The page lands a little off
Paper shifts a fraction as it feeds, so a printer can put everything slightly right, left, up or down. The correction moves the whole PDF the other way, in 1/32 inch steps.
Printer calibration
Calibrate your printer to the 1/32 inch
Printers often place the page a little off, by 1/32 to 1/8 inch. Print one test page on plain paper, measure two marks with a ruler, and save the correction for that printer. Every PDF you make here uses it.
- 1Print
- 2Measure
- 3Save
Four steps, one sheet of plain paper.
Nothing here is sent anywhere: the test page is made in your browser, and the correction is saved in it.
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Choose your label sheet
The test page draws that sheet's labels, so you can also hold it over a real sheet against a window.
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Print the test page on plain paper
- Plain paper, not a label sheet
- Scale 100% (Actual size), not "Fit to page"
- The printer you use for labels
This test page prints with no correction.
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Measure two marks
Lay a ruler along the top edge of the paper and measure from the left edge to the mark numbered 1: that's A. Then measure down the left side, from the top edge to its 1: that's B.
Both exactly 1 in? Your printer is on target and needs no correction. Marks 1, 2 and 3 less than an inch apart mean the page was scaled: print again at 100%.
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Check the correction and save it
CorrectionNo shift
Your printer is on target as measured.
Your test page · Avery 5160 · measure A and B
Saved printers
None yet. Save a correction and it appears here; the editor uses the printer you pick.
Why labels drift, and what fixes it.
Scaling shrinks the sheet
"Fit to page" shrinks a Letter page by a few percent: the top row lines up and the bottom rows drift. The test page shows it, because its inch marks come out short.
Each printer has its own lean
The office laser and the home inkjet rarely agree. Save a correction for each one by name, and pick the printer you're using before you print.
Calibration questions
Does the correction change my labels?
No. It moves everything on the page together, in whole 1/32 inch steps and at most 1/2 inch each way. The labels' size and spacing stay exactly as the template has them.
Do I need to calibrate for every template?
No. The offset belongs to the printer, not to the sheet, so one correction works for every template you print on it.
Where is the correction saved?
In this browser, on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere, and another browser or computer needs its own calibration. If your browser blocks storage, the correction works until you close the page.
My marks measure less than an inch apart.
The page was scaled. Set the print dialog to 100% ("Actual size"), turn off "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages", and print the test page again before you measure.
Calibrated? Make your labels.
The editor picks up the printer you saved here and applies its correction to every PDF.