How do I print one big letter on multiple pages?

Type the letter in the maker, set the height larger than about 8 inches, and download the PDF. It is split into a grid of sheets with crop marks. Print at 100%, trim along the marks and tape the sheets together.

Why don't my tiled letters line up?

The printer is usually scaling the pages. Set scale to 100% or Actual size and turn off borderless printing.

What is the largest letter that fits on one page?

On US Letter paper, about 7 to 8 inches tall for most capitals, depending on how wide the letter is and your printer margin.

What tape is best for joining printed pages?

Clear tape or masking tape on the back along the full length of each join. Avoid glue sticks on thin paper, as they wrinkle it.

How to print large letters on multiple pages

A home printer cannot print a letter bigger than the paper, but it can print one in pieces. Here is how to size, print, trim and join large letters so the seams disappear.

How big can a letter be on one page?

A US Letter sheet is 8.5 by 11 inches, but a home printer cannot print to the very edge. With a margin of about 0.4 inches all round, the printable area is about 7.7 by 10.2 inches. A single capital about 8 inches tall fits on one sheet if the letter is narrow enough, which is why most one-letter-per-page printables land around 7 to 8 inches. A4 gives slightly more height and slightly less width.

Anything bigger has to be tiled: split into a grid of sheets that you join after printing. The bubble letter maker does this for you and chooses portrait or landscape automatically to use as few sheets as possible.

Before you print

Check the sheet count in the preview. If it is higher than you expected, drop the letter height by an inch or split the message onto two lines.
Set the print scale to 100% or Actual size. Fit to page shrinks every sheet by a few percent, and the letters stop lining up at the joins.
Turn off borderless printing if your printer offers it. Borderless mode enlarges the page slightly to bleed off the edge, which also breaks the joins.
Print one sheet first and measure a letter to confirm the size before printing the rest.

Trimming and joining the sheets

Lay the sheets out in order. Each is labeled with its row and column, such as row 1, column 3.
On each sheet, trim away the white margin on the edges that meet another sheet, cutting along the line between the small crop marks at the corners. Leave the outer edges of the whole design untrimmed for now.
Butt the trimmed edge of one sheet against the untrimmed printed edge of the next, so the letter lines meet. Hold them against a window or a light box if the lines are hard to match.
Tape along the full length of the join on the back. Clear tape on the front shows and reflects light.
When all the joins are taped, cut around the letters or trim the outer margins.

Keeping a long banner straight

On a banner of eight or ten sheets, a tiny angle at each join adds up to a visible curve. Join the sheets on a long table against a straight edge, like the table edge or a long ruler, and check the baseline of the letters against it as you go. Tape the middle joins first and work outwards, so any error is split between both ends.

For hanging, fold a strip of tape over the top edge at each end and punch the hole through the tape. The paper tears much less easily there.

Other ways to get letters bigger than a page

A print shop can print a single large sheet on an engineering or poster printer, which avoids seams completely. Ask for a black and white engineering print, as it is far cheaper than a color poster. You can also project a letter onto paper taped to a wall and trace it, the method sign painters used for a long time. Tiling on a home printer is the quickest if you need it today.