Draw grid on writable area with tikz

Question

I wish to draw below image on A4 paper with tikz.The grids should be cover all writable area.

I have searched it on many site but still not figure out how to do it with tikz.

Answer 1

You also can use pgfplots for this.

Code

\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[margin=1cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[svgnames]{xcolor}
\usepackage{pgfplots}


\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}
\pgfplotsset{minor grid style = {dashed, Green}}
\pgfplotsset{major grid style = {solid, Green}}
    \begin{figure}\centering
        \begin{tikzpicture}[Green]
        \begin{axis}[grid = both,
                     ticks = none,
                     minor tick num = 1,
                     xmin = 0,
                     ymin = 0,
                     xmax = 17,
                     ymax = 26,
                     width = 17cm,
                     height = 26cm,
                     scale only axis]
        \end{axis}
        \end{tikzpicture}
    \end{figure}
\end{document}

Update

If you want a 2cm separation on grid, one thing you can do is to use ytickand xtick options, as follows:

     \begin{axis}[grid = both,
                 ticks = none,
                 minor tick num = 1,
                 xmin = 0,
                 ymin = 0,
                 xmax = 16,
                 ymax = 26,
                 xtick = {0, 2,..., 16},
                 ytick = {0, 2,..., 26},
                 width = 16cm,
                 height = 26cm,
                 scale only axis]
    \end{axis}

Answer 2

I'm sure this is a duplicate but this is quicker: http://michaelgoerz.net/notes/printable-paper-with-latex-and-tikz.html and take your pick.

Modifying Michael Goerz's grid a little, for example:

% Minor adaptions from http://michaelgoerz.net/notes/printable-paper-with-latex-and-tikz.html
\documentclass[a4paper, 10pt]{article} % for A4 size paper
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}
\colorlet{dlines}{green!25!black}
\colorlet{llines}{green!25!gray}
\tikzset{
  dashed lines/.style={llines, very thin, densely dashed},
  strong lines/.style={dlines, very thin},
}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
  \draw[style=dashed lines,step=10mm] (current page.south west) grid +(210mm,297mm);
  \draw[style=strong lines,step=20mm] (current page.south west) grid +(210mm,297mm);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Given the weirdness of grid, modifying it a bit more:

% Major adaptions from http://michaelgoerz.net/notes/printable-paper-with-latex-and-tikz.html
\documentclass[a4paper, 10pt]{article} % for A4 size paper
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\pagestyle{empty}
\colorlet{dlines}{green!25!black}
\colorlet{llines}{green!25!gray}
\tikzset{
  dashed lines/.style={llines, very thin, densely dashed},
  strong lines/.style={dlines, very thin},
}

\begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture, overlay]
  \foreach \i in {5,25,...,205} \draw [strong lines] (current page.south west) ++(\i mm,8.5mm) -- ++(0,280mm);
  \foreach \i in {15,35,...,195} \draw [dashed lines] (current page.south west) ++(\i mm,8.5mm) -- ++(0,280mm);
  \foreach \i in {8.5,28.5,...,288.5} \draw [strong lines] (current page.south west) ++(5mm,\i mm) -- ++(200mm,0);
  \foreach \i in {18.5,38.5,...,278.5} \draw [dashed lines] (current page.south west) ++(5mm,\i mm) -- ++(200mm,0);
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Answer 3

It's a math game in tikz. One more example as below:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikzpagenodes}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usepackage[a4paper,margin=1cm,showframe]{geometry}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
    \def\width{1.5cm}
    \pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\offset}{\width+0.4cm}
    \pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\rows}{floor(\textheight/\offset)-1}
    \pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\cols}{floor(\textwidth/\width)-1}
    \pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\dx}{(\textwidth-(1+\cols)*\width)/2}
    \pgfmathsetlengthmacro{\dy}{(\textheight-(1+\rows)*\offset)/2}

    \coordinate (O) at ([xshift=\dx,yshift=-\dy]current page text area.north west);

    \foreach \i in {0,1,...,\cols}{
      \foreach \j in {0,1,...,\rows} {
        \draw[blue,thick] ([xshift=\i*\width,yshift=-\j*\offset]O) rectangle ++(\width,-\width);;
        \draw[blue!40,dashed] ([xshift=\i*\width,yshift=-\width/2-\j*\offset]O) -- ++ (\width,0)
            ([xshift=\width/2+\i*\width,yshift=-\j*\offset]O) -- ++ (0,-\width);
        }
    }
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

Output:

Answer 4

You can use tikz and tikzpagenodes package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikzpagenodes}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
     \draw[blue,step=1cm] (current page text area.south west) grid (current page text area.north east);
     \draw[blue!50,dashed,,step=5mm] (current page text area.south west) grid (current page text area.north east);
  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

If you want this on every page, use background package.

Besides grid option, one can also draw these manually.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikzpagenodes}
\usetikzlibrary{calc}
\usepackage[a4paper,margin=2cm,showframe]{geometry}
\begin{document}
  \begin{tikzpicture}[remember picture,overlay]
     %% Vertical lines
     \foreach \x in {0,0.1,...,1.1}{
     \draw[blue] ([xshift=\x*\textwidth]current page text area.south west) --
                 ([xshift=\x*\textwidth]current page text area.north west);
}
    \foreach \x in {0.05,0.1,...,1}{
      \draw[blue!40,dashed] ([xshift=\x*\textwidth]current page text area.south west) --
                 ([xshift=\x*\textwidth]current page text area.north west);
}

   %% horizontal lines
    \foreach \x in {0,0.1,...,1.1}{
     \draw[blue] ([yshift=\x*\textheight]current page text area.south west) --
                 ([yshift=\x*\textheight]current page text area.south east);
}
    \foreach \x in {0.05,0.1,...,1}{
      \draw[blue!40,dashed] ([yshift=\x*\textheight]current page text area.south west) --
                 ([yshift=\x*\textheight]current page text area.south east);
}

  \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

This grid will exactly occupy the writable area. Try to change the margin and see yourself. Further, the density of grid can be varied by changing the sequence in the \foreach loop.