Printing barcodes on Avery labels, step by step

To print barcodes on Avery labels, pick a sheet big enough for what each label has to carry, buy the laser or inkjet version to match your printer, and print at 100% with any “fit to page” option switched off. Test on plain paper first, then scan every label before it goes on stock. The rest is detail, but it is the detail that saves a pack of labels.

If you have not yet chosen codes for your products, start with how to barcode products that came without one. This post assumes you have them.

Choose the sheet by what the label must carry

A label in a shop usually carries three things: the product name, the price and the barcode. The barcode is the one with a hard minimum size. A full-size EAN-13, the 13 digit code on most retail goods, is about 37 by 26 mm once you include its digits and the blank margins either side, and it can be shrunk only so far before scanners start to struggle. There is more on the limits in how small a barcode can be.

The four sheets most small shops use, at Avery’s published sizes:

Sheet	Labels per sheet	Label size	Fits
A4, Avery L7160	21	63.5 x 38.1 mm	Full-size EAN-13 with name and price
A4, Avery L7159	24	63.5 x 33.9 mm	Full-size EAN-13 with one line of text
US Letter, Avery 5160	30	66.7 x 25.4 mm (1 x 2⅝ in)	Shortened barcode with a price
A4, Avery L7651	65	38.1 x 21.2 mm	Shortened barcode, little else

The bottom two are too small for a full-size EAN-13 plus text. The 5160 is wide enough but not tall enough, so the bars are shortened. The L7651 is barely wider than the barcode, so it holds a slightly reduced one with short bars and perhaps a price. A handheld scanner copes with that, but test one first.

If you are not sure, buy L7160. It is the easiest sheet to get a clean, readable label from.

Buy the version that matches your printer

The same layout is often sold twice, once for laser and once for inkjet. In the US the 5160 is the laser version and the 8160 is its inkjet twin. Avery marks the printer type on the pack.

Avery’s guidance is that inkjet labels are not built for the heat of a laser printer, which can weaken the adhesive or make labels lift and jam. Laser labels do not hold wet ink, so an inkjet print smears, and smeared bars do not scan.

The setting that ruins most first attempts

When you print a PDF, the print dialog will often shrink it to “fit to page” or “fit to printable area”. Every label comes out a few per cent small and the error grows down the sheet, until the last row sits across two labels.

Find the scaling option and set it to 100% or Actual size. In most dialogs it is under “More settings” or “Page handling”. Also check the paper size: an A4 sheet printed with the printer set to US Letter, or the other way round, shifts and scales the whole page. Check both every time until you know your printer keeps them.

Test on plain paper first

1. Print the page on a plain sheet of A4 or Letter.
2. Lay it on top of a label sheet, line up the edges, and hold both up to a window or a bright light.
3. Look at the corners first, then the middle. Every printed label should sit inside its label outline with a clear margin all round.
4. Only then put a label sheet in.

When the alignment is off

How the print is off tells you what is wrong.

• Every label is off by the same amount, in the same direction. That is an offset. Your printer places the page slightly differently from the template. Correct it by moving the template’s top or left margin by the measured amount, usually a millimetre or two.
• The top row is right and the error grows down the page. That is scaling, not offset. Go back to the print dialog and set 100% or Actual size, and check the paper size.
• The labels drift sideways as you go down. The sheet is going in crooked. Push the paper guides in so they touch the edges without bending the sheet. If your printer has a manual or rear feed slot, it usually gives a straighter, flatter path for label stock.

Change one thing at a time and test on paper again.

Partly used sheets

You printed seven labels and fourteen are left. The tempting move is to put the sheet back in next week and start at label eight.

Avery’s guidance is plain: a label sheet should go through a laser or inkjet printer only once, and its jam-free guarantee covers a sheet that has been through a laser printer once. Heat curls the sheet, and the gaps left by peeled labels give the next one an edge to lift from. A label that comes off inside a laser’s fuser is a repair, not a jam.

So the sensible habits are:

• Save up small jobs and print a full sheet at once.
• If you only need a few at a time, print the spares now for products you will relabel again.
• If you do put a part-used sheet back in, use an inkjet rather than a laser, check the remaining labels are flat and firmly stuck, and tell the software where to start so it does not print over the gaps.

Print quality

A barcode is read from the edges of its bars, and anything that softens those edges costs you scans.

• Use the printer’s best or high quality mode. Turn off draft and toner save.
• On an inkjet, print in black only or greyscale. A black made from mixed colour inks has fuzzier edges than true black.
• Use a “labels” or heavy paper setting if your printer has one. On a laser it helps the toner fuse properly to thicker stock.
• Replace a cartridge that has started to streak.

Scan every label before you stick it

Not a sample from the sheet: every label. Run the till’s scanner over each and check the right product comes up. A label for the wrong product is worse than none, because it rings up the wrong price and throws out the stock counts of two products. It is much easier to fix on the backing paper than on a shelf of jars.

When a thermal printer is worth it

Sheets suit labelling in batches: a delivery, a new shelf, a price change. A small thermal label printer pays for itself when:

• You print labels every day, often one or two at a time, so sheets keep getting half used.
• You want roll labels, which come off one at a time with no sheet and no alignment to fix.
• You weigh and pack goods yourself. A label scale that prints its own barcode is the tool for that, not a sheet of labels.

A thermal printer needs no ink, but its driver’s paper size has to match the roll.

Where StoreWave sits

StoreWave builds the labels as a print-ready PDF in the browser, for L7160, L7159, L7651 and US Letter 5160 sheets as well as thermal rolls, from a single product, a selection in your inventory, or everything in a goods receipt. The print dialog reminds you to print at 100% (Actual size), has a Start at label setting for a sheet that has already had labels taken off it, and warns you if the template you picked is too small to hold a barcode that will scan reliably.

If your printer places everything a millimetre out, copy one of the built-in sheets into your own template and adjust its top and left margins, and it stays that way for the next print. There is more on barcodes and label printing.