What is Seyes ruling?

The ruling of French school exercise books, named after the man who designed it: a heavy horizontal line every 8 mm with three fine lines between, upright lines one square apart, and a margin. Small letters fill one gap; tall ones reach three.

Which size for a young child?

French classes start on 3 mm or 4 mm rulings, with 12 mm or 16 mm squares, and move to the ordinary 2 mm by about the second year.

"Fit to page" shrinks the ruling a little, so the squares are no longer 8 mm. Choose actual size in the print dialogue.

Can I print it on US Letter?

Yes. Letter is about 18 mm shorter than A4, so it holds a little less: with the standard 2 mm ruling, 31 rows of 8 mm squares instead of 33. The squares keep their size as long as you print at 100 %.

Yes, and nothing is uploaded: the paper is drawn in your browser. On the free plan a small line with our name is printed at the foot of the last page.

Seyes paper

French ruled paper, printed at its real size.

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Example

Example: Seyes paper on US Letter for a first-grader in French immersion

A child in a French immersion class in Canada is learning cursive on the 3 mm ruling French schools start with, and the family prints practice sheets at home. Ruling: 3 mm (12 mm squares), Paper: US Letter, portrait, 5 pages.

Each square is 12 mm tall: a heavy line, three fine lines 3 mm apart, then the next heavy line.
Small letters such as a, e and o fill the first 3 mm gap above the heavy line; tall ones such as l, b and h reach three gaps up, 9 mm.
The red margin stands on an upright line 24 mm in from the left of the ruling (34 mm from the paper’s edge), with room for the date and the exercise number.

Ruling	Square	Rows of squares on Letter	On A4
2 mm (the standard notebook)	8 mm	31	33
2.5 mm	10 mm	25	26
3 mm (first year)	12 mm	20	22
4 mm (first letters)	16 mm	15	16

seyes-paper-3mm.pdf, five identical Letter pages, each with 20 rows of 12 mm squares and the red margin. Print at 100 % so the squares keep their size; on A4 the same ruling gives 22 rows.

How it works

Choose the ruling: 2 mm is the ordinary notebook, 3 and 4 mm the ones children start on.
Choose the paper size and how many pages.
Download and print at 100 %, so the squares keep their size.

Frequently asked questions

What is Seyes ruling?: The ruling of French school exercise books, named after the man who designed it: a heavy horizontal line every 8 mm with three fine lines between, upright lines one square apart, and a margin. Small letters fill one gap; tall ones reach three.
Which size for a young child?: French classes start on 3 mm or 4 mm rulings, with 12 mm or 16 mm squares, and move to the ordinary 2 mm by about the second year.
Why print at 100 %?: "Fit to page" shrinks the ruling a little, so the squares are no longer 8 mm. Choose actual size in the print dialogue.
Can I print it on US Letter?: Yes. Letter is about 18 mm shorter than A4, so it holds a little less: with the standard 2 mm ruling, 31 rows of 8 mm squares instead of 33. The squares keep their size as long as you print at 100 %.
Is it free?: Yes, and nothing is uploaded: the paper is drawn in your browser. On the free plan a small line with our name is printed at the foot of the last page.