Printing labels

You can print labels directly from the program, or from external systems — including websites, web applications, and other software — using the API. For details, see the Automation & integration guide.

This section describes how to print labels directly from the program.

To print labels:

1. Select a label.

   Choose the label you want to print from the open labels (displayed as tabs):

   

   If the label is not open, click Open label or Open recent to open it:

   

   You can also create a new label or duplicate the current one using New label or Create a copy:

   

2. Import data or enter it manually.

   Add your data to the Label print data table:

   

   1. To import data from an external source (such as an Excel file), click the 1 Import button. See Import settings to learn how to configure data import.
   2. To enter data manually, click the 2 + button, to add a new row, then add the required columns and fill in your data.

3. Match data fields.

   For a label element to display your data, the field name (or its alias) in the data source must match the field name used by the label element.

   If the names do not match, the element cannot display the data and a warning sign is shown.

   To fix this, replace the data field in the label element with the correct field from your source.

   For example, drag and drop a field onto a label element or an empty area to create a new element:

   

4. Mark rows for printing and set print quantities.

   Mark the rows you want to print 1, then set the number of labels for each row in the Print quantity column 2.

   You can also edit the data before printing (for example, update prices).

   

5. Preview or print labels.

   Click 1 Preview to view the labels before printing (you can also adjust print settings there, overriding the label’s settings), or click 2 Print to print them immediately.

   

   To save labels as a PDF, Excel file, or image (such as PNG, JPEG, or BMP), select the corresponding built-in printer in the preview window (Save as PDF, Save as Excel, or Save as images), then click Print.

   

You can save the label print data using the Save button.

When you start the program, all previously opened labels and their label print data are loaded. If you close and later reopen a label, its saved data is also loaded.

Print on [Enter]

Enable Print on [Enter] to print labels immediately after editing a value and pressing [Enter].
For example, type a new price in a cell and press [Enter] — the program prints labels with the updated value.

Preview print settings

You can configure desired print settings in the Preview dialog. These print settings are user-level settings and can override label print settings that you configure in Label properties.

Print settings are saved as files in the Print settings folder. The folder location can be configured in the program settings. In a network environment, you can use a single shared folder for multiple or all client computers instead of separate local folders.

Any changes to print settings are saved immediately.

Print settings are stored per label, per design, and per printer.

• Menu Actions:

  

  • Save as AzureLabel Print Job. Saves the print job to a file that can be opened in AzureLabel on another computer and printed there, or reopened and printed later on the same computer.
  • Apply current print settings to another printer. Applies the current settings to another printer. Clicking this option opens a window where you can select the printer to which the settings will be applied.
  • Delete current print settings . Deletes the file containing the current print settings.
  • Simulate Print (nothing sent to printer). Simulates the printing process without sending data to the printer. All printing procedures are executed except the actual printer output.

General

• Label. The label and design (shown in parentheses) whose print settings are currently displayed.
• Printer. The printer that will be used to print the labels. This can be a local printer, a network printer, or a printer shared from another computer. You can also select a built-in printer from this dropdown, such as Save as PDF or Save as images.
  • Printer properties. Click this button to open the printer’s settings dialog.
  • Print to .PRN file. Enable this option to print to a .prn file instead of sending the job to a printer.
  • Range. Specify a page range to print, or select All pages to print all pages (default).
  • Copies. Specify the number of copies to print.
  • Collate. Enable this option to collate printed copies. When disabled, pages are printed as A, A, B, B, C, C. When enabled, pages are printed as A, B, C, A, B, C.
  • Apply copies per label. Enable this option to print all copies of each label together before printing the next label. The print layout is regenerated to reflect the per-label copy order.

Print settings

• Use label print settings. When this option is enabled, print settings defined in the label properties are used.

• Set up roll labels. Click this button to open the assistant for configuring printing on a roll of labels.

• Set up sheet labels. Click this button to open the sheet label layout selection window.

  

  Expand the folder of the desired manufacturer, select the required layout, and click Open selected.

Page

• Page size. Select a predefined page size from the list or enter a custom page size manually.

• Page orientation. Select the orientation of the page.

Label arrangement

• Label arrangement. Configure the number of labels per row and per column, the horizontal and vertical gaps between labels, the printing direction, and the starting row and column.

  • Auto. When enabled, the number of labels horizontally and vertically is calculated automatically based on the label size, gaps between labels, and page margins.

• Margins. Configure the left, right, top, and bottom margins.

  • Auto. When enabled, the minimum margins supported by the selected printer are applied.

• Label size. Configure the dimensions of the label.

  • Apply from label. Click this button to use the label dimensions and corner rounding defined in the Label properties.
  • Fit to page. Click this button to adjust the label size so that all labels fit within the page boundaries. The calculation takes into account the current number of labels horizontally and vertically, the gaps between labels, and the margins.

• Corner rounding. Configure the corner radius of the labels.

• Label offset. Adjusts the offset of printed labels relative to their calculated positions.

• Rotate label 180. When enabled, all labels are rotated by 180 degrees.

Bleed

• Offsets. Configure the bleed offsets manually.

• Presets. Click this button to select a standard bleed offset preset or disable bleed offsets.

Other

• DPI. Resolution used for printing.

When saving labels to PDF

• Set formula. Allows you to specify a file name when saving labels as a PDF file. The file name can be static or dynamic, for example, based on the current date and time.

  If no formula is specified, the Save dialog is shown with an automatically generated file name.

  If the file name does not include a path, the Save dialog is shown using the name generated by the formula.

• DPI. Resolution of the generated PDF file.
  • Auto. When enabled, an automatically calculated resolution is applied.

When saving labels as images

In one file

• Set formula. Allows you to specify a file name when saving labels to a single image file. The file name can be static or dynamic, for example, based on the current date and time.

  If no formula is specified, the Save dialog is shown with an automatically generated file name.

  If the file name does not include a path, the Save dialog is shown using the name generated by the formula.

• DPI. Resolution of the generated image.
  • Auto. When enabled, an automatically calculated resolution is applied.
• Format. Output image format.

To separate files

• Set formula. Allows you to specify a file name pattern when saving labels as separate image files. The file name can be static or dynamic, for example, based on the current date and time.

  If no formula is specified, automatically generated file names are used and the folder selection dialog is displayed.

  If the file name does not include a path, the folder selection dialog is shown.

• DPI. Resolution of the generated images.
  • Auto. When enabled, an automatically calculated resolution is applied.
• Format. Output image format.

Print options & actions window

• Print all open labels. When enabled, all labels currently open in the Label designer are printed one by one, starting with the first.
• Clear print marks after printing. When enabled, all rows in Label print data that were marked for printing are unchecked after successful printing.
• Group pages by label. When enabled, each label design is printed on a separate page. When disabled, labels from different designs may be placed on the same page, including designs with different label sizes.
• Pause before printing each record. When enabled, each record (row) in Label print data is printed separately. After each print, a confirmation dialog appears, allowing you to continue printing.
• Print selected design only. When enabled, only the currently selected design within the label is printed, even if the label contains multiple designs.

• Printer selection behaviour. Select how the current printer is determined when you click Print or Preview.

  

  Available options:

  • Use the printer selection rule defined in label properties
  • Last used or default
  • Always default
  • Selected here - you can choose the printer here in the combobox below.

  This behaviour applies to all labels you are printing.

• Print external PDF file. Click this button to select a PDF file using the Open dialog, which will then be opened in the Preview.

Batch printing

Batch printing automatically prints labels when your data source (such as an Excel file) changes or when a new file appears in a selected folder.

The program monitors the data source or folder and triggers printing using the data from the detected file.

Setting up batch printing

1. Configure import settings. These settings are used to load data during batch printing.

2. Open the Batch printing tab in the import settings.

   

3. Select how changes should be tracked.

   

   1. Track file changes for the source defined in the Connection tab. Monitors the file specified in the Connection tab for updates.

      

   2. Track the appearance of files in the specified folder. Monitors a folder and triggers printing when new files appear.

   Details for each tracking method are provided below.

Track file changes for the source defined in the Connection tab

Select what is considered a file change: the file’s modification date and time (default) or its size 1.

Set the interval for checking the file for changes 2.

Enable confirmation if you want the user to confirm before printing 3.

Track the appearance of files in the specified folder

Select the folder to monitor 1. You can use wildcard characters "?" and "*" to filter which files are processed.

Choose what to do with each file after printing: delete it (default) or rename it 2.

Set the interval for checking the folder for new files 3.

Enable confirmation if you want the user to confirm before printing 4.

Starting batch printing

To start batch printing, click 1 Batch printing, then click 2 Start.

Stop batch printing

To stop batch printing, click Stop.

Changing batch print settings

To change the settings, click Batch print settings.