How to fold a quarter-fold card from one sheet of A4 or Letter

A quarter-fold card is one portrait sheet divided into four equal panels. The bottom row holds the outside of the card: the back on the left and the front on the right. The top row holds the inside spread, and it prints upside down on purpose. When you fold the top half behind the bottom half, those panels turn the right way up and end up facing inwards.

Because everything sits on one side of the sheet, a quarter-fold card needs no double-sided printing and nothing has to line up front to back. That makes it the most reliable card to print at home: any inkjet or laser printer will do, and a glossy paper that is only coated on one face still works because the blank side is hidden inside the folds.

Print portrait, one side only, at 100% or Actual size. Never use Fit to page: it shrinks the sheet by a few percent and the creases stop landing on the panel edges, which leaves a sliver of the inside showing on the front. Turn borderless printing off as well, because it enlarges the page by 2 to 3%.

For paper, 160 to 200 gsm matte card gives a card that stands up on a shelf. Plain 80 to 100 gsm copy paper works for a test print but feels like a leaflet. If your printer has a rear or manual feed tray, use it for card and set the paper type to Card or Heavy so the ink dries properly. Let inkjet prints dry for two or three minutes before folding so the crease does not smudge.

First fold: lay the sheet printed side up. Take the top edge, fold it backwards and down to meet the bottom edge, so the print stays on the outside. Line up the corners and crease along the small marks at the sheet edges. You should now see the back and the front side by side, with the inside panels facing the table.

Second fold: fold the left half behind the right half so the front ends up on top, then crease the spine with the edge of a ruler or a bone folder. Open the card to check: the inside spread reads left to right, the right way up. Put the finished card under a heavy book for ten minutes and it will stay closed.

If the inside comes out upside down, the first fold went the wrong way: the top half must go behind, not towards you. If the front ends up on the back, the second fold went the wrong way round: fold left behind right. Both are fixed by unfolding and refolding; nothing needs reprinting.

If thick card cracks along the crease, score it first. Run an empty ballpoint pen or a blunt butter knife along the fold line against a ruler, then fold away from the scored side. This matters most on 200 gsm card and on laser prints, where the toner can flake on a hard fold.