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How to Print, Merge, and Shrink Coloring Page PDFs

Every coloring page on Coloring.now downloads as an A4 PDF, and that is the first thing to understand before you hit print. A4 is slightly narrower and taller than US Letter, so on Letter paper at 100% the edges can be cut off. Fix that with the print setting Fit to page, also called Scale to fit or Shrink oversized pages. That one setting fixes most printing problems; the steps below handle the rest.

You need a browser, a printer and a few free PDF tools that run in the browser, so there is nothing to install. Check the print preview before every job: it catches cut-off edges before you waste paper.

  1. Print one page cleanly. Open the PDF in a browser or PDF reader, not an image viewer. Select Fit to page in the print dialog. Set portrait and plain white paper. Choose high quality or best; draft mode prints thin grey lines. Use ordinary 80 gsm copy paper for crayons and colored pencils. For markers, put a spare sheet under the page or use thicker paper. Check for faint lines; if you see them, replace the ink or toner. Print one test page before printing a whole packet.
  2. Merge many coloring pages into one PDF. Use PDFBear's Merge PDF tool to combine the pages into one file. Put the simplest pages first for young kids, and add a cover page. The result is a class packet or party coloring book.
  3. Split a big coloring book. Use PDFBear to split the PDF and keep only the pages you need. This is useful when you want to print a few pages without printing the whole book. Split before merging if you only need a few pages from a large file.
  4. Compress a merged book. Use PDFBear to compress the file before emailing or uploading to a class portal. Line art compresses well because it is mostly white. Open the compressed PDF and zoom to 100%: if the lines look fuzzy or broken, compress again at a lighter level.
  5. Color on a tablet. You can convert the PDF to a JPG with PDFBear's free browser tool. Open the JPG in a drawing app. Fill on a separate layer so outlines stay crisp. Zoom in while you color to keep the edges neat. Export the finished page as a new JPG or PDF.
  6. Photograph finished pages. Photograph the pages in daylight. Collect them into one PDF with JPG to PDF as a keepsake or portfolio. Arrange the photos in the order you want before converting. Use the same orientation for every page so the final PDF looks clean.

Quick answers

Why is my printout cut off?

Because A4 is slightly narrower and taller than US Letter, so at 100% the edges can be cut off. Select Fit to page in the print dialog and the page will shrink to fit the paper. Always check the print preview first.

Can I print smaller?

Yes. Open the print dialog and look for scale or page setup. Choose a custom scale like 50%, or select two pages per sheet to make mini coloring pages.

Do I need to install anything?

No. PDFBear's tools run in a web browser with nothing to install. You only need a browser or PDF reader to open and print the PDFs.

For more free A4 PDFs, browse Educational coloring pages and Math coloring pages.