The print settings that ruin labels
A label PDF is already the exact size it needs to be. Every setting below exists to change that size, which is why the defaults are wrong for labels even though they are right for everything else.
The three that matter
- Scale: 100% / Actual size. Not "Fit to page", not "Shrink oversized pages", not "Default".
- Paper size: whatever your sheet is. Letter (8.5 × 11 in) for a 5000-series number, A4 (210 × 297 mm) for an L or J number. Not whatever the printer was last set to.
- Margins: None, in browsers only. PDF readers have no margin setting and do not need one.
If you change nothing else, change the scale. It is the only one whose error grows as it goes down the page, so the top row looks perfect and the bottom row is 10 mm out.
Where each setting lives
| Where you print | What to change |
|---|---|
| Chrome or Edge | Open More settings. Set Scale to Custom, 100 — "Default" is not the same thing and often is not 100%. Set Margins to None. Leave Headers and footers unticked, or the page gets squeezed to make room for them. |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Under Page Sizing & Handling, choose Actual size. The default is "Fit", which is the single most common cause of misaligned labels. Leave "Choose paper source by PDF page size" ticked. |
| Windows print dialog | Under Printer Properties, set paper size to Letter and check there is no "Fit to paper size" or "Scale to fit" option enabled. Pick the manual or bypass tray if you have one. |
| macOS (Preview) | Set Paper Size to US Letter — not "US Letter (borderless)", which reflows the page. ChooseScale: 100% rather than "Scale to Fit". Expand Show Details if you cannot see them. |
| Google Chrome on a Chromebook | Same as Chrome above. Also check Two-sided is off — duplexing pulls the sheet through twice. |
How to prove the scale is right
Print the alignment test on plain paper. It draws a line across the top that is exactly 7 inches long on a US Letter sheet, and 180 mm on an A4 one. Measure it with a ruler:
- Exactly the stated length: the scale is right. Any remaining error is a printer feed offset, which the test will also show you.
- About 6-3/4 in (171 mm): roughly 96% — a "Fit to page" setting is still on somewhere.
- About 6-1/2 in (165 mm): roughly 93% — usually a Letter page being fitted onto A4 paper.
Settings that do not matter
Quality and colour settings make no difference to alignment. Draft mode prints label text perfectly well and uses less toner for your plain-paper test prints. The one exception is duplex: turn it off, because feeding a label sheet through twice is how sheets jam and peel inside a printer.
Print setting questions
Which print setting matters most?
Scale. Everything else can be slightly wrong and still produce a usable sheet; a page printed at 96% is wrong by a growing amount all the way down and cannot be corrected afterwards.
Should I set margins to None?
In a browser, yes. Chrome adds its own page margins and shrinks the content to fit inside them, which is a scaling error by another name. In a PDF reader there is no margin setting, because the PDF already carries its own page size.
Does printing as an image help?
Rarely, and it can hurt. It rasterises the page, and some drivers then resample it at a different size. Leave it off unless a printer refuses the file outright.
My printer has no Letter paper. Can I print on A4?
Not with a US Letter template. A4 is 8.27 by 11.69 in against Letter at 8.5 by 11 in, so the driver will either scale the page or clip the right-hand column. Use an A4 template instead: L7160 is the A4 equivalent of 5160.
Still off after all of this? It is almost certainly a feed offset rather than a setting —why labels print off center explains how to tell, and the alignment test corrects it.