When creating a document in Microsoft Word, you have the option to change the page or paper size to suit your printing requirements. You can set your document’s paper size to long, legal, A4, or letter, which is also called the short bond paper size.
There is a lot of confusion regarding the various paper sizes in the Philippines. If you didn’t know, the Philippines is one of the few countries that have not yet adhered to ISO 216, the international standard for paper sizes. The ISO 216 classifies paper sizes into A, B and C series, with A4 as the most commonly used paper size worldwide. In the Philippines, however, short and long paper sizes are still preferred over A4.
Some people are also confused by the differences between long and legal paper sizes. The legal size in Microsoft Word is actually not the same as the long bond paper size that we use in the Philippines. The dimensions of the US legal size is 8.5″ x 14″ whereas the long bond paper size is 8.5″ x 13″. This confusion has often resulted in errors during printing in which portions of the document are omitted.
To avoid printing errors, make sure that you selected the correct paper size for your Word document. Your document must have the same page size as the paper it will be printed on. Otherwise, it will result in missing text and weird formatting. For example, printing a legal size document on a letter size paper will cut off the lower portion of the page.
The default paper size in Microsoft Word is letter size. Letter size is the same as short bond paper size. Every new blank document that you create in Word will be in letter size, unless you previously changed the default paper size.
In the vast majority of cases, you don’t have to change the paper size in Word because it’s already set to short or letter size by default.
Table of Contents
What is the Short Bond Paper Size?
These are the exact dimensions of the short bond paper:
- The short bond paper size in inches is 8.5″ x 11″.
- The short bond paper size in centimeters is 21.59 cm x 27.94 cm.
- The short bond paper size in millimeters is 215.9 mm x 279.4 mm.
How to Select Short Bond Paper Size in Microsoft Word
As previously mentioned, letter is the default paper size in Microsoft Word. If, for some reason, the paper size is different, you can easily set it to letter size with just a few clicks.
To do it, click the Layout menu tab and then select Size. A dropdown box will appear showing the available page sizes. Click Letter (215.9 x 279.4 mm).
There’s no need to set the paper size by entering the width and height of the page, since letter size is included in the list of preset paper sizes. The only time you’ll need to enter the width and height is to create a custom size.
How to Make Letter Size the Default in Word
Perhaps you want to set letter size as the default paper size in Microsoft Word. By setting it as the default size, new blank documents will automatically be created in short or letter size.
Since letter size is the default size, only follow these steps if you have previously changed the default paper size to A4, legal or any other size.
First, click the Layout menu tab and then click Size. At the bottom of the dropdown box, click More Paper Sizes.
On the Page Setup Dialog, change the paper size by selecting Letter (215.9 x 279.4 mm). If you have difficulties finding the letter size, you can enter the following into the width and height fields:
- Width: 21.59 cm
- Height: 27.94 cm
Click the Set As Default button to make the letter size the default size. A popup dialog will appear with the message: “Do you want to change the default settings for page setup? This change will affect all new documents based on the NORMAL template.” Click Yes to apply.
Finally, click OK to apply the new page settings.
How to Set Letter Size in Google Docs
Just like in Microsoft Word, letter size is the default paper size in Google Docs. You can easily change the paper size in Google Docs by following these steps.
On a new or existing Google Docs document, click File and then select Page setup.
The Page Setup dialog will appear. On the Paper Size field, select Letter (8.5″ x 11″).
You may click Set as Default to make your chosen paper size as the default size for new Google Docs documents.
Click OK to apply your changes. The paper size is now set to letter.
What is the Short Bond Paper Size in Pixels?
Let’s say that you want to create or edit an image in Adobe Photoshop and you want to print it on a short bond paper. How do you convert the short bond paper or letter size to pixels?
To convert inches to pixels, you will have to multiply the dimensions in inches by the resolution. The formula for converting inches to pixels goes like this:
Inches x Resolution = Pixels
For example, if the resolution is 72 PPI (which is the standard web resolution), then the short bond paper size in pixels is 612 x 792 pixels.
If the resolution is 300 PPI which is the ideal resolution for photography and printing, the letter size in pixels is 2550 x 3300 pixels.
In Adobe Photoshop 2020, you can create a new document by selecting Letter under Print in the New Document dialog. As you may notice, letter size has a width of 2,550 pixels and a height of 3,300 pixels, based on a resolution of 300 PPI.
If you want to change the resolution of the document, you can use an inches to pixels converter to verify the correct pixel size of your document.
Final Thoughts
You’ve just learned the exact size of the short bond paper in inches, centimeters and millimeters, and you’ve also learned how to convert inches to pixels.
If you want to know the long bond paper size and how to set it in Word, you can check out this article. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
