Pick a trade, edit the text and print the sheet of 10 cards.
In the print dialog, choose Save as PDF as the printer to get a file, and keep the scale at 100%.
A business card template by trade saves you from the blank page: pick your line of work in the list above (tradesperson, personal trainer, estate agent, lawyer, restaurant owner and five more), replace the name, the three contact lines and the identification line, then click Print or save as PDF. The tool lays out an A4 sheet of ten cards at the standard French and UK size of 85 × 55 mm, in two columns and five rows with a dashed cut line; printed at 100% on card stock, it gives ten cards to cut with a craft knife. Each template puts first what that trade's clients look for, such as the call-out area for a plumber or opening hours for a restaurant. Three styles (Plain, Side band, Centred) and a colour picker are enough to make it yours. The main limit: the sheet is built for an office printer, with no bleed; for an order at a print shop, use their template instead.
A business card is read in three seconds: who you are, what you do, how to reach you. The names, numbers and addresses below are made up, with French formats since the cards are meant for use in France. Click Use this template to load one into the tool.
The usual finished size in France is 85 × 55 mm, close to a bank card. Printers generally ask for 3 mm of bleed on each side, so a 91 × 61 mm file, and a 3 to 5 mm safety margin inside the finished size so that no text gets trimmed. A photo should be prepared at 300 dpi: 85 mm is 3.35 inches, and 3.35 × 300 gives 1,004 pixels; 55 mm gives 650 pixels, and 1,075 × 720 pixels with bleed.
Colours shift from the screen's RGB to the printer's CMYK: a bright blue often comes out duller, so ask for a proof. The expected file is a PDF with embedded fonts, where text stays vector. Every printer publishes its own template, and theirs wins over these figures. This page's sheet is centred on A4 (2 columns of 85 mm, 5 rows of 55 mm): print at 100%, without fit to page.
No Service Public page mentions business cards as such. Service Public does, however, require identification details on advertising material, printed matter included, and on commercial documents in general. A card handed out to promote your business comes close, so our advice is to add these details in small print, in French, as French clients expect them.
Company (SARL, SAS, SA): SIREN number; RCS followed by the registry town for a trading business, or RNE for a craft, liberal or farming activity; registered office; share capital for a SARL or SAS. Sole trader and micro-entrepreneur: the same identifiers and, since 15 May 2022, EI or entrepreneur individuel before or after the name; Service Public mentions a fine of up to €750 if it is missing.
Regulated professions such as lawyers, nurses and estate agents have their own communication rules set by their professional body; check them before printing. On the back, add a vCard QR code that saves your contact in one scan, and to choose between a chip and a code, read our NFC business card or QR code comparison.
French printers default to 85 × 55 mm. That is close to a bank card (85.60 × 53.98 mm), so it fits the same card holders. The UK size is the same 85 × 55 mm, while the US size, 3.5 × 2 inches (88.9 × 50.8 mm), is longer and narrower: do not mix the two templates when you prepare a file for a French printer.
Bleed is a margin, usually 3 mm, added all around the card where the background or image continues. Cards are cut in stacks and the blade can drift by a millimetre: without bleed, a thin white line shows on the edge. For an 85 × 55 mm card the file is therefore 91 × 61 mm. A card with a plain white background does not need it.
Yes, with the sheet this page prints: ten cards on one A4 page, with dashed cut lines. Use card stock your printer accepts (the maximum paper weight is in its manual), print at 100% without fit to page, then cut with a craft knife and a ruler. It is fine for a quick batch; for hundreds of cards a print shop gives cleaner edges.
Service Public does not mention business cards, but a sole trader (entrepreneur individuel, including micro-entrepreneurs) must add EI or entrepreneur individuel next to their name on commercial documents, and advertising material must show the SIREN number and RCS or RNE registration. If you hand the card out to win clients, add that line in small print, for example Amandine Roux EI · Siren 000 000 000.
Click Print or save as PDF, then choose Save as PDF as the printer, A4 paper, 100% scale and no margins. You get one page with ten 85 × 55 mm cards, with vector text. A professional printer will usually prefer their own single-card template with 3 mm bleed, since this sheet is designed for cutting by hand.