A3 vs A4 printer: which one each office needs
- 5.0 on Google from 150+ reviews
- Trading since 2010
At 297 by 420 millimetres, an A3 sheet is two A4 sheets side by side.
The printer that takes it is a bigger machine, built to be shared.
Each office gets the size its own work needs, all on one agreement.
- Six checks for each office
- Operated by Global Document Solutions.
A printer sized to what each office prints
Name your offices, and the widest page each one prints.
Global Document Solutions supplies each office an A4 or A3 printer sized to its own work, all on one managed print agreement.
- 5.0 Google rating, from 150+ five star reviews
- Since 2010 Australian owned, based in Queensland
- 500+ Australian businesses supplied and serviced
- 4 hours Generally on site in a capital city, next business day in a regional town
What is the difference between an A3 and an A4 printer?
The widest sheet it takes, and the size of machine that follows.
An A4 printer handles sheets no wider than A4, and an A3 printer handles A3 as well.
According to ISO 216, the international paper size standard, A4 is 210 by 297 millimetres and A3 is 297 by 420.
Brother Australia's April 2026 guide calls A3 twice the size of standard A4.
The US 11 by 17 inch sheet, 279 by 432 millimetres, is close to A3 but not the same.
According to Laserfast, a Victorian printer repairer, an A3 printer prints both sizes.
Its March 2026 guide adds that A3 printers are bigger machines, designed for shared office use.
Either size comes as a multifunction model that copies and scans as well as printing.
An A3 model can also copy or scan an A3 drawing in one pass.
Duty cycle, recommended volume and the other device words are in the glossary's device and fleet terms.
Both sizes come under one managed print agreement across your offices.
Last updated 4 October 2026.
Can an A3 printer print A4?
Yes, from a drawer of its own.
An A3 printer can load A4 in one paper drawer and A3 in another.
Kyocera Document Solutions Europe lists its TASKalfa MZ3501ci at up to 35 A4 pages a minute.
The same model is listed at up to 17 pages a minute on A3, about half.
DO Partners, a Belgian print dealer, wrote in July 2026 that an A4 printer can never print on A3.
It can still print an A3 file, shrunk to fit an A4 page.
Shrinking suits a draft. A plan read at scale needs A3.
Booklets are the other A3 job.
One A3 sheet, printed both sides and folded once, gives four A4 pages.
A finisher on the printer can fold and staple them for you.
Who needs an A3 printer for the office?
Offices whose work runs wider than an A4 page.
- Drawings and site plans, read at scale.
- Spreadsheets too wide for an A4 page.
- Notices or posters for a wall or a shopfront.
- Booklets folded from A3 sheets.
Laserfast's guide names design and construction teams among the usual A3 users, with schools.
In a group, that work may gather at one or two sites, such as head office or a project office.
A branch that prints letters and forms has no use for A3 paper.
Putting an A3 machine there buys floor space and size the branch never uses.
Ask each office manager for the widest page their staff printed last month.
Twelve offices can mean ten A4 printers and two A3 printers.
One size for the whole group can leave some offices with the wrong machine.
How does each office end up with the right size?
The widest page it prints decides the machine.
- List every office, with its staff count and the work it prints.
- Note the widest page each office prints in a normal month.
- Count each office's monthly pages, with black only (mono) and colour kept apart.
- Measure the floor where the printer will stand.
- Match each office to an A4 or A3 printer sized for that work.
The cost review run office by office before you commit gathers the same details.
Each office is costed on its own, so a small branch never hides inside a group total.
Whatever its size, each printer then needs the settings every office printer should carry.
Not ready for a quote? See which office leases end first, in four taps.
How many pages a month should each printer carry?
Size it to the steady monthly load, well under the duty cycle.
A maker's duty cycle is a ceiling for one month, never a target.
Recommended monthly volume is the steady load the machine is built for.
Size each office to that second figure, with room for a busy month.
Our three plans count pages for each printer, every month.
Starter includes 2,000 mono pages, and Professional adds 200 colour pages.
Enterprise includes 5,000 mono and 500 colour pages.
Toner and parts come in all three plans, and so do labour and servicing.
Pages past the allowance are charged at the excess rate your quote states.
That rate normally matches from one location to the next.
A busy office near its allowance every month may suit a bigger plan.
A quiet branch may never come close to 2,000 pages.
From $160 + GST a month per device.
Standard plans, tailored to your fleet. Excess page rates are stated in your quote and are normally the same at every location.
Paper, staples and pages above your agreed volume sit outside that figure.
How many staff can share one printer?
Count people per printer, office by office.
The user to device ratio counts how many staff share each printer at a site.
Marco, a US office technology provider, called 10 users per device the benchmark in a March 2015 post.
Walking distance matters too, so count floors as well as people.
One shared A3 machine can stand in for several desk printers when the walk stays short.
Swapping many small printers for a few shared ones is called consolidation.
A small branch of six people still needs one printer of its own.
Its size comes from its work, never from the head office's needs.
Does an A3 printer need more floor space?
Yes, so measure the spot before the quote.
AIS Now, a US office equipment dealer, wrote in September 2021 that an A3 machine occupies more space than an A4 device.
Laserfast notes that A3 printers often carry finishing options, such as stapling or booklet making, while A4 printers fit on desks.
A finisher adds width, so measure with it attached.
Leave room in front for every drawer to open fully.
Check the doorway and any lift on the delivery route, too.
A printer's power point and network port belong in the same measure.
Note both for each office before the scope is written.
Does an A3 printer use more electricity?
Not always, by the ENERGY STAR register.
According to the US EPA, its ENERGY STAR register lists the typical weekly power use of each certified model, in kilowatt hours (kWh).
Entry 3619512, the A3 Kyocera TASKalfa MZ3501ci, is listed at 0.46 kWh a week.
Entry 2401825, the A4 Kyocera ECOSYS MA4500ifx, is listed at 0.64 kWh a week.
In that pair, the A3 machine uses less.
The A4 model there prints mono and the A3 prints colour, so speed and features differ too.
Paper size alone does not set the power bill.
Compare the register entry for each model your quote names.
Turn the weekly figures into tonnes with the carbon estimate for every office's printers.
Which printer does each office get under one agreement?
The model its work needs, named in a written scope.
Under the agreement, every office is supplied the printer it uses.
An owned printer, A3 or A4, stays outside it.
We currently scope Kyocera and HP printers.
The written scope names the model for each site before you commit.
A small branch and a busy head office can each be on a different plan.
Mixed sizes still mean one invoice, with a report for each site.
Each office can be quoted one at a time, and offices move across over months.
Opening another office adds it to this agreement, and the monthly figure moves with it.
A stopped printer at any site goes to one desk.
Whoever attends works for an authorised dealer or the manufacturer.
Capital city offices generally see one within 4 hours.
A regional town generally gets its visit on the next business day.
Neither time is a term of the agreement.
Printers are serviced across Australia.
Which checks decide A3 or A4 for an office?
The same six questions, asked at every site.
| Check | Points to A4 | Points to A3 |
|---|---|---|
| Widest page printed | A4 or smaller | Plans, wide sheets or posters |
| Monthly pages | A light, steady load | A heavy load shared by many |
| Staff sharing it | A small team | A whole floor |
| Floor space | A desk or cabinet | Floor room with drawer clearance |
| Finishing | Seldom needed | Stapling or booklets |
| Scanning originals | A4 documents | A3 drawings scanned whole |
A3 and A4 questions buyers ask
Can an A4 printer print an A3 document?
Only shrunk to fit an A4 page.
The sheet itself must be A4 or smaller.
Work read at full A3 size needs an A3 printer.
Is an A3 printer worth it if an office mostly prints A4?
Only where some of its work needs A3 paper.
An A3 printer prints A4 too, from its own drawer.
A branch with no A3 work suits an A4 printer.
Can our offices have different printers on one agreement?
Yes. Each office is supplied the printer its work needs.
The written scope names the model for every site.
Can we keep the A3 printer we already own?
No. An owned printer stays outside the agreement.
Every office gets a supplied one in its place.
The right size at every site
Say which offices print plans.
Which offices print A3, and which never do
List your offices and devices.
Note any site that prints plans or wide spreadsheets.
Operated by Global Document Solutions, an authorised Kyocera partner.
Rather talk it through?
1300 873 460Answered 8.30am to 7pm weekdays, Queensland time.
You reach the person who prices fleets this size, and the written scope follows that call.
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What our customers say
Reviews of Global Document Solutions, who run this service.
When something breaks
We've had a great experience with this team.
They're always prompt, helpful and really easy to deal with.
Any issues are sorted quickly and the whole printer leasing process has been seamless.
On price, and on being told things
I highly recommend Cyrus at Global Document Solutions.
The service was brilliant from start to finish, with clear communication and attention to detail.
Pricing was extremely competitive and offered value for money.
Replacing a machine already on contract
We replaced our existing machine (also through GDS) and, as always, the process was seamless.
We had our machine up and running with minimal downtime.
These are reviews of Global Document Solutions, who operate this service, and not of this site.
Each one is copied word for word from their Google Business Profile, under the name Google shows, read on 7 September 2026.