Folded Card Printing Sizes, Fold Direction and Template Setup
Folded cards are ordered by their flat size, laid out as two pages, and scored down the middle. Here are the sizes, the panel order, and the file setup that keeps your cover off the back of the card.
A folded card is printed on one flat sheet that is twice the finished size, then scored and folded down the middle. Order an 8.5 x 5.5 inch sheet and you get a 4.25 x 5.5 card; order 10 x 7 and you get 5 x 7. Build the file as two flat pages, outside and inside, with the front cover on the right half of the outside page, 0.125 inch of bleed on the four outer edges and none at the score.
Quick answer
One sheet, one score, four panels
The size you order is the flat sheet, and the finished card is half of it. The score runs across the dimension that is doubled, so 8.5 x 5.5 folds to 4.25 x 5.5 and 10 x 7 folds to 5 x 7. Lay the artwork out as two flat pages, outside and inside, and remember that on the outside page the right half is the front cover. Bleed 0.125 inch off the four outer edges and leave the score alone, because it is a crease, not a cut.
The Flat Sheet Is Always Twice the Finished Card
Folded card products are listed by their flat size, and that trips people up on the first order. The size in the dropdown is the sheet that goes through the press. Fold it once and you get a card half that wide.
So a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card, the size that drops into a standard A2 envelope, is ordered as 8.5 x 5.5. The 5 x 7 card most weddings use is ordered as 10 x 7. Read the two numbers, work out which one is doubled, and you know exactly which edge the score runs along.
| Product | Flat sheet | Folds to | Starts at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greeting cards | 8.5 x 5.5 or 10 x 7 | 4.25 x 5.5 or 5 x 7 | $56.02 |
| Folded invitations | 8.5 x 5.5, 10 x 7, 12 x 6 | 4.25 x 5.5, 5 x 7, 6 x 6 square | $38.22 |
| Folded notecards | 8.5 x 5.5 | 4.25 x 5.5 | $38.22 |
| Folded thank you cards | 8.5 x 5.5 up to 12 x 6 | 4.25 x 5.5 up to 6 x 6 square | $38.22 |
| Foldover business cards | Custom up to 4 x 7 | 4 x 3.5, 3.75 x 3.5, 2 x 7 | $49.43 |
| Folded postcards | 6 x 8 up to 12 x 11 | 4 x 6 up to 6 x 11 | $84.36 |
Two of these break the neat halving rule on purpose. The 12 x 6 folded invitation lands on a 6 x 6 square, which sits differently on a table and needs a square envelope. The 3.75 x 3.5 foldover business card is an uneven fold, so one panel is deliberately short and leaves a lip you can grab. Everything else is a straight half fold. For the full size-by-size breakdown of one format, the greeting card size guide lists what fits which envelope.
Which Way the Fold Runs Decides Your Whole Layout
A folded card has four panels and they are not in the order you would guess. Get the order wrong and your cover art prints on the back, which no proof round can un-print once it ships.
Build the job as two flat pages, an outside and an inside. On the outside page of a side-folded card, the right half is the front cover and the left half is the back. On the inside page, the left half is what the reader sees first when the card opens and the right half is the facing panel. Numbered around the card, that is panel 1 front, panel 2 inside left, panel 3 inside right, panel 4 back.
Top-folded cards need one extra move. If the score runs horizontally, the back panel on the outside page is upside down relative to the front. That is not an error, it is what puts both panels the right way up on the finished card. Every one of our blank templates already has the panels oriented correctly, which is the fastest way to avoid the problem entirely.
Foldover business cards are the format where direction changes the product rather than just the file. The 4 x 3.5 even fold behaves like a small booklet. The 2 x 7 even fold reads tall and narrow, closer to a folded ticket. The 3.75 x 3.5 uneven fold leaves a short lip on one panel, useful when you want a printed edge inside to peek out. Same press, three genuinely different objects.
Setting Up the File So It Folds Where You Expect
File setup for a folded card is ordinary print setup with one addition: the score. Everything else follows the same rules as a flat job.
- Document size is the flat sheet. Set the page to 8.5 x 5.5, not 4.25 x 5.5, and place a guide down the exact centre.
- Bleed 0.125 inch on the four outer edges. The centre score is not trimmed, so it needs no bleed. A background that runs across the whole card simply continues through the middle.
- Keep type 0.125 inch inside the trim. And keep it clear of the score too. Text landing on the crease looks broken once the card is folded.
- Supply outside and inside as separate pages. Two flat pages, in that order, is what the press wants.
- Outline your fonts and supply art at full size. Same as any commercial job, covered in our print-ready file guide.
The one thing worth checking twice is anything that has to line up across the fold, like a rule or a logo that continues from the front to the back. Scoring and folding are mechanical operations with a real tolerance, so a line that needs to meet within a hair will occasionally sit a fraction off. Designs that cross the fold with a soft shape or a flood of colour survive that tolerance. Designs that cross it with a thin hairline advertise it. If you want the mechanics of trim tolerance in more detail, bleed and trim explained covers the whole cutting stage, and the free greeting card template guide shows what a correctly built folded layout looks like before you start.
