Almost all thermal printers support an internal increment counter functionality. This is a special printer counter that counts labels internally. The printer only receives the first value of the counter and automatically increments the counter by 1 on the subsequent labels.

Tip

Internal counters reduce the amount of data transferred between the computer and printer as only the start value is sent to the printer. This speeds up label production significantly.

To use the counter as an internal printer element, pay attention to the following settings:

  • The variable's maximum length is limited by your printer. You should find this value in your printer's Owner Manuals. If you can not find this value, experiment.

  • The variable length has to be set by enabling the Limit length option (go to Counter properties > Input rules).

  • Set allowed characters to Numeric.

  • The Text object linked to the variable must be formatted as internal printer font (make sure the Show printer fonts only option is enabled.

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  • Enable the option Always use printer counter in the Source tab. This option is available only if the counter variable has been set up properly.

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  • A symbol for the internal printer must appear in the bottom right corner of the Text object which contains the counter value.

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