Label Planet
Here's our guide to choosing the right label template for you!
At Label Planet, we always do our best to deliver great customer service from start to finish – and that includes providing templates and guidance on how to design and print labels.
Recently, we’ve been working on a number of projects to improve and expand the help and advice we offer; our aim is to create printing advice and templates for every label size and layout that we supply so our customers have all the tools they need to print their labels themselves.
Update 2023: we have created a short video explaining how to find and download label templates on the Label Planet website.
Here’s a quick Q&A to help you find the template(s) you need:
Where Do I Find Templates On Your Website?
There are two ways to find a template:
- Visit the Label Templates section of our website:
- Select the link for the label shape you are using (rectangular / circular / oval / square / special).
- Scroll down to the label product you are using (they are sorted by number of labels per sheet).
- Click on the Word icon to download a Word template (portrait), the PDF icon to download a PDF template (portrait), or click on “More Info” to view all of the templates available for that label size/layout.
- Visit the product page for your labels:
- Click on the “Label Templates And Printing Information” link to view all of the available templates for that label size/layout.
How Do I Know Which Template Is The Right One For My Labels?
All of our products are assigned a product code that begins “LP” (for example LP4/99, LP6/105 GWP, LP84/46 REM).
The first part of the product code (LPXX/XX) refers to the size/layout of the product and this is the part of the code that tells you which template you need. All of our templates have file names that include the size/layout code of the label products they are to be used with, so as long as the size/layout code in the file name of the template you download from our size matches the size/layout part of the product code of your labels you know you’ve got the right template!
For example, if you have our four per page labels in yellow paper (product code: LP4/99 Y) or gloss white polyester (product code: LP4/99 GWP), you can use any of our templates that have LP4/99 in the file name.
How Do I Download The Template I Need?
The exact process will vary depending on the device/browser you are using but essentially you simply click the icon/link for the template you want to download and save a copy onto your device.
We recommend saving a copy rather than just opening the template as we have found that, in certain cases, if you try to work with an open copy of a template (even if you save it later) you might struggle to edit or print your template properly.
How Do I Open The Template I Have Saved?
There are two ways to open a saved template:
- Locate the folder that your download has been saved to and open the file directly; you may need to manually select the software you want to use to edit your template if a default option isn’t selected or if the default option isn’t the software you want to use (generally speaking, you can do this by right clicking on the file and using the “open with” option that appears).
- Open the software that you want to use to edit your template and then open the template from within that software (usually you will be given the option to create a “New” document or to “Open” an existing document – use the “Open” option to locate your saved template and select it to open it within the software you are using).
We recommend using the second option because this will allow your software to check for any compatibility issues between the template file and your software – and either alert you to this issue or make any necessary adjustments before you start working on your template.
If you find that your template doesn’t respond at all when you open it, double check for a banner going across the top of your window (usually yellow in colour) that says “Enable Editing”; software tends to automatically restrict files that you have downloaded from the internet for security reasons, which means that you have to confirm that you want to enable editing for that file before you can start to edit your template.
Should I Download The Word Or The PDF Template?
It depends on what software you have available for editing. The PDF templates can only be edited in graphics software packages (such as InDesign, Photoshop etc), which means you should only download one of these templates if you have access to software that is capable of editing PDF files.
The Word templates will, obviously, work in Word but they can also be used in other Word Processing software capable of editing the .docx file format (for example LibreOffice, OpenOffice, Pages (iWork) etc).
Should I Use The Portrait Or The Landscape Template?
While the majority of people will want to print their labels in the portrait layout, we know that sometimes people want to use the landscape orientation (so that the width becomes the height and the height becomes the width). It is possible to use a portrait template and simply rotate your text/images so that your design will print in a landscape orientation but you will probably end up working with a head tilt. Using a landscape template means you don’t have to constantly tilt your head to check that everything looks right.
What Are Bleed Templates?
These templates are set up with a design area that is slightly larger than your labels; these templates are for creating designs that include a coloured background or are a particular shape, whereby you can overlap your design to improve the final positioning of your image and to avoid white edging around your labels.
Remember, you can also visit our Help section to find further advice on designing and printing templates to help you get the very best out of your Label Planet labels.