Stock, Scoring, and Whether to Order Them Pre-Folded
Paper choice matters more on a folded card than on a flat one, because the card has to bend and, usually, be written in. Two decisions carry most of the outcome.
Coating versus pen. Greeting cards run on 17 papers from 13pt to 18pt, including gloss, 100# silk, soft touch, cream uncoated, 14pt and 18pt white linen and four metallic pearl shades. Folded notecards and folded thank you cards offer 12 materials each. A gloss face makes a photograph snap, and a High Gloss UV coating makes it snap harder. Both of them also make a ballpoint skid. If the inside is going to be handwritten, the coated stocks are the wrong tool, and cream uncoated or linen is the right one. Our note on paper weight for print projects explains what the point numbers actually mean in the hand.
Scored flat or folded for you. Every card is scored before it leaves us, so the fibre is already crushed along the fold line and the card closes cleanly rather than cracking. From there you choose. Pre-folded cards arrive at finished size, ready to stuff into envelopes, which is worth it on any quantity you do not want to fold by hand. Scored and shipped flat packs tighter, stacks without splaying, and suits cards that get something inserted or stamped inside first.
Standard production is 5 business days across the folded card range, with rush speeds down to same day when a date will not move. If you are still deciding whether the fold is worth it at all, folded vs flat invitations and folded vs flat postcards make the argument both ways, and the greeting card printing and invitation printing categories list every folded option we run.
Wally explains folded cards
Order the flat sheet, fold it once, get four panels
Wally starts with a flat sheet twice the size of the card you want. He runs a score down the middle so the paper bends instead of cracking, then folds it once. The right half of that outside sheet is the front cover, the left half becomes the back, and the two panels inside are yours to write in. He puts a bleed on the four outer edges only, because the score is a crease and never gets trimmed. Ask him for uncoated or linen if people will write inside, and gloss if a photograph has to snap.
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Common Questions
Your folded card questions, answered
What flat size do I order for a 5 x 7 folded card?
A 10 x 7 inch sheet. It scores down the centre of the 10 inch dimension and folds to a 5 x 7 finished card. The same logic runs through every folded product on our site: 8.5 x 5.5 folds to 4.25 x 5.5, 12 x 6 folds to a 6 x 6 square, 6 x 8 folds to a 4 x 6 postcard. If you are ever unsure, look at which number is doubled. That is the axis the score runs across.
Which half of the flat sheet becomes the front cover?
On a side-folded card, the right half of the outside page. Lay the flat sheet down as it will print, draw the score line down the middle, and the panel to the right of it is what the recipient sees first. The left half wraps around to become the back. This is the single most common mistake on a first folded job, and it is easy to catch: open our blank template, drop your cover art on the right, and the proof will show it in the right place.
Do I add bleed at the fold?
No. Bleed exists because the guillotine has a tolerance, so art has to run past the edge that gets cut. The score is not a cut. Add 0.125 inch of bleed to the four outer edges of the flat sheet and leave the centre alone. Art can cross the score freely if you want a background to run through the whole card, it simply does not need extra image beyond the trim there.
Will a thick card crack along the fold?
Every folded card we print is scored first, which crushes a channel into the fibre so the sheet bends instead of tearing. That handles the structural side even on 18pt stock. What score alone cannot fully prevent is a fine light line appearing where a heavy solid ink coverage bends, because the coating breaks before the paper does. If your design has a dark solid running across the crease, expect a faint hairline on close inspection, and consider keeping the fold area lighter.
Should I have the cards shipped folded or flat?
Take them pre-folded if they are going straight into envelopes or onto a table, because folding a few hundred cards by hand is a genuinely tedious afternoon. Take them scored and shipped flat if you are inserting something, stamping or hand-lettering the inside, or storing them, since flat cards pack tighter and stack without splaying. Both options sit in the same configurator, and the score is already in the sheet either way.
Which stock should I pick if people will handwrite inside?
Uncoated, cream uncoated or linen. A coated face is engineered to hold press ink on the surface, which is exactly the property that makes a ballpoint skate and a gel pen smear. Folded notecards and folded thank you cards both offer 12 materials including 14pt and 18pt linen and 30 percent and 100 percent recycled covers. Skip the High Gloss UV coating on any card meant to be written in.
Is a folded card worth the extra cost over a flat one?
It depends on whether you need the inside. A folded card gives you four printable panels instead of two and it stands up on a desk, which a flat card cannot do. It also costs more, because you are buying twice the paper plus a scoring and folding pass. Folded postcards start at $84.36 while standard postcards start at $16.48. When the message is one offer and one image, print flat and put the saving into stock weight.
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