Label Planet
Our top tip for printing labels templates is to always do a test print first.
Regardless of whether you choose to take extra special care with your label template and your print settings OR you simply plough on and “hope for the best”, you should always always always always always always always always always always do a test print first. Always.
Doing a test print is a quick and easy way to check if there are any issues that could cause a misalignment between your label template and your blank labels – before you print all of your labels in one go.
Obviously, if nothing’s wrong then you’ll have a perfectly printed set of self adhesive labels in no time at all BUT if there is a problem then you’ll end up wasting your entire set of printer labels (not to mention the ink/toner your printer has used) – which is especially problematic if you’ve bought just enough blank labels for the job at hand.
Printing your own laser labels or inkjet labels involves a LOT of different elements and ALL of those elements have the potential to throw a spanner in the works when you’re trying to achieve the perfect print. You have to make sure that your A4 labels, your label template, your software, your print settings, and your printer are all going to work in harmony to create the perfect print and it is extremely difficult to predict (and therefore avoid) exactly what might go wrong.
Instead of assuming that everything will “just work” or spending ages trying to second guess what might go wrong, it is much, much easier to do a test print and see for yourself whether your label template is going to align with your blank labels (or not).
How do you do a test print?
It’s really easy! You simply do exactly what you would do to print your blank labels EXCEPT you place a blank sheet of paper in your printer and print a single page of your label template. You then compare this printed page with a sheet of your sticky labels (either by placing your printed page under your blank labels and holding them up together in front of a light source – best for paper labels – or doing a simple side by side comparison – best for plastic labels) to see if your label template is correctly aligned or not.
You can then go back and amend your label template or adjust your print settings to improve the alignment; you should then perform another test print to see if your changes have helped (if not, you can repeat the process of amending and test printing as many times as you like until you are happy).
Remember, when performing a test print you must follow EXACTLY THE SAME steps as you would if you were printing your actual sheet labels; this includes putting your sheet of paper into the media bypass tray and selecting the same set of print settings.