Defining the paper stock is one of the key elements to proper producing bar code labels on a bar code printer.

 

The most common bar code label stock sizes are 2x4, 4x4 and 4x6 inches.  However, what ever size of label stock you are using can be described when you add your own custom paper stock entry.

 

The label stock used in the bar code printer can optionally included an RFID antenna and we will describe this feature in a section to follow.

 

The label stock can contain cut outs or regions where you do not wish to print or may be it has pre-printed information on the label stock.   Using the paper stock background designer, you can add visual clues to help out in the label design for these elements.

 

Lets start with adding a custom paper stock for a standard 4x6 inch label stock for use with a Zebra ZPL II complaint printer.

 

 

 

defining_the_paper_stock1

 

Start with a new project and right click over the Paper Stocks node in the Project Pane as shown above.  You will see three choices, select Add Custom Stock.

 

This will create a custom paper stock setup to letter size paper as shown below:

 

 

defining_the_paper_stock2

 

For convince, we would like the paper stock name 4x6, so click in the Name field in the Properties Pane and change the value form 'Custom Stock1' to '4x6'.  Also, we change the Width and Height fields to be 4.0in and 6.0in, so change these fields as well. If you would like to be able to print over the whole 4x6 inch label area, you can set the Top, Left, Bottom and Right Margins to 0.  NOTE: Some bar code printers can not print the whole label area and you will need to establish the appropriate margins so you label designs fit in the printable area of the label.  In our case, the Zebra printer can print the whole label area, so we set the margins to 0 as shown below:

 

defining_the_paper_stock3

 

If you are working in metric, you can still enter the value 4.0in and 6.0in, the value will be displayed in metric or you can enter the metric values as show below:

 

 

defining_the_paper_stock4

 

NOTE: You can change the displayed units any time using the Displayed Units menu as shown below:

 

defining_the_paper_stock5

 

If you have pre-printed stock, unprintable regions or cut outs on the label stock.  You can display this information by adding visual clues using the Background view as shown below:

 

defining_the_paper_stock6

 

You can add any design component you wish on the background of a paper stock.    Above, a rectangle and an circle were added to show regions not to use when designing the label.  The actual purpose of the elements you add to the background are up to you.   When producing label designs this background will appear in the designer and can be optionally included in the print outs.

 

For demonstration purposes, try adding the rectangle and match the settings show above.

 

That's it for defining the paper stock to be used.   You can repeat this process for any size of paper stock you wish.