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Images to PDF

How to put images on A4 pages in a PDF

By DeckleUpdated

To put images on A4 pages in a PDF, open the image tool for your format, such as JPG to PDF, add the images, choose Fit inside A4 under Page size, pick Portrait or Landscape and a margin, then choose Create PDF. Every image gets its own A4 page, shrunk to fit if it is too large and centred. Nothing is cropped or stretched.

JPG to PDF

Choose a source for the job

Photograph

Inspect colour and detail

Diagram

Inspect lines and labels

Scan

Inspect frames and text

A static PDF page does not preserve motion

Conceptual illustration · image format and output page behaviour are separate decisions.

How to fit images on A4 pages with Deckle

  1. Open the tool for your images: JPG to PDF, PNG to PDF, HEIC to PDF or TIFF to PDF.
  2. Choose Select files, or drop the images onto the page, and put them in order with the arrows.
  3. Under Page size, choose Fit inside A4. The Orientation and Margin in points controls appear.
  4. Choose Portrait or Landscape. It applies to every page.
  5. Choose a margin: None, Narrow or Standard.
  6. Press Preview on a JPG or PNG row to see the image on its page with these settings.
  7. Choose Create PDF and download the PDF.

The options summary restates your choice, for example "A4 portrait, 18 pt margin", so you can check it before you convert.

What Fit inside A4 does to each image

An A4 page is 210 × 297 mm, which is 595 × 842 points. Deckle treats each image's pixels as points and places it on that page:

  • Larger than the space: the image shrinks, keeping its proportions, until it fits inside the page minus the margins.
  • Smaller than the space: the image keeps its size and is centred. It is never enlarged.
  • Different shape from the page: the leftover space is blank, above and below or either side.

Shrinking only changes how big the image is drawn. All its pixels stay in the PDF, so zooming in shows the full detail and printing at A4 uses all of it.

Example: a 4000 × 3000 pixel landscape photo on Portrait A4 with no margin is drawn 595 points wide and about 446 points tall, centred, with white space above and below. The same photo on Landscape A4 fills the full 595-point height and is about 793 points wide, a much larger image on the page.

Choose orientation and margin

Images Orientation Margin
Documents, letters, receipts Portrait None or Narrow
Landscape photos, slides, wide charts Landscape Narrow
A mix of tall and wide images Whichever most of them are Narrow
Printing on a home printer Match the images Narrow or Standard

The margins are measured on every side: None is 0 pt, Narrow is 18 pt (a quarter of an inch, about 6 mm) and Standard is 36 pt (half an inch, about 13 mm). Most printers cannot print right to the edge of the paper, so a margin stops the edges of the image being cut off.

Orientation applies to the whole PDF. If the set mixes tall and wide images, either accept smaller images on the minority, or convert the tall and wide groups in two runs and join them with Merge PDFs.

Small images stay small

Fit inside A4 never enlarges an image. A 400 × 300 pixel logo is drawn 400 × 300 points, about 14 × 10.5 cm, centred on the page. Enlarging it would only make the pixels larger and blurrier. If you need a small image to fill the page, export a larger version from its source.

When to keep Match each image instead

Match each image makes each page exactly the size of its image, one pixel to one point, with no margin. Pages of different shapes can sit in the same PDF. That suits a photo album read on screen, but not printing: a 12-megapixel phone photo gives a page over 50 inches wide. For anything that will be printed, attached to a form, or read as a document, Fit inside A4 is the safer choice. Image DPI and PDF page size explains why the page size comes from pixels.

Tips

  • Preview one wide and one tall image. The Preview button on JPG and PNG rows shows exactly where the image lands.
  • Rotate before choosing orientation. Turning a sideways image with its rotate button changes which orientation suits it.
  • Use Undo to compare. Switch between Portrait and Landscape and use Undo to step back.
  • Check one page at 100% after converting. The result screen's checks confirm each page has the planned size; your eyes confirm the image looks right on it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Letter size instead of A4?

No. The page size choices are Match each image and Fit inside A4. A4 pages print on Letter paper with your printer's fit-to-page setting.

Will my image be cropped to fit A4?

No. The whole image is always visible. It shrinks to fit and the rest of the page stays blank.

Can I fit two images on one A4 page?

No. Every image gets its own page.

Does Fit inside A4 reduce quality?

No. The image is drawn smaller on the page, but every pixel is kept. For JPG files the image data is not touched at all.

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