4.8.1 Adjusting Beacon Printer settings to print labels

Introduction

Adjusting Beacon’s printer settings to print labels correctly may appear hit and miss however there is a logical approach to this without having to understand fully, the printer’s and Beacon’s settings.

The procedure below assumes sheets of 21 labels arranged as 7 rows of 3 labels across the sheet. Usually, there is waste between the labels going across the sheet but not going down. Any waste must be included in the Label width and if necessary, the Label height settings.

As an aid, make a template by taking a sheet of labels and removing the 3 labels from the top and bottom rows. This will produce a template with translucent windows. The printer settings can then be tested using ordinary paper after which, the template can be laid over the page and both lifted to the light to show the print through the translucent paper windows.

Setting Beacon's Printer Settings

• First check whether your printer has a Scaling. If it has, make sure it is set to 100% or ‘No scaling’.
• Set up the top left label to print correctly.

Adjust Beacon’s Top offset and Left offset settings to print the top left label correctly. The Top offset controls the vertical positioning of the print on the label and the Left Offset controls the its horizontal positioning. Keep in mind that a full name and address may require 8 lines so make sure the first line prints high on the label. Likewise, names may be long so keep the printing over to the left.

• Set up the top row of labels.

Use Beacon’s Label width setting to adjust the horizontal positioning of the print on the labels across the sheet.

Measure in millimetres, the distance from the start of the printed line to the left edge of its label on the top left and top right labels. Subtract one from the other and halve it. If the printing is too far to the left on the top right label, add the number of millimetres calculated, to the Label width setting (decimal parts of a millimetre are allowed). If the printing is too far to the right on the top right label, subtract this number of millimetres from the Label width setting.

• Set up the labels vertically.

Use Beacon’s Label height setting to adjust the height of the print on the labels vertically down the sheet.

Measure in millimetres, the distance from the first line of print to the top edge of its label on the top left and bottom left labels.. Subtract one from the other and divide by 6. If the printing is too high on the bottom left label, add the number of millimetres calculated, to the Label height setting (decimal parts of a millimetre are allowed). If the printing is too low, subtract this number of millimetres from the Label height setting.

This should result in all labels printing correctly however minor tweaks may be necessary. Once the ideal settings have been reached, make a note of them for future use. The settings are saved in a cookie on the user’s device as long as the user allows Beacon to save cookies however they will be lost if cookies are cleared hence the importance of keeping a note of them.

Revision History

v1

2022-03-13

John Alexander

Guidance provided by Help Desk