How to print a PDF on a label printer
Print PDFs on Zebra, Citizen and other label printers with PDF by Zaweba: it offers the loaded label as the paper and remembers it for next time.
Label printers work with PDF by Zaweba without fiddly paper settings. Many label printers, such as Zebra and Citizen models, list no paper sizes and report only the label that's loaded. The app offers that label as Printer's paper and chooses it by default, remembers the paper you last used on each printer, and uses a label that's wider than it is long the way it feeds. The app is free and works offline on Windows.
That's a common sticking point. Plenty of programs offer only standard office paper sizes and print a tiny corner of the page, or nothing useful, on a label.
Why label printers are awkward
Office printers tell Windows which sheet sizes they accept, and programs offer those in a list. Many label printers don't. They only know what's loaded right now. A program that expects a list finds nothing to choose, falls back to an office size, and the print comes out wrong.
PDF by Zaweba reads what the printer reports and offers that label size as the paper, so the page and the label match from the start.
Printing a label
Open the PDF, often a shipping label you've downloaded or a label you made yourself. Choose File, Print (Ctrl+P) and pick the label printer. Printer's paper is already chosen, matching the loaded label.
Look at the preview. It shows each sheet with the pages, sheets and paper used. If the PDF page is the same size as the label, choose actual size so nothing is scaled. If the PDF page is larger, such as an office-sized page with a label in one corner, use fit, or shrink large only, so it comes down to the label.
Print one first to check the position, then set copies for the rest.
Labels that feed sideways
Some labels are wider than they are long. The app uses those the way they feed through the printer, so the content lands the right way round without you turning anything by hand. If a design still looks turned in the preview, check the orientation setting.
It remembers each printer
Each printer remembers the paper last printed on it. Print labels on the label printer and a letter on the office printer, and next time each one starts with the right paper. That saves the classic mistake of sending an office page to a label roll.
Getting crisp labels
Barcodes need sharp edges to scan. Choose the highest dpi your printer handles from 150, 300 or 600, and avoid scaling where you can. Black and white printing suits most thermal label printers. Turn comments and form fields off if the PDF has notes you don't want on the label.
If you make your own labels, design them at the label's exact size so that actual size prints them perfectly, and PDF by Zaweba prints the finished page as it is.
A sheet of several labels from one PDF is a different job. If each label is its own page, print them all in one go and the printer feeds one label per page. If a single page holds several labels side by side, print a test first and use the preview to check how they will land, because a roll of single labels expects one label per page.
Everything happens on your PC, with no account and no online print service in between.
