Definitions – What Is A Built-In Label Template?

Read our definition of built-in label templates and learn how to use this type of template.

You may have been advised that you can either download a label template or use a built-in label template to design and print your own self adhesive labels. While you might be familiar with the concept of label templates that you download from a supplier’s website – such as the label templates available to download from the Label Planet website – you might not be familiar with “built-in” templates (or at least with that particular term).

What are built-in templates?

Basically built-in templates are simply label templates that are part of (are built into) application software. You don’t need to download a standalone file to use them – they’re ready and available for you to use simply by starting up your software.

Perhaps the most common example is Word’s built-in label templates; to access these, you simply open Word, create a blank document, click on the “Mailings” tab and select the “Labels” option in the Create section on the left hand side of the ribbon – before using the “Options” button to select the built-in template you want to use.

See next week’s Template Tuesday for a more detailed guide to using Word’s built-in label templates.

How many built-in label templates are available?

It depends on the specific software (and version of that software) you are using. Generally speaking, software designers will try to include a range of label sizes that are “standard” or popular label sizes – and the options available may be revised and updated when a new version of a particular piece of software is released.

Are Label Planet’s label templates available as built-in label templates?

Unfortunately not. Built-in label templates tend to be based on the label sizes supplied by global manufacturers and suppliers.

You may, however, be able to find a built-in label template that is compatible with our label sizes and layouts – i.e. that is designed for sheet labels with same label size and layout as our products. This is because we supply a number of label sizes that are exactly the same as those supplied by other label manufacturers and suppliers – so you can print Label Planet labels with a compatible template.

Why can’t I find the label template I need in my software?

If you’ve got a label template code that you’d like to use BUT you can’t find it in the list of built-in templates in your software, it is possible that:

• You are looking under the wrong Label Vendor; built-in label templates tend to be grouped by manufacturer – to find a label template for A4 labels you need to make sure the Label Vendor/Manufacturer is set to “A4/A5”.

• You are looking for a label template for self adhesive labels that have been discontinued (or weren’t popular enough to be included in the standard list of label templates). It is possible that the manufacturer supplies the same label size in another product range – which means you simply need to find out the template code of that new product.

Are there any benefits to using built-in label templates rather than standalone label templates?

Ideally, there shouldn’t be any difference between a built-in template and a standalone template; in practice, however, there are of couple of things you might want to bear in mind:

• Label manufacturers and suppliers don’t have any control over the built-in templates; while a built-in template SHOULD match their relevant label products, you are relying on manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that built-in templates are actually the same as your sticky labels AND on there having been no changes to the measurements used either by your software or the supplier of your self adhesive labels.
  At Label Planet, we periodically review our label templates (and the built-in label templates we list as being compatible with our products) to make sure they still produce the best possible alignment for our customers. While it is unlikely that software designers will alter the measurements of built-in templates, we do not have any control over these templates – whereas the standalone templates provided on our website have been set up by us using the measurements from the cutters used to create our self adhesive labels.
• Sometimes application software works more smoothly with built-in label templates; this is because built-in label templates are actually part of your software, while standalone templates come from external sources – and may possibly have been set up using an entirely different piece of software. This means that your software may not automatically identify features of your standalone label template (or even the fact that it IS a label template) and may need to make small conversions to the file to make it compatible with the software you are using.