Free printable dot grid paper (and graph printable) for your bullet journal – ready to go in A4 and A5, with a tutorial to resize to any other specific dimensions you may require!
Free Printable Dot Grid Paper for Your Bullet Journal
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Looking for free dot grid printables or graph paper for your bullet journal or ring-bound planner? I have you covered for all the different sizes you may need! At the end of this post you’ll be able to claim your instant download!
Blank bullet journal pages are incredibly inviting, and one with a dot grid background is my personal favourite (keep reading to find out why)!
They’re perfect for practicing hand lettering.
Whether you personally prefer a dot grid or graph (or to find out what all the fuss is about!), you can grab either or both from this post to create your own bullet journal paper printable.
This paper is ideal for printing your download onto:
What’s Printable Dot Paper Used For?
I created a pdf format graph and dot grid paper printable for two purposes. They’re perfect for:
- Practicing things like hand lettering or bujo doodling before committing to transferring them into your journal,
- All of your creative bullet journal ideas,
- Adding additional pages to your bullet journal or planner.
- 100+ step by step bullet journal doodle tutorials
- Learn how to recreate beautiful bullet journal fonts
- The best bullet journal pens to add to your collection
Learn how to resize them to the perfect proportions for your own dot journals.
What is Dot Grid Paper?
We likely all know about graph paper from school, but if you’ve not come across dot grid paper before, it’s actually as simple as it sounds: it’s just a grid on a sheet of paper created with dots rather than guide lines!
The distance between dots in a dot grid notebook or journal is usually 0.5 cm, but depending on your bullet journal, weekly planner, or notebook the dot spacing may be anything up to around 1 cm.
Dots are spaced equally both vertically and horizontally, forming a uniform grid.
Dot grid paper is a very popular choices for bullet journaling.
Let’s take a look at which paper you may prefer to choose, the benefits of each, and how to resize them to the perfect proportions for your own dot journals.
What’s the Best Bullet Journal Paper?
Everyone has their own bullet journaling preferences, and this extends to the type of paper used.
While some may prefer blank paper or paper ruled with straight lines and that’s totally fine, graph paper – and dot grid paper even more so – are very popular choices for bullet journaling.
Using dot grid paper completely removes the need for meticulous measuring.
This is because a grid allows you to easily layout and decorate your designs in a neat and uniform manner.
The Benefits of a Grid Vs Working With Blank Pages
When it comes to creating new bullet journal weekly spreads, a graph or dots offer ultimate flexibility.
Your creativity will pop off the page looking polished and professional!
Providing a perfect guide for you to work to, the guesswork or meticulous measuring involved when working with plain paper is completely removed.
Whether you’re drawing boxes or borders, elaborate fonts or artistic doodles, they will be correctly sized and evenly spaced, every time and with zero headaches!
Essentially, either of these choices of paper are a great way to keep bullet journals or daily planner looking their very best, with as few mistakes as possible.
Trust me when I say that we all do it!
Plus, once you’ve finished your design or spread, a good dot grid is faint enough that it will blend away and almost disappear, leaving your creativity to pop off the page looking polished and professional!
Is it Cheating to Use Dot Grid Paper?
Trust me when I say that we all do it!
I’d be lost without my dot grid and I can confidently tell you that even the most seasoned, professionals who’ve been bullet journaling for years – all use some kind of grid paper to make the process smoother, simpler, and more enjoyable.
So if it is cheating, then you’re in good company – a dotted journal makes a happy planner!
Dot Grid Paper vs Graph Paper
There’s no right or wrong answer.
This one is simply personal preference. Personally I prefer dot grid pages for my bullet journal layouts because they’re less visible.
However for some people this might make it too difficult to work. If that’s the case and you find a dot grid too faint, then graph paper may be a better option for you.
There’s no right or wrong answer, so I’ve catered for both. Why not try each one to find out which is your favourite?
How to Print Our A5 Dot Grid Printable onto A4 Paper
Step One:
Download the PDF you want to work with.
Step Two:
Open the PDF in Acrobat Reader. Click File, and Print.
Step Three:
Increase Copies to 2.
Step Four:
Under the Size tab in Page Size & Handling, click Actual Size.
Step Five:
Under the Multiple tab, increase Pages Per Sheet to 2.
Printing this way ensures pages are printed as designed, to the correct page size and layout, and preserving the 5mm dot grid spacing.
If you need to cut your paper down to fit inside a journal, try a paper trimmer or guillotine is super useful:
How to Resize Our Bullet Journal Dot Grid Printable
I’ve created dot grid and graph printable pdf files in A4 and A5 sizes. The spacing for each is 0.5 cm, which means that they are specifically designed, different documents.
If you wish to further shrink the printable, no problem! Follow this tutorial to ensure the correct spacing and number of dots is preserved and you don’t end up with a grid that’s too close together.
Tutorial to Resize Bullet Journal Printables
To begin with, I recommend selecting the PDF (A4 or A5 size) which is closest in size to the one you’re trying to create.
Keep in mind that while shrinking size is fine, attempting to increase may negatively affect the crispness of the dots or lines on your printable.
Step One:
Download the PDF closest in size to the size you want to achieve.
For easy reference, here are the sizes you’re most likely to need:
Step Two:
Click File, and Print.
Note, from here the instructions apply to my personal printer, which is the HP Envy 5000. The printer settings will be very similar for other makes and models, but you may need to click around to find the specific settings.
Do you need to invest in a printer? This is a newer version of mine:
Step Three:
Click the Page Setup button in the bottom left corner.
Step Four:
Look for the paper size you want to print, or, if it doesn’t exist within your current settings you can create it manually.
You’ll see in the following example I’ve added a B6 size.
Step Five:
Ensure to select Scale at 100% to preserve the required grid spacing.
Printable Dot Paper For Bullet Journal – Customisable to Your Preferred Size!
In theory, that should be it and you can simply print and get creative!
Want it? Head over to the resources page and sign up for exclusive access to all of our printables for free!
Please note: All downloads, printables and images are created by Refined Prose and are subject to copyright unless otherwise noted. They are intended for personal use and may not be sold, duplicated, modified or redistributed in any way without prior consent.
Ready to Purchase Your Own Bujo Dot Grid Journal?
If you’re sold on a dotted journal and want to purchase your own, this is the one I’m currently using and recommend:
That said, any dot journals are absolutely fine to work with – the ideal dot grid version is the one that best suits you.
Ana
Sunday 29th of October 2023
Where can I find the printable dot grid template
Kate Tunstall
Thursday 2nd of November 2023
Hi Ana,
If you head over to the resources page and click through to the Journaling section you'll find all of our free journaling resources.
Thanks, Kate