Exporting labels to PDF at the exact size in Labels by Zaweba
Labels by Zaweba exports a label job as a PDF at the stock's exact size, with vector shapes and codes, real text, embedded fonts and optional outlines.
PDF export in Labels by Zaweba turns a label job into a PDF at the stock's exact size. A sheet of L7160 labels becomes an A4 page with every label in its place, an envelope becomes a page the size of the envelope, and roll labels become pages the size of each label. Shapes and codes are drawn as vectors, and text is real text with the fonts embedded.
That makes the PDF a faithful copy of the job, ready to send to someone else, print later, keep as a record or test on plain paper.
Why a PDF is useful
Sometimes the computer with the addresses isn't the one connected to the printer. Export a PDF, copy it across, and print it from there. Sometimes a print shop or a colleague is doing the printing, and a PDF is the format everyone can open. And sometimes you simply want a record of what was sent, such as the labels for a club mailing, stored with the date.
Because the same layout feeds the preview, the PDF and the printer, the PDF looks exactly like what you checked in the live preview.
What is inside the file
Vector shapes and codes mean that borders, bands, barcodes and QR codes stay perfectly sharp however far you zoom in and at whatever resolution the printer uses. That matters for barcodes in particular, where fuzzy edges can stop a scanner reading them.
Real text with embedded fonts means the words stay as text rather than becoming a picture. The fonts travel inside the file, so the labels look right on a computer that doesn't have the fonts you designed with. You can also search the PDF for a name, which is handy when you want to check that someone was included in a mailing.
Testing with label outlines
When exporting, you can add label outlines. These draw the edge of each label on the page, which turns the PDF into a test sheet. Print it on plain paper, hold it against a sheet of labels up to a window or a lamp, and you can see at once whether the text sits inside each label and whether anything is too close to an edge.
It is the cheapest way to check a new design or a new sheet type. Plain paper costs almost nothing, and a sheet of labels is not something you want to spoil. Turn the outlines off again for the real job, so they don't print onto the labels themselves.
Printing from the PDF
Print the PDF at actual size. Most PDF readers offer a fit to page option, and if that is on, the page is shrunk slightly and every label drifts towards the middle. Choose actual size or 100% instead.
PDF export is not corrected for any printer's calibration. The calibration offsets that Labels saves for a printer are applied when Labels prints to that printer directly, not written into the PDF. That is deliberate, because a PDF may end up on any printer. If you print from a PDF and see a small drift, either print from Labels itself on a calibrated printer, or allow for the shift with the PDF reader's own settings.
Fitting it into your routine
A good pattern is to design the label, check the live preview, export a PDF with outlines for a plain-paper test, then print the real job straight from Labels so the printer's calibration applies. Keep the PDF without outlines as a record if you need one.
For roll and thermal labels, the PDF is a quick way to confirm the label size before sending a batch to a label printer. Each label is its own page, just as the printer will feed them.
Pitfalls when printing from PDF
Don't print the PDF with scaling switched on. It is the most common reason a carefully made label sheet comes out slightly wrong.
Don't forget to turn label outlines off for the final print, unless you actually want a thin line round each label.
And check the stock before exporting. The PDF is built at the size of the stock you chose, so a design set to the wrong sheet will produce a PDF that is wrong in exactly the same way.
