Print PDF shipping labels on a 4×6 thermal printer
If your labels come out too small, off-centre or with huge white borders, the fix is almost always in three places: the PDF page size, the print scaling option, and rotation.
1. Start with a label-sized PDF
Thermal printers expect a page roughly 4 inches wide by 6 inches tall. If your PDF is A4, the printer driver will shrink the whole page — label and the empty space around it — to fit.
Use the PDF Cropper to crop the label region out of your marketplace manifest. The output page will match the cropped area instead of the original A4 size.
2. Set scaling to "Actual size" or "Fit"
- Actual size — best when the cropped PDF is