Most documents are of A4 size but maps and drawings are often A3. Land Registry title plans for most houses are A4 size but if a larger area of land has been registered, for example an estate road or agricultural land, the title plan may be A3 or larger. Before the 1970s many Conveyances were about A3 size (not exactly A3 as that is a modern paper size but approximately A3).
Usually hardcopy hearing bundles are assembled in A4 binders with A3 pages being folded into A4 size.
The width of an A3 sheet is the same as the length of an A4 sheet so A3 sheets - in landscape orientation - can be folded into portrait A4 size.
An A3 sheet can be folded once or twice. If it is folded twice its page number is still easily visible.
Alternatively it is possible to fold a single A3 sheet once. If you do this the folded sheet will, because it cannot be folded exactly in half due to the binding, protrude about half a centimetre beyond the right edge of the A4 sheets in front and after but this should not normally matter. The page number is not visible on a single-sided A3 sheet in its folded position if folded once (and not easily visible on a double-sided A3 sheet if folded once because next to the the binding) but this does not matter if the sheets either side are A4 as it will be obvious what page number the A3 sheet is from the page numbers of the A4 sheets in front and after it.
But if there are a series of A3 sheets (such as a chronological series of maps or a series of architects drawings) which will often need to be looked at together, it is often better to fold them once, and all together, so that they can be unfolded all together. Indeed because the page number is not visible/not easily visible on an A3 sheet in its folded position (if folded once) it is important that consecutive A3 sheets, if folded once, should be folded together so that they can all be unfolded together to reveal the page numbers. If single-sided consecutive A3 sheets are folded once individually, you have to unfold multiple individually folded sheets to check page numbers in order to find the page you want.
Before printing A2 or A1 pages it is worth considering whether they really need to be printed on paper that large or whether printing on A3 (using the highest quality print setting) would suffice. Hardcopy pages greater than A3 size can be difficult to handle at a hearing and take time to fold and unfold and it may not be necessary to print them larger than A3 in order to read relevant detail.
If you do decide that you need to print on A2 or A1 paper and therefore need to fold A2 or A1 sheets, the procedure for folding them is rather more complicated than for A3 as the video here shows.
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This page was lasted updated in February 2025. Disclaimer