A4, Letter or fit to image: choosing the page size

2026-10-02

Every image in your PDF gets its own page, and Page setup decides what that page looks like. Open it with the settings button in the toolbar — the one that shows your current choice, such as A4 · Automatic · Small margin. The setting applies to every page in the PDF.

The three page sizes

A4 is the usual paper in most of the world, Letter in the US, Canada and Mexico. The size starts as A4 or Letter depending on where you are, judged from your browser’s language region together with your device’s time zone. You can always change it.

A4 and Letter: the image sits inside the page

With A4 or Letter, each image is scaled to fit inside the page and centred. Its proportions are kept: nothing is cropped or stretched, and any space left over stays white.

• Orientation — Automatic turns each page to suit its image: a picture that is wider than it is tall gets a landscape page, the others a portrait page. It looks at the image the way it appears on its card, after the camera’s direction and your own rotation. Portrait and Landscape use the same orientation for every page.
• Margin — None lets the image reach the edge of the page; Small leaves 6 mm on each side and Wide 15 mm. A margin helps when you print, since many printers cannot print right up to the edge.

An image is enlarged or reduced to the largest size the space inside the margins allows. Enlarging does not add detail: a small image placed on a full A4 page can look soft when printed.

Fit to image: the page takes the image’s shape

With Fit to image, each page has exactly the proportions of its image and no margin at all. A tall phone screenshot becomes a tall, narrow page; a panorama a wide one. In a PDF with different images, the pages have different sizes.

The pages do not grow with the number of pixels — a large screenshot does not turn into a page a metre long. The long side of each page is the long side of a standard sheet: 297 mm where A4 is the usual paper, 279.4 mm where Letter is. The settings show the exact length under the option.

That length comes from your region, not from your last click. Choosing A4 or Letter and then switching to Fit to image gives the same pages either way.

While Fit to image is selected, Orientation and Margin are hidden, because the page already follows the image. Switch back to A4 or Letter and your earlier orientation and margin return.

Which one to choose

• To print, choose the paper in your printer — A4 or Letter — with a Small or Wide margin.
• For receipts, notes and documents you photographed, A4 or Letter with Automatic keeps every page the same size, which is easier to file and print.
• For screenshots and photos you will read on a screen, Fit to image avoids white bands around each picture.

If a page still comes out sideways, the image itself needs turning: rotate it on its card before you save, as described in how to combine images into one PDF.