Print layout — Tool (QGIS)

In QGIS: Project › New Print Layout…. Not a Processing tool: it composes maps for print or export.

Realises: the map elements every finished map needs — map frame, title, legend, scale bar, north arrow and source line.

Settings that matter

• Add Item › Add Map: draw the frame. In Item Properties set the Scale or Set Map Extent to Match Main Canvas; tick Lock layers if two map frames should keep different layers.
• Add Item › Add Legend: untick Auto update to remove layers and entries that should not be in the legend, and rename the legend’s title.
• Add Item › Add Scale Bar: Units kilometres, Fixed width segments of a round size (e.g. 2 km).
• Add Item › Add North Arrow: linked to the map, so it turns if the map is rotated.
• Add Item › Add Label: the title and a source line naming the data, their date and the coordinate system.
• Layout › Export as Image… or Export as PDF….

Watch out

• Two maps that should be compared need the same scale, extent and classes; put them in one layout with two map frames, or use the same settings in two layouts.
• A legend entry for areas left out (e.g. “fewer than 20 dwellings”) belongs on the map, not only in the text.

Checked in QGIS 4.2.2, October 2026. Names and options can differ in other versions.