North American sizes / Executive
Executive page size for PDF generation
Executive is 7.25 by 10.5 inches, a narrower and slightly shorter Letter used for company stationery and internal memos.
The dimensions
One measurement in four units. Millimetres and inches are what a printer works in; points are what the PDF itself stores; pixels are only useful for checking a screen mock-up against the real thing.
- Millimetres: 184.15 x 266.7 mm
- Inches: 7.25 x 10.5 in
- Points: 522 x 756 pt
- CSS pixels: 696 x 1008 px at 96 dpi
Where the size comes from
The size exists because a full Letter sheet reads as institutional and a narrower one reads as personal. It was the standard for executive letterhead and it survives in corporate stationery, board packs and hotel writing paper. It has no relationship to any other size, which is exactly why it looks distinct.
What gets printed at this size
- letterhead and formal correspondence where the sheet itself is part of the impression
- board packs and internal memoranda
- hotel, hospitality and event stationery
Margins that survive a real printer
0.75 inch left and right, 1 inch top and bottom. The narrower sheet means the measure, meaning the printed line length, comes out around 145mm, which is close to the 60 to 70 characters that reads most comfortably. That is most of the reason the size feels considered.
The CSS
Executive is not one of the six named formats the API accepts, so the size has to come from the document. Declare it in the page box and set prefer_css_page_size in the request.
@page {
size: 7.25in 10.5in;
margin: 1in 0.75in;
}
body {
/* The point of this size is the line length. Do not widen it back out
by removing the margins. */
font-size: 11pt;
line-height: 1.5;
}The render request
With a custom size the options carry no format at all: the one flag tells the renderer to use the page box the document declares.
{
"html": "<!doctype html>...",
"options": {
// No named format. The page box in the document's own CSS is the
// size, and this flag is what tells the renderer to use it.
"prefer_css_page_size": true
}
}The mistake people make
Printing it on Letter stock and letting the driver centre it. The result is a Letter sheet with an off-centre block on it, which looks like a mistake rather than a choice. Executive stationery is cut to size or it is not Executive.
Frequently asked
What is Executive in pixels?
696 x 1008 px at 96 dpi, at the 96 pixels to the inch that CSS assumes. That number is useful for comparing a screen mock-up against the page, and useless for laying out the document: use 184.15 x 266.7 mm instead, because a page laid out in pixels shifts whenever the render scale changes.
Can I pass Executive as a format?
No. The API accepts six named formats: A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal and Tabloid. Executive is reached through the document's page box with prefer_css_page_size set, which is a supported path and not a workaround.
Does landscape need a different page size?
No. Landscape is the same rectangle turned, so it is set as an orientation rather than as swapped dimensions. Writing the width and height the other way round produces the same page and makes the intent harder to read later.
Other page sizes
Sizes that come up in the same conversation, and one from each of the other families.
US Letter page size for PDF generation
Letter is 8.5 by 11 inches and it is the default page in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile and the Philippines.
US Legal page size for PDF generation
Legal is 8.5 by 14 inches: Letter width with three extra inches of height, used for contracts and court documents.
Tabloid page size for PDF generation
Tabloid is 11 by 17 inches, which is two Letter sheets side by side, and it is the North American equivalent of A3.
Half Letter page size for PDF generation
Half Letter is 5.5 by 8.5 inches, the North American answer to A5, made by cutting a Letter sheet across its long side.
A4 page size for PDF generation
A4 is the default page for business documents everywhere except North America, and the default this API uses when no format is given.
4x6 shipping label PDF size
The 4 by 6 inch label is the standard thermal shipping label accepted by every major carrier, and the most common non-paper page size an API renders.
80mm thermal receipt PDF size
The 80mm roll is the standard point-of-sale receipt: 80 millimetres of paper, a printable width of about 72mm, and a length that depends on the order.
Every page size, with dimensions
The full list, grouped by what the size is for.
Paste the CSS below into the playground and see the page box it produces.