Label Planet
Read our definition of "label templates".
What Is A Template?
To truly go back to basics, first we need to define a “template”.
A template is a document used in electronic or paper based media, which has a pre-determined page layout and style. The document can be edited to produce a finished document based on that page layout and style. A template will indicate where the user should add specific page elements to complete their finished document and may contain standard or sample text and/or images if required.
For example, a template used to create a letter could contain indicators for where to add the recipient’s address, a greeting line, a date, and a signature. It may also include a pre-determined header and/or footer, which could contain a company’s logo and contact information.
Templates are designed to save time and allow multiple new documents to be created, which share an existing design, pattern, or style.
What Is A Label Template?
A label template, therefore, is a document, which has a pre-determined layout based on the labels that the template is to be used to print. In other words, a label template indicates where a user should add their design(s) to ensure that those designs print in the correct position when the template is used to print their labels.
Label templates can be used to print a range of label formats – including labels supplied on rolls and on sheets. Therefore, a label template can either represent the layout of a sheet of labels OR an individual label (and its position relative to the other labels on a roll or sheet).
Label templates are excellent time savers; with a template, a user simply starts adding their design, without having to spend time setting up a template that reflects the measurements and layout of the labels they need to print. They are also a useful way to create additional sets of labels that need to share an existing design but contain slightly different information or design elements. Label templates can also be combined with mail merge tools to allow a template to be combined with a data source (such as a list of addresses or product details) to create a set of labels that share a common design but contain individual sets of information.
So How Many Different Types Of Label Templates Are There?
Essentially, there are two main types of label templates; standalone and built-in. A standalone template is an individual file, which needs to be opened using an application or software. Built-in templates are already part of (i.e. built in to) an application or software.
Label templates can also come in different file formats; a file format refers to the technical standard used to encode information for storage in a computer file. Common file formats used for label templates include .docx (the file format used by Microsoft Word and other word processing software) and .pdf (a file format used by graphics packages).
There are further subdivisions of label templates, including options for portrait or landscape orientations and bleed templates – which are used to print full colour backgrounds and/or borders.
At Label Planet, we supply standalone templates in both Word and PDF formats for all of the label sizes that we supply. We also supply options for portrait, landscape, and bleed templates where possible. You can download any of these templates by visiting our Label Template Home page; select your label shape and then your label size to visit the template information page for your labels. Our download links can be found in the middle of the page and are purple in colour.
We also supply a number of "standard" label sizes that are compatible with (use the same label size and layout as) label templates supplied by other label manufacturers, including some that are built in to software, such as Word.