Setting Page & Label Dimensions

Transcription

1 Setting Page & Label Dimensions Overview Prior to creating a barcode label, formatting for the page and label size of the label media you plan to use must be input within the Label Setup dialog box. The Label Setup dialog box consists of 4 tabs: Printer, Page, Label, and Other (setting print order and saving custom settings). Instructions on how to property set label parameters follow. Printer Setup Open the Label Setup dialog box by clicking on the icon on the toolbar. The Label Setup dialog box is also accessible from the File menu. To set the printer, select the name of the printer you plan to use for printing labels from the Name drop-down menu. Note: Your printer driver must be installed for the printer to appear in the drop-down menu. See Figure 1. Figure 1: Label Setup Dialog Box, Selecting Printer

2 Select the output method of the software from the Output drop-down menu. Options include Windows Driver, PPCS Commands and Download Form. Note: Windows Driver is the most common method of output. Choose Windows Driver for drivers using GDI (Graphics Device Interface) mode. Choose PPCS Commands if printing by sending commands to a selected port in the driver, or by writing the command lines to a text file (check Print to File in Print dialog). Choose Download Form to store the form to the printer, or when writing the form to a text file (check Print to File in Print dialog). Page Setup After selecting the printer, click the Page tab to input the page size of the page of labels. There are two methods for inputting page size, as follows.

3 Auto Compute (Recommended): Check the Auto Compute button to automatically compute the correct page size. When Auto Compute is checked, the Paper Name and Size Width and Height fields become unavailable. See Figure 2. Note: If Auto Compute does not take effect, please set your user account to Administrator. Figure 2: Setting Page Size by Auto Compute Manual Input: If you elect to input page size manually, there are two options; Select the page size that best matches your needs from the Paper Name field using the drop-down menu, or 2) Measure the width and height of the page size and place those values in the Size Width and Height fields. Also, measure the width of the left and top margins. The left margin is the distance between the left edge of the paper and the left edge of the label.

4 The top margin is the distance between the top of the paper and the top edge of the first label. Note: When inputting page width and height values manually, make sure the Paper Name field is showing Custom Paper. In the area titled Orientation, the options are grayed out and unavailable here. Orientation is set using your printer driver (please refer to Printing Labels.) Label Setup With the printer selected, and the page size set, use the Label tab to input the dimensions of the labels you are using. See Figure 3. Note: You may set the unit of measurement to be in inches or millimeters. To set units of measurement, click the top menu Options, and under the Option tab, choose the desired unit of measurement. When measuring, please use a ruler with a minimum measurement value of 1 millimeter or 1/16th inch. Label measurements needed for input include the following. Label Width and Height, Label Gap, both Horizontal and Vertical (the space between two columns of labels, and two rows of labels, respectively). Input values for: Layout: enter the number of columns and the number of rows on the page. Shape: select the shape of the label (Square Rectangle, Round Rectangle, or Ellipse). Hole: select the shape of the hole, if applicable. Otherwise, make sure No is selected. Figure 3: Label Setup, Setting Label Dimensions

5 Other Setup Now, after all page and label dimensions are set, use the Other tab to establish the desired Printing Order. If needed, you can also establish the Offset values here. See Figure 4. Additionally, you can save settings with a Custom Defined name. See Figure 5. Input values for: Printing Order: the Starting point for your printing job (Left Top, Right Top, Right Bottom or Left Bottom), as well as the Direction (Horz. or Vert.) for your printing job. Adjust Offset: the value of offset against the Left edge of the label, and the value of offset against the Top edge, if needed (in millimeters). Figure 4: Selecting Print Order and Adjusting Offset

6 Click Save As to save current settings. This opens the Input Label Name text field to type in a Custom Name. Click OK to save. See Figure 5. Figure 5: Save Label Setting with a Custom Name Click Import (from the Other tab) to retrieve saved custom settings for use with other label objects. Import

7 will produce the Select Label dialog box. Use the Label Name drop-down menu to search and select the custom name for the label settings you wish to import. See Figure 6. Figure 6: Import, Select Label After inputting label settings, you are ready to design a label. View the next section, Setting Characters, to learn how to add a text object to your label.