How to Make Your Own Graph Paper Using Inkscape

I made these note pads that are perfect for doodling. I love to doodle on graph paper because they doodles just look better. In this post, I am going to show you how to make your own graph paper using Inkscape. To see how I padded them together, see this post.

Downloading and Installing Inkscape

Inkscape is an open source design software that is completely free. It is used to make Scaleable Vector Graphics (SVG) files, but you can create many other types of files as well. For this tutorial we will be creating a Portable Data File (PDF).

If you are new to Inkscape, you will need to download and install it first.

Go to inkscape.org and click on the download button. Then click your operating system (Linux, Windows or Mac), and follow the directions for your operating system. If you use Mac, you will have to install an additional piece of software called XQuartz. The instructions to install XQuartz will be about halfway down the page once Inkscape is downloaded.

Creating the Graph Paper Image

First, in Inkscape, click File, then Document Properties. For this example, I want to make it US Letter sized, with landscape orientation.  But you can set this to what ever you would like. Be sure that your Display units are set it to what you want. I set mine to inches. Then you can close the Document Properties.

Next, click on Extensions (along the top), then Render, and then Grids, and then Grid. (Extension>Render>Grids>Grid) Notice that you can make different types of grids, such as isometric grids (which are triangles). 

In the Grid Box, the dimensions are in pixels. Leave the line width as 1, and change the Horizontal Spacing and the Vertical Spacing to 24. (You can play with these numbers if you want. I found that 24 gave me full squares on the entire page). Leave the Horizontal and Vertical Offsets to 0. Check the box next to live preview. It will then give you a preview of the graph pattern.

Don’t worry if it doesn’t line up, you will be able to fix that.

Click Apply, and close the Grid Box. 

Select the grid that you just created. Then along the top toolbar, change the X and the Y to 0.00. Then it should line up perfectly. With the grid still selected, you can change the color of your lines by holding down the shift key and clicking the color you want. I wanted the lines to be a light gray.

Personalize your paper

I wanted to add something to the bottom to personalize it. If you are not personalizing it, you can just print now.

Create a guide line by putting your cursor on the ruler on the left side, clicking and dragging the guide line to 5.5″ (center of the page). If you are not planning on cutting in half you can skip this.

To add text, click on the Text Icon on the left toolbar, and notice how the top tool bar changes? Select the font and then click on the page and type your text. Then click on the arrow at the top of the left tool bar, and select your text, resize if needed. Then with the text selected, hit Ctrl D, to duplicate it. Use the guideline to place your text on the page.

You can either print it from here, or you can save it as a PDF, and print from your PDF viewer. I saved mine as a PDF, and printed using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC. I wanted all of the pages to be double sided, so I ran them through twice so that it was printed on both sides. Then I cut them in half to create 5.5″ x 8.5″ pages.

I also recommend saving it as an Inkscape SVG so that you can come back and edit later.

If you want a “full bleed” look, and you have a photo printer, just set it for borderless printing. I printed some on my laser printer, and there are small margins along the edges of the paper that don’t print. So when I cut the pages in half, there are margins one side and not the the other. The ones that I printed on my photo printer with borderless printing turned on, look perfect, but it took forever, even on draft mode. If I were giving this as a gift, I would take the time to make nice even margins all the way around, or I would cut them off, or I would print on photo printer. 

If you want to see how I made these into pads, click here.