Printing Guide

Your files are designed to be printed at home in under an hour. A few small choices make the difference between a stack of paper and something that feels like a keepsake.

Choose your edition

Every book comes in two editions. The print edition is for writing in by hand. The fillable edition lets you type your answers on a Mac, PC or iPad before you print, or keep it entirely digital.

Paper

Use a heavier stock than standard copy paper. Around 120gsm holds ink without show-through and gives the pages a substantial feel. A matte finish suits the heritage border better than gloss.

Printer settings

Set paper size to match your file and choose Actual size or 100% scale, never Fit to page, so the borders stay even.
Print single-sided if you plan to write by hand, so ink can't bleed through.
Turn on borderless printing if your printer supports it. If it doesn't, the built-in margin means nothing important gets clipped.
Use the highest quality setting for the chapter openers and the family tree.

Binding

Spiral or comb binding lets the book lie flat while someone writes in it, which matters more than it sounds. A local print shop will do this in minutes. A ring binder works well too, and makes it easy to add pages later.

The colour tabs

The tabs down the page edges are what give the finished book its visible index when you fan it. Print those pages in colour even if you print the rest in black and white.