Have you ever used Engineer Prints?
They’ve been a staple in my decorating for the last 10 years because they’re so inexpensive!
If you want something fun to print really big for you and your kids, pop in your email address and I’ll send you my most popular free printable!
What is an Engineer Print?
They’re printed on large piece of regular paper (no thick card stock or beautiful matte paper here – we’re talking thin printer paper here) and they cost only a few dollars. They’re available in black and white, which is a little cheaper, or color for a few dollars more.
In the past, you’ve been able to use engineer prints for photos – I printed the print in the photo below as an engineering print and it cost me a whopping $12 for that full color engineer print, but many places like Staples are coming down on printing photos on engineering prints because it takes so much ink and ends up being really expensive for them.
It’s not consistent across the board, so it’s worth calling your local Staples or other office supply store and see if they’ll still do it for you.
If they’ll let you print engineer prints for photos, that’s fantastic.
If not, there are a million other uses for engineer prints. For more simple art (say, any of the free book quote art prints here!), engineer prints are perfect.
I used Staples Engineering prints for my black and white world map and then added gold lettering with a gold sharpie, I used it to print a US map that I hung in our play space in our North Carolina house (I used metallic sharpies on top of the text at the top to add some color) , and I used an engineer print as a stencil to make this colorful world map.
I’ve printed holiday prints with engineer prints (you can see a big Christmas one here that I did a few years ago in the first photo) and to print big summer calendars.
The point is, I LOVE engineer prints.
Where to Order Engineer Prints
I’ve always used Staples Engineering Prints, but Office Depot also has them for the same price (although for a 24×36, you only have the option to get it delivered – they won’t do it in store for you).
FedEx Kinkos will also do engineer prints, although they’re slightly more expensive (about $11 for a 24×36 black and white, instead of $7-8 like a Staples Engineering Print).
Also, I’ve linked to each of the correct pages for those stores, but some of them call them Blueprints or Construction Prints or Architectural Prints instead of Engineering Prints if you’re having a hard time finding them.
A step by step guide to ordering a Staples Engineering Print
- Go to the Staples Engineering Print page. At the bottom, select the size you want (the price will change depending on what size you choose).
- Choose whether you want color or black & white and click “Buy Now.”
- On the screen that pops up, choose “Add Files” from the top left corner and then select “Upload files.” Choose your image (you can use a PDF or a JPG), then press “Upload.” When it’s completely uploaded, choose “Done.”
- Your image may look wonky on the display. On the left menu bar, choose “Orientation” and change to portrait or landscape, depending on the orientation of your file. If it’s still not looking right, choose “Media” from that same toolbar and then select the right size of printing and then click the “Fit Content to Paper” option and then click “Done.”
- Name your Job in the left hand toolbar (the name doesn’t really matter – I usually do something like “Janssen’s World Map”).
- Choose “Add to Cart” in the bottom right hand corner.
- If everything in your cart looks good, click “proceed to checkout” and select “Pick Up in Store.”
- Choose your date for pickup (it’ll usually charge you a rush fee for same-day, so I always choose the first free day and then call in after my order has been placed and ask if they can do it that day for me. They’ve never said no) and then your store.
- I choose “Pay at Store” but you can also pay online if you’d rather.
- When it’s ready, go pick it up and you’re ready to roll!
Any other questions about Engineer Prints?
Stay tuned because I have a really fun way to use these engineering prints coming on Monday – I can hardly wait to show you!
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Unfortunately, I tried to do this last summer to make a large size of Homegrown’s Traditions’s summer bucket list calendar, and there wasn’t a single place around here (and I tried all the stores you mentioned) who would do it for us as an engineer print because it wasn’t a blueprint. We even got as far as submitting our orders and getting confirmations, only to receive calls when they went to print saying that they’d have to charge us the poster rate… in our area, it seems, they seem to be catching on to printing anything, even if it’s black and white and largely empty space like a calendar, using this shortcut!
Ah, that’s so frustrating! I just ordered a couple from Staples yesterday with no problem.
Hi! could you share a good place to get inexpensive frames or those wooden poster rails to hang these? Thank you!
my husband and I owned a blueprint company – try a local one to see if they would print this. There is no such thing as the old ammonia “blue” prints anymore, everything is digitized, so they may print your file on their digital engineering machine.
Hi! Is there a link for printing at FedEx Kinkos? I’d love to trying printing there. We don’t have a local staples and our Office Depot is really picky about what they print! Thank you!
Here you go! https://www.fedex.com/en-us/printing/posters/architectural-prints.html
It’s slightly the wrong dimensions, so this is the email you get back:
“The file you have sent is 25.50 X 33 inches it is not % to fill a 24 x 36. If We try to make it fit on that paper size the image it’s self will be around 24 x 31.5 but can be on a 24 x 36 sheet of paper. There is a $7.50 fee to resize a file.“
I followed all the instructions but when I’m on the editing page on Staples it just shows up as a blank page. Not sure what to do!
Hmm! I’d give your Staples a call and they’ll give you email address to email the file to. Or just bring it in to the store on a flash drive.
I just ordered a 24×36 (reading chart!) blueprint from Office depot and had the option to pick it up in store, so maybe it depends on which office depot you go to but I had the option to pick it up or be delivered.
I logged onto Staples website and couldn’t find any “engineering print” options, only “blueprint” options. Will it work the same if I order it as a b&w blueprint?
Thanks:)
Yes! That’s the same thing.
I love this suggestion. Can I ask if you have found cheap large frames for these prints? I’m curious where I can reasonably buy a 24×36 frame.
I always go to Michael’s (with a 50% off coupon!).
Super frustrating I took the reading list poster to Office Depot to print as an engineer print, the girl printed it without saying a word even though I was right there when she pulled the file off my flash drive and then proceeded to try to charge me for a full color poster. ($35) because it was not a blueprint. So yes they are definitely starting to crack down unfortunately, I finally got her to cave because theres no way in heck lol I was going to pay that for a black and white print.
As the manager of an Office Depot print department, I print 24 x 36 blueprints several times a day. They are not sent out to be done … we do them on site. However, we will not print anything at the blueprint price ($3.59 for a 24 x 36 size) unless it’s actually a blueprint or architectural drawing. Some people will submit online orders for blueprints when they’re actually posters, thinking they can get it done cheaper if it’s submitted under the blueprint icon. The system won’t catch that by my team does and we notify the customer that it won’t be printed at the price of a blueprint. Some stores will (at least that’s what some customers tell us) but they’re not supposed to.
that makes no sense when a poster uses the same amount of ink as a blueprint and it really shouldn’t matter
Staples was only $3.95 for me to print this at full size!! So excited. Thank you!!
YAY!!
When I send this to friends there is a baby with an engineered print in the background that kind of looks like a chart or a daily rhythm list…etc. I’m looking all over your blog for this image. Could you share what this image is? I love the largeness and simplicity if it is a kids chart. Thanks