Label printing troubleshooting

1. Install Beast Print

1. Install the Beast Print app on the target computer.
2. Start Beast Print and make sure it connects to your cloud service (it should appear in /admin/clients).

2. Configure OS printer and Beast Print profile

1. On the OS (Windows/macOS/CUPS):
   • Select the correct printer (e.g. Epson TM‑m30II, Zebra GX430t).
   • Set the paper / label size to match your real label (width × height in mm).
   • Set the recommended DPI / resolution for that printer.
2. In Beast Print (profile settings):
   • Choose the correct device/printer name from the OS list.
   • Configure DPI and paper size to match the OS driver.
   • For labels, start with marginType: "none" (no extra margins).

3. How Beast Print works (flow)

• Beast Print connects to your OS printers.
• For each job it opens an internal browser (Chromium).
• It overrides the browser’s print settings (paper size, margins, DPI) based on your profile.
• The cloud service sends ready-to-print HTML (for labels, with exact mm sizes) to Beast Print.

Most of the time, Beast Print works out of the box. When you have sizing or alignment issues, it is almost always a mismatch between OS paper size/DPI, Beast Print profile, and the label HTML size.

4. First checks when label size is wrong

1. Beast Print profile:
   • Check DPI is correct.
   • Check paper size matches your label’s width/height in mm.
   • Use marginType: "none" unless you have a special reason not to.
2. OS printer driver:
   • Double-check the DPI / resolution.
   • Double-check the paper size and orientation.
   • On some printers you may need a taller logical height than the physical label to avoid extra top padding.

5. Use the label designer to discover the printable area

If it is hard to get millimetre-perfect alignment (for example with a Zebra GX430t and a 90 mm × 10 mm jewellery label), use the label designer as a troubleshooting tool:

1. Open the Label Designer at /playground/labels.html.
2. Set the label size:
   • Width: your nominal width (e.g. 90 mm).
   • Height: your physical height (e.g. 10 mm), or slightly taller (e.g. 13 mm) if needed.
3. Add a single box block:
   • X% = 0
   • Y% = 0
   • W% = 100
   • H% = 100
   This draws a border around the full label area.
4. Select your Beast Print printer/profile in the designer and print the label.
5. Look at the physical sticker:
   • Is the box too low or too high?
   • Is it shifted left/right?
   • Are any sides clipped?
6. Adjust the margins in the label designer:
   • Change Margin top and Margin left (these are the most common to tweak).
   • Re-print until the box sits exactly in the usable sticker area.

Once the full-size box fits perfectly on the sticker, you have discovered the real printable area for that printer and media. Now place your text, barcodes, etc. inside that box in the designer.

6. Quick roadmap

1. Install Beast Print.
2. Configure your OS printer (paper size, DPI).
3. Configure your Beast Print profile to match.
4. Use the label designer with a full-size box (100% width/height, X=0, Y=0).
5. Print and observe where the box lands on the physical label.
6. Nudge margins (top/left) until the box is exactly where you want to print.
7. Design the final label content inside that correctly aligned area.