Label Printing and Template Troubleshooting 

We have designed our labels to make printing as trouble-free as possible, but we understand that sometimes problems can arise!

Below are some troubleshooting tips to help you get the best out of your compostable blank labels.

 

What Software do I Need?

No specialized software is required to print on our blank labels!

For each of our blank label sheets we provide templates to help you print your label designs. Our Word templates are designed for use in Microsoft Word, and our PDF templates can be used with Adobe and other design software.

Find our templates here

We recommend that you test your design and layout before printing. Conduct a test print on standard printer paper to ensure the positioning of your design is correct.

 

My Ink is Smearing

Please ensure that you have chosen a label material compatible with your printer.

• Natural Sugarcane: Suitable for inkjet and laser printers.
• White Compostable: Laser Compatible. Not compatible with LED or Inkjet. 
• Clear Compostable: Laser compatible. Tested with TN-660 Toner. Not compatible with LED or Inkjet.

*Client tests with HP Color LaserJet MFP M477fnw (642180) have been unsuccessful.

 

My Design is Printing Too Small, or Out of Alignment

Our labels sheets and templates are US letter size (8.5 in x 11 in). Please ensure that your printer settings are for US letter. International customers, please consult your printer manual to switch from A4 size to US Letter.

Ensure that your label sheets are stacked neatly in the tray. Because label sheets are thicker than traditional paper, you may need to print fewer at a time. 

Some publishing software may distort your design in order to help it fit within the page. This can affect how your design aligns with the die cut. When printing, please ensure that Fit to Page is unchecked, Page Scaling is set to none, and that Auto Rotate/Center is unchecked.

Every printer is different. Due to printer shifting, some minor misalignment may be unavoidable. After troubleshooting, if you are still having problems with alignment, try these tips:

• Try to keep text and images at least 1/8" away from the edge of the label to account for printer shifting and variation.
• Avoid printing a border on your design, as any shift will be more noticeable.

Elevate uses high-quality leading converting equipment to manufacture cut labels. Please allow up to 1/8" variance for die-cuts.

 

My Design Background is Being Cut Off

Our blank label sheets are not designed for printing a background color, or full bleed design. A background or bleed in your label design may cause any minor misalignment to become more noticeable.

Standard home printers have a "no print" area around the edge of each sheet. The size of this area varies by printer model and may cause cropping on the very edge of a full bleed design.

For label designs with background color/full bleed, please see Elevate Packaging's custom label printing capabilities.

 

I Need to Print my Design in Landscape Orientation

Our label templates are not designed for use in landscape orientation. If you wish to print in landscape we suggest rotating your label design 90 degrees before inserting into your template.

 

My Template is Not Working

We have provided complimentary PDF and Microsoft Word label templates for each of our label sizes, for use with the most common publishing and design software. Unfortunately we are unable to provide custom templates compatible with other publishing software.

Please make sure that you have the most up to date template for your label size. Templates can be found on the product page for that label size, or in our label template library. 

Due to software settings, your Word template may appear invisible. Don’t worry! It can be made visible by following these instructions:

• Left click once somewhere inside the table you want to format (In the middle of the page should work)
• This will cause new tabs to appear in the ribbon at the top of the page.
• Beneath “Table Tools”, click on the “Layout” tab, find the group called “Table” (usually on the left hand side), and click “View Gridlines”. Your template should appear.

If your PDF template lines are printing on your design, please make sure that the template layer is marked invisible in your software or remove the layer entirely before printing.