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Printer Calibration

The printer calibration aims to fix the problem of printed labels not lining up correctly on the paper.
Calibration is applicable only to labels.

Examples of incorrect printouts:

Labels have white stripe along one or two sides (1 and 2 in the picture) while on the opposite side(s) of the label the design goes behind the label edge (3). Calibration can fix this.

Here, text and graphics are on the right places but the line ending (4) is cut out at the label edge (the line is too long). In this case calibration will not help. You should either move the text away from the label edge or decrease the font size. You can do the latter manually in the Inspector or automatically by activating Address Autoresize in the Print dialog.

To calibrate the printer:

1. Create a new label document (File > New Label).
2. From the Change Layout dialog (File > Change Layout), choose the label stock you will print on.
3. Choose File > Calibrate Printer… to open the calibration dialog.
   
4. Choose your printer from the pop-up menu.
5. Insert a sheet of the label paper into the printer.
6. Click the Print button. The calibration marks will be printed on the sheet.
7. Enter the values of the tick marks closest to the RIGHT side and BOTTOM side of the top-left label on the sheet into the Horizontal and Vertical boxes in the dialog.
   Enter the SCALE value (the point where the top edge of the bottom label crosses the ruler).
8. Click the OK button when finished.

When you calibrate a roll label printer, you have to input only two values. They define the offset between the rulers and the axes of the label. To find out the label's axes, print the calibration rules. Then fold the label in half vertically and horizontally. Input the value (1) into the Vertical box and (2) into the Horizontal box.

To be sure that you have calibrated your printer successfully, print a copy of your document. Printing the calibration sheet for this again makes no sense.

After calibration, labels in the middle of the page remain blank. You can still print addresses on them. Remember, that printing on the same label paper again is not recommended for laser printers.

ATTENTION!
For calibration, choose the same print settings and media that you will use for printing: quality (high, normal or draft), resolution, color/monochrome, paper type (plain, glossy), etc. It is a mistake to print the calibration sheet at low quality and then switch to high quality for printing the document.

You can calibrate each printer you use, just select the printer and go through each of the above steps in the Printer Calibration dialog.