Half-inch graph paper
Two squares to the inch — the coarsest ruling that still behaves like graph paper rather than a table.
Opens with these settings already loaded. Change anything you like, then download as PDF, PNG or SVG.
Big enough to write inside
Half-inch squares are the standard for early elementary maths in the United States, where children forming large numerals need a generous box and a 5 mm grid is simply frustrating. They also suit anyone who wants a grid that reads as structure at a glance rather than as texture: sixteen columns across a page is a layout you can take in whole, which is rarely true of a fine grid.
A ready-made 1:2 and 1:24
Let one square be an inch and the sheet is a half-scale drawing of a 16 by 21 inch object, which is convenient for tools, boxes and small joinery — measure the drawing directly and double it. Let one square be a foot instead and you have the ½ inch = 1 foot scale used for detail drawings, and for dollhouse and model work at 1:24.
Majors are usually clutter here
On a fine grid, heavier lines every four or five squares save you from miscounting. At half an inch there are only sixteen squares across the page and counting is already trivial, so majors mostly add noise. The exception is scale drawing: a heavy line every two squares gives a foot marker at ½ inch = 1 foot, and that does stop you dropping a foot out of a room dimension.
Printing it accurately
This only measures correctly if your printer doesn't rescale the page. In the print dialog set Scale: 100% — not "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages". If you're not sure it worked, print the calibration page, measure the ruler on it with a real ruler, and it will tell you exactly what your printer is doing to the page.