Printable Checklist: Row-by-Row To-Do Sheets

Make a printable checklist with tick boxes and writing lines you size yourself. Drawn in millimetres in the browser, nothing uploaded, prints at exact size for everyday tasks.

By Print Studio Published 2026-09-17 Updated 2026-09-17

This is a general-purpose to-do checklist for everyday tasks such as shopping, errands, chores and work steps. It does not cover estate, probate or after-death paperwork in any form; those needs call for a different kind of document. The rows are positioned from millimetre settings, so the step between two lines on screen matches the step that prints, and the sheet refreshes as soon as a value moves.

Drawn in millimetres, in your browser. Nothing is generated on a server and nothing is uploaded. Every mark stays inside the printable area so an ordinary printer does not crop it.

Row height, in millimetres Space kept clear at the edge (mm) Sheets Line colour Print size Heading on the sheet (optional)

Sheet · live previewA4 · 210 × 297 mm

What the checklist page draws

A stack of rows, each with a square tick box at the left and a writing line running to the right. The drawing is a vector built in millimetres, so the box size and line spacing are exact and the sheet stays sharp at any print size. The reader ticks a box by hand and writes the item on the line beside it.

Two dimensions decide whether the sheet is comfortable. The row height sets how much vertical room each item gets, which is the single biggest factor in whether handwriting stays on one line. The margin keeps the frame away from the printer’s non-printable border so the outer boxes are not cropped. Because the geometry is the file’s own coordinate system, the spacing on paper equals the spacing on screen when printed at 100 percent.

A printed checklist earns its place where a phone list does not: on the fridge, in a binder, or handed to someone without a device. Ticking a physical box and crossing off a finished row are quick, and a paper sheet survives a power cut and a spilled cup.

Why 8 mm is the practical floor

Eight millimetres is about the smallest row height that fits ordinary handwriting without letters spilling across the line. Below it, joined or looping letters start to overlap the row above or below, and the sheet becomes slower to read than to write. Above it, the sheet uses more paper per item, which is fine for short lists but wasteful for long ones.

The row-height setting lets you trade the two against each other. A 5 mm row is dense and good for ticking many small items; a 12 mm row gives generous room for notes after each item. The box itself scales with the row, staying large enough to fill with a pen stroke.

Row height	Box feel	Best for
5 mm	small, tick only	long lists, quick counts
8 mm	comfortable	everyday to-do and shopping
12 mm	roomy	items with a short note each
20 mm	very large	photos, stamps or swatches

Box size and grouping by hand

The tick box is drawn a little smaller than the row, leaving room below it for the descenders of handwritten letters. Grouping several items under a heading is done by hand: leave the first row of a section blank, write the group name across it, and start the items on the next row. The grid does not draw section rules, because the groupings change from list to list and are quicker to write than to set in a control.

For a list that repeats every week, print a few copies and keep one as a master. The identical geometry means a tick made on one copy lines up exactly with the same row on another, which helps when comparing two runs of the same routine.

When a checklist should be a table instead

A plain checklist is the right form when each item is one short action and the order is the only structure that matters. It is the wrong form when each row needs several labelled facts — a quantity, a price, a name — because the single writing line cannot hold columns without turning into scribble.

Use a checklist when	Use a table when
each item is one action	each item has several facts
order is the only structure	columns must line up
you tick and discard	you keep a running record

When columns are needed, a table template from the related pages draws ruled columns and keeps the figures aligned. The checklist stays for the quick, discardable list.

How many rows fit per sheet

On A4 with a 6 mm margin the usable height is about 285 mm. Dividing that by the row height gives the row count before the bottom margin is reached.

Row height	Rows on A4	Rows on Letter
5 mm	about 56	about 55
8 mm	about 35	about 34
12 mm	about 23	about 22
20 mm	about 14	about 13

US Letter is 279.4 mm tall against A4’s 297 mm, so it loses one or two rows at the same height. The width difference is modest, so the writing line is nearly the same length on either paper.

Checking row height and box size on paper

A sheet can look right on screen and still arrive a few percent small, since the browser and the print driver both stand between the drawing and the paper. A ruler on a single printed copy is the only honest test.

Print one sheet at scale 100 % (some dialogs name this Actual size) using the same paper size as the selector.
Set a ruler along the left edge of the tick boxes and measure how far one box centre sits from the next. At the 8 mm default that distance should be 8 mm; at 5 mm it should be 5 mm.
If the rows sit closer together than the preview showed, find Fit, Shrink to printable area or Scale to fit in the print dialog and switch it off.
If the row pitch is right but the frame is clipped on one edge, raise the margin value by the shortfall and print again.

The drawing does not change to repair a scaling fault, because the millimetre geometry was already correct; the drift came from a print-pipeline setting that had been quietly rescaling the page back toward the driver default.

Honest limits

The grid draws one kind of row; it has no section headings, columns or sub-boxes.
Row heights below 5 mm are not offered, because the boxes become too small to tick cleanly.
The tick box is square only; round or dashed variants are not drawn.
Very long item text spills past the line and is written by hand, not wrapped by the page.
The optional title sits in the top margin, so keep it short to avoid crowding the first row.

Printable planner — a week grid with hours as rows for timed work.
Printable calendar — a month grid of dates for seeing the whole month.
Lined paper — ruled lines for free writing instead of tick boxes.
Printer margin guide — how much of the edge a given printer refuses to print on.
Printing guide — the general checklist for A4 against Letter and exact scaling.
Custom paper templates — the hub for graph, dot, ruled and checklist stock in one page.

Keep this setup

Save the settings to your Sitefarm account. Uploaded files and generated results are not stored.

Before you hit print

What is this checklist for?

It is a general-purpose to-do checklist for everyday tasks such as shopping, errands, chores and work steps. It does not cover estate, probate or after-death paperwork in any form; those needs call for a different kind of document.

Why is 8 mm the default row height?

Eight millimetres is about the practical floor for comfortable handwriting. Below it, joined or looping letters start to spill across the line; above it, the sheet wastes paper on short items. The slider lets you trade one against the other.

How many rows fit on one sheet?

On A4 with a 6 mm margin the usable height is about 285 mm. At the 8 mm default that is roughly 35 rows; at 5 mm it is about 56, which is dense but fine for ticks rather than full sentences.

Will the tick boxes line up on paper?

They do if the print scale is 100 percent and the paper size matches the selector. The boxes and lines are drawn in millimetres, so their spacing in the file equals their spacing on the page.

Is anything I write sent anywhere?

No. The boxes and lines are drawn in the browser from the settings above and nothing is uploaded. You write on the printed sheet by hand, so the page keeps no record of your tasks.