Guide
How to print recipe cards on real 4×6 index cards
A recipe card earns its keep on paper — propped against the flour jar, filed in a box, handed across the counter. Here’s how to get true 4×6 output without trial-and-error sheets.
Start with the right export
Use Save PDF and choose the 4×6 index card preset. Dense recipes come out two-sided by design: the full diagram on the front as a map, and the complete ingredient list plus numbered steps typeset at reading size behind it, across as many pages as the recipe needs. Nothing is truncated — a long braise simply earns an extra page.
Printer settings that matter
Three settings decide everything. First, paper size: select 4×6 (sometimes listed as photo or index), not letter, or the printer will center a tiny card on a big page. Second, scale: choose “actual size” or 100%, never “fit to page,” which re-shrinks what’s already sized. Third, for double-sided printing, set duplex to flip on short edge so the back reads right-side-up when you turn the card over like a page in a flipbook.
Stock worth using
Standard index cards jam many home printers because they’re cut slightly loose. Buy 4×6 cardstock sold for photo trays — 65 to 110 lb works in most inkjets — and feed it through the photo slot if your printer has one. A laser printer handles heavier stock but check its manual’s cardstock rating; melted toner on the fuser is a bad afternoon.
No 4×6 tray? Two workarounds
Print the letter-size PDF instead and trim with a ruler and blade — the card centers with clean margins. Or print two cards per letter sheet from your PDF viewer’s multiple-pages-per-sheet option and cut once. Either way you keep the full layout fidelity.
Filing the deck
A standard 4×6 photo box or recipe tin fits the output exactly. Print the front-and-back set for weeknight staples, and keep the generator for everything else — the box in your browser and the box on your counter stay in sync one print at a time.