How to tell if a letter tray will take A4

A4 is 297 by 210 millimetres. Most trays that fail do so by less than ten, and the listing rarely says which side is short.

A4 paper is 297 mm long and 210 mm wide. A letter tray has to beat both numbers on the inside, not the outside, and that difference is where most disappointment sits. A tray advertised at 330 mm can still refuse A4 if the wall thickness and the lip eat twelve millimetres a side.

Measure the opening, not the box

When we photograph a tray we put a sheet of A4 in it and leave it there. It is the cheapest honest test there is: if the sheet sits flat with the corners down, the tray works. If a corner rides up the wall, the tray is short and we say so in the listing.

The three places millimetres disappear

First, the lip — a rolled or folded edge steals two to four millimetres on every side. Second, the corner radius: a tray with a generous curve loses usable length exactly where the paper corner needs to go. Third, stacking feet, which sometimes intrude into the tray below.

What we will not claim

We do not describe any tray as “universal”. Legal and foolscap sizes are longer than A4 and several of our trays will not take them. Where that is the case the listing says which sizes fit and which do not, rather than leaving you to find out after delivery.

If you are unsure

Send us the paper size you need to file and we will reply with the inside measurement of the tray you are looking at. Returns are open for 10 days if it still turns out wrong, but a measurement beforehand is faster for both of us.