The effect of drying cylinder and VacRoll is studied in pilot trials. Both the fabric tension and the vacuum in the VacRoll reduces the shrinkage of the paper. Laboratory results are fed into a numerical simulation of the conditions in the free draw. If the web width is increased or the length of the free draw is reduced, the mean shrinkage of the paper web is reduced. However, the difference in shrinkage between the middle and the edge of the web is increased.