
You may not, unless we have given you written permission:
- Sell printed versions of our pages as stand-alone products or in bundles.
- Upload full PDFs or high-resolution scans to public sites, marketplaces, shared drives, or “resource hubs” for others to download.
- Use printed pages, scans, or press kit artwork as design assets for your own merchandise, books, courses, or membership content.
- Feed our artwork or layouts into AI training sets or template generators for resale (for example, turning them into generic “coloring/puzzle book interiors” for others).
Press kit images are provided for editorial coverage of our work only. Printing press assets for use as logos, branding, or core product art is not permitted. See our Terms of Use, Permissions & Licensing, and About pages for more on how our intellectual property may be used.
6. Printer, paper & supply recommendations
From time to time we may recommend printers, paper stocks, or other tools that work well with our puzzle books and bonus packs. These links may include affiliate tracking, meaning we may earn a small commission if you choose to buy through them.
These recommendations are always optional. You are free to use any printer, paper, or supplier that suits your needs and budget.
For full details on how affiliate links work on our site, please see our Disclosures and Affiliate & Partnerships pages. We never share your puzzle files or personal data with affiliates for their own marketing without your consent.
7. Troubleshooting & getting help
If you run into print issues that this guide does not cover, we’re happy to help you troubleshoot where we reasonably can.
7.1 Quick checklist
- Confirm you are printing the original PDF, not a screenshot or thumbnail.
- Check paper size, orientation, and scaling (Letter vs A4, portrait, 100% or “Actual size”).
- Try a different PDF viewer or browser and, if possible, another printer.
- Verify that ink/toner levels are healthy and that the printer is not in “Draft” mode.
7.2 How to reach us
For additional help, please start with the rest of the Help section. If you still need assistance, you can contact us at [email protected]. Including your printer model, paper size, screenshots of your print dialog, and a photo of the printed page will help us respond more effectively.
We cannot guarantee compatibility with every printer model or driver, but we will do our best to help you get a clean, enjoyable puzzle experience within the limits of your equipment and our licensing rules.