Tabloid Paper Size — 11 × 17 in and Ledger

Tabloid paper size is 11 × 17 inches. In millimeters that is 279.4 × 431.8. Inches define the size. The millimeters are 11 and 17 multiplied by 25.4, and they are exact.

Ledger size paper is the same sheet. The name changes with the orientation people assume. Tabloid is usually named as 11 × 17, short side first, like a tall newspaper page. Ledger is usually named as 17 × 11, long side first, like a spreadsheet turned sideways. The paper in the box is one size. A file called “ledger” that is 17 inches wide is landscape tabloid, not a second standard.

North American sizes, including tabloid, are listed with the ISO sizes in the usual references (Paper size, Wikipedia). The combined chart is Paper Sizes.

Tabloid and ledger dimensions

Name people use	Inches they type	Millimeters
Tabloid, portrait	11 × 17	279.4 × 431.8
Ledger, landscape	17 × 11	431.8 × 279.4

If your app has both presets, check the page width before you export. Two files can both be “right” and still be rotated relative to each other. A title block drawn for 11 × 17 will sit on the short edge. The same block on a 17 × 11 preset sits on the long edge. That is a rotation, not a resize.

In points, 11 × 17 inches is 792 × 1224 pt. A PDF page box with those numbers is tabloid. Letter is 612 × 792 pt. The 792 appears in both, which is why a landscape Letter page (792 × 612) is not tabloid. Tabloid’s long side is 1224 pt.

Tabloid and A3

A3 is 297 × 420 mm (11.69 × 16.54 in). Tabloid is 279.4 × 431.8 mm (11 × 17 in).

	Inches	Millimeters
Tabloid	11 × 17	279.4 × 431.8
A3	11.69 × 16.54	297 × 420

A3 is wider by 17.6 mm and shorter by 11.8 mm. They are the same class of sheet, the one offices use when Letter or A4 is too small, and they are not interchangeable. A drawing scaled from one to the other changes scale. A newspaper-style grid reflows.

Choose A3 when the printer stocks ISO. Choose tabloid when the printer stocks North American bond. The A3 page, including how two A4 sheets sit on it, is A3 Paper Size.

Newspapers and the word tabloid

Size of a newspaper is not one number. A broadsheet and a tabloid newspaper are different products, and neither is required to be 11 × 17 inches. The word tabloid, on a paper menu in a US print dialog, means 11 × 17. The word tabloid, on a newsstand, means a folded format that is smaller than a broadsheet. Do not take a newspaper’s trim from this page. Take the 11 × 17 sheet from this page, and ask the publisher for the newspaper’s own size.

When to use 11 × 17

Use tabloid for:

• A small poster or a flyer that Letter cannot hold
• A drawing set that is not going to A2
• A spreadsheet that must print without shrinking to Letter
• An imposition of two Letter pages on one sheet (they fit side by side on 17 × 11)

Letter is 8.5 × 11. Two Letter pages side by side are 17 × 11, which is ledger orientation. That is why “print two-up” and “ledger” show up in the same dialog. The single Letter size is in US Letter Size. The two pages only fit at full size if each keeps its own margin and you do not insert a gap wider than the sheet allows. 8.5 + 8.5 = 17 exactly. A 0.25-inch gap means each page must shrink, or one of them hangs off the trim.

Do not use tabloid for a contract that will be filed in a Letter folder unless you designed the folds. A 17-inch sheet folded once is 8.5 × 11 only if you fold parallel to the short side of a 17 × 11 sheet. Fold the other way and you get 11 × 8.5, which is landscape Letter shape, still not a Letter document.

Bleed sits outside 11 × 17. The trim does not grow to include it. Ask the shop for the bleed they cut.

The next ISO step up from this class of sheet is A2, at 420 × 594 mm, which is larger than tabloid. That size is in A2 Paper Size.

Architectural sheet names are a third system. ANSI D is 22 × 34 inches. Arch D is 24 × 36 inches. Neither is tabloid, and neither is ledger. A title block drawn for 11 × 17 will not “scale up” to a D sheet without a new border and a new scale. If the set is drawings for a building, confirm the sheet name on the title block before you open an 11 × 17 file and call it the plan.

FAQ

What size is tabloid paper?

11 × 17 inches, or 279.4 × 431.8 mm.

Is ledger the same as tabloid?

Yes. It is the same sheet. Ledger is the name often used when the 17-inch side is the width. Tabloid is the name often used when the 11-inch side is the width.

Is tabloid the same as A3?

No. A3 is 297 × 420 mm. Tabloid is 279.4 × 431.8 mm. A3 is wider and shorter.

Is a tabloid newspaper 11 × 17?

Not necessarily. 11 × 17 is the US paper-tray size. A newspaper’s trim is whatever that paper prints. Do not copy one onto the other.

What to open next

Pick 11 × 17 or 17 × 11 and write that orientation on the file. If the shop answered “A3,” rebuild on 297 × 420 mm instead of scaling. The rest of the formats are on Paper Sizes.