To print a PDF or image from Preview at its original size, open File > Print, find the Preview options, select Scale, and enter 100%. Check the print preview and paper size before clicking Print. Avoid “Scale to Fit” when you need original dimensions: fitting can enlarge or shrink the page to match the sheet. Apple’s Preview printing guide documents both the percentage control and the separate fit-to-paper options.

Set the print scale to 100% in Preview

  1. Open the PDF or image in Preview. If the file is open in another app, open it with Preview first; the steps here apply to Preview’s print controls.
  2. Choose File > Print. You can also use Command-P to open the Mac print dialog.
  3. In the print dialog, locate the section or pop-up menu labeled Preview. Select Scale, then enter 100 as the percentage. Apple identifies this as Preview’s control for scaling an image or page.
  4. Confirm the selected printer and Paper Size. The paper size should match the sheet loaded in the printer. Review the page preview, then click Print.

At 100%, the selected print-scale control applies no percentage enlargement or reduction to the page. That does not guarantee that every mark will appear on paper: the printer’s printable area, document margins, orientation, and paper size can still affect what fits. Apple notes that a paper size can be selected in the print dialog and should match the paper being used. Apple’s paper-size instructions

Keep “Scale to Fit” from changing the size

Preview offers Scale to Fit as a separate option. It is designed to make the page or image fill more of the selected paper, so it may change the printed size. Apple describes two fit choices for images: Print Entire Image preserves the whole image but may leave unused space, while Fill Entire Paper fills the sheet by cropping to the paper’s proportions. Those are useful for fitting an image to a sheet, but they are not the right choice when the goal is 100% size. Apple explains these Preview options here.

The macOS print dialog can also show a separate Scaling option, and its controls vary by app and printer. Apple explains that a percentage below 100 reduces the printed page and a percentage above 100 enlarges it; the Paper Handling controls can also scale a document to fit the printer’s paper. If another scaling field or fit-to-paper setting is visible, check it before printing so it does not counteract the 100% choice in Preview. Apple’s overview of Mac print settings describes these controls. Do not assume a particular extra field will appear in every print dialog.

If the printout still seems the wrong size

First, distinguish print scale from Preview’s onscreen zoom. A PDF’s appearance on screen depends on Preview’s Define 100% scale as setting; that setting controls how documents are displayed onscreen, while the percentage in the print dialog controls print scaling. Changing the viewing preference is not a substitute for setting the print scale to 100%. Apple documents the display preference in Preview settings.

Next, verify the PDF’s page dimensions and the paper size selected in the print dialog. If the document page and sheet are different sizes, keeping the print scale at 100% means the page may not fill the sheet; choosing fit-to-paper changes size to accommodate the paper. If content is cut off near an edge, the printer may not print to that edge. Check the printer’s supported paper sizes and printable area in its documentation, and use the print preview to inspect the layout before committing the job.

If you need a record of what the print dialog produces, you can use its PDF menu to save a PDF instead of sending the job to a printer. Apple describes saving a document as PDF from the print dialog; it can help inspect the generated layout, but it does not verify the physical printer’s final dimensions or margins. Apple’s Mac printing guide covers saving a PDF from the dialog.

For a true-size print, the practical check is simple: use Preview’s Scale field at 100%, match the paper size to the loaded sheet, leave fit-to-paper scaling off, and inspect the preview for clipping before printing.

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