Unprintable area is the part of the label where the printer cannot print. Enabling the unprintable area option in the printer driver allows you to virtually increase the label size.
Thermal printers can only print labels that are placed below the printhead. If you have wider labels and if the printhead does not completely cover the label, the label part which juts out of the printhead cannot be printed.
Tip
Unprintable area is usually the label area left and right of the printer head.
By setting an unprintable area, you inform the Desktop Designer that there is an unusually wide label inserted into the printer. The software will draw vertical red lines identifying the unprintable area.
Note
Do not confuse the unprintable area with label margins! Unprintable area does not Shift the label objects on the design surface.
To define the unprintable area:
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Open the label properties dialog.
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Click Printer properties button on Printer tab. The dialog window with printer driver settings opens.
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Go to Printer options tab.
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Enter the values for Unprintable Area.
Example 22. Example
You have a printer with 10 cm (4") printer head and a 12 cm wide label. Insert the label centrally in the printer, so it sticks out of the printhead evenly on both sides. Define a new label in the labeling software with 12 cm width. By setting the unprintable area to 1 cm on the left and 1 cm on the right side, the labeling software knows that the actual label width is 10 cm. There will be two vertical red lines on the design surface identifying the unprintable area.
Tip
Vertical red lines are also visible when you switch to another printer for the same label. The original printer may have a wider printhead than the new printer. Maximum widths of the labels are not the same for both printers. Desktop Designer will try to preserve the original label dimension and automatically define the unprintable area for the new printer.