Calibrate your printer for label sheets

Why labels misalign

A sheet of adhesive labels has its cells die-cut to exact measurements, and your printer has to place the content with a precision of tenths of a millimetre. Any small difference shows: a label cut off on one side, a half-millimetre shift that builds up to the last row. The causes are almost always these:

• The print program scales the document. It is the most frequent cause. If you choose “Fit to page” or “Fit to printable area”, the program shrinks the PDF by a couple of percentage points so it fits within the printer's margins, and everything drifts a little more on every row and column.
• The printer doesn't print to the edge. Almost all leave an unprinted margin of about 3 to 5 mm (⅛ to ¼ in).
• The paper enters with a slight offset. Each printer model has its own, and it is usually constant.
• The sheet measurements aren't exact. Die-cutting has tolerances, and data sources can differ by up to about a millimetre.

The first two are fixed by choosing the scale and the sheet model properly; the other two, with a fine adjustment in millimetres that you make only once.

Step 1: choose your sheet and download the test sheet

In step 3 of the tool above, choose the sheet model you have (the name is on the packaging) and press “Download test sheet”. It is a PDF with no labels: only the outlines of each cell, a 100 mm ruler and, if you want, crop marks. If your model isn't listed, use the custom grid and enter the measurements from the packaging.

Step 2: print it on plain paper, at actual size

Don't waste adhesive sheets yet. Print the test sheet on a normal sheet of paper and, above all, choose the right scale in the print dialog:

Never choose “Fit to page”, “Shrink to printable area” or “Shrink”. If your printer driver has its own scale option, leave it at 100%.

Step 3: check the scale with a ruler

At the bottom of the test sheet there is a line marked “100 mm”. Measure it with a ruler. If it measures 100 mm (3.94 in), the scale is right. If it measures 97 or 98, the program or the driver is scaling: go back to step 2.

Step 4: compare with the adhesive sheet

Place the printed sheet over the adhesive sheet and hold them up to a window or a lamp. The outlines of the test must line up with the edges of the labels, in all four corners.

• If everything is shifted by the same amount, it is a position problem: go to step 5.
• If the offset grows across the sheet (fine in one corner, off in the opposite one), it is a scale problem: go back to step 2.
• If it almost lines up but the top or bottom edge is cut off, your printer doesn't reach the edge: see “Sheets with no margin” below.

Step 5: correct the position with the fine adjustment

Measure with a ruler how far the outlines of the test are off from the labels of the adhesive sheet, horizontally and vertically. In the tool, under “Print settings”, there are two fine adjustment fields in millimetres:

• A positive value moves the content to the right (horizontal) or down (vertical).
• A negative value moves it to the left or up.

For example, if the outlines come out 1.2 mm to the right and 0.5 mm lower than the labels, enter −1.2 in the horizontal one and −0.5 in the vertical one. Download the test sheet again, print it and compare. Repeat until it lines up. Two or three rounds are usually enough.

Step 6: print your labels on the adhesive sheet

When the test lines up, download the PDF of your labels (the adjustment is kept) and print it with the same scale. Some tips for the real sheet:

• Use sheets made for your type of printer (laser or inkjet). The heat of a laser's fuser can warp the adhesive of a sheet that isn't made for it.
• Set the paper type in the driver to “labels” or “heavy paper”, if your printer offers it. That way the printer usually adjusts the speed and the temperature so the toner sticks and the sheet doesn't curl.
• Feed a single sheet and, if your printer allows it, through the manual (rear) tray, which follows a straighter path.
• Don't reuse a sheet that is already missing labels. The remaining labels can peel off inside the printer and jam it.
• Print at the highest quality if there are barcodes and turn off ink or toner saving.
• Watch the orientation. Some printers print on the top face and others on the bottom one. Try it with a marked plain sheet.

Sheets with no margin (like the Avery Zweckform 3474)

Some sheets, like the 3474 or the 3651, reach almost to the edge of the paper. Since most printers leave a few millimetres unprinted, the labels at the edges can come out cut off. You have three options: turn on borderless printing in the driver (check that it doesn't scale the content), increase the label's inner margin in step 2 of the tool, or choose a model that leaves margins, such as the Avery 5160 or the L7160.

Table of symptoms and fixes

Thermal printers and rolls

With roll label printers (Brother, Dymo, generic thermal), the problem is usually the opposite: there is no grid, there is one label per page. In step 3 of the tool you have the most common roll sizes (4 × 6 in or 100 × 150, 100 × 100, Brother DK, Dymo…). In the driver, the paper size has to be exactly that of the roll, and it is worth calibrating the label sensor from the printer's menu whenever you change rolls.

Write down your adjustments

A printer's offset doesn't usually change. Once you find the adjustment that works, write it down (printer model, sheet model and values), or save the design to a file with “My designs” in step 2. Next time you won't have to repeat the calibration.

How we check the accuracy of the positions and the size of the PDF is explained in How we verify measurements and codes.