Shipping Label Not Scanning, Too Small or Cut Off? How to Fix It
When a shipping label prints badly, the cause is usually one of a few settings. Work through the checks below in order and change one thing at a time.
Label prints too small
- Check that scaling is 100% or Actual size, not Fit or Shrink to printable area.
- Check that the paper size in the print dialog matches the paper in the printer. A4 chosen for a 4×6 roll gives a tiny label.
- Look at the PDF page size. A cropped label page is the size of the label itself.
Label is cut off
- Set margins to None or Minimum.
- Pick the paper size that matches the roll or sheet.
- Re-check the crop in the preview. If the page was missed by auto-detect, adjust the manual crop area and crop again.
- Leave a small safety margin on all sides.
Barcode will not scan
- Confirm the label printed at its original size. Barcodes scaled up or down lose scanning reliability.
- Increase print darkness or quality a step. Faint bars are a common cause.
- Clean the thermal print head or the A4 printer nozzles, and run a test page.
- Check that the roll is loaded the right way round and is not old or damaged.
- Check the barcode is complete and not sliced by a crop, a fold or tape.
- Scan with a different app or scanner to rule out the scanner.
Blurry or faded text
Use a higher quality mode, replace worn ink or toner, and avoid very cheap label stock. On thermal printers, a dirty head and low darkness are the most frequent reasons.
If it still fails
Re-download the original PDF and crop it again, then print a single page. Follow the 4×6 thermal setup or A4 settings from the start.
Further resources
- Print shipping labels on a 4x6 thermal printer – Correct paper size and scale for 4x6 labels.
- How to print shipping labels on A4 paper – Scale and margin settings for A4 printing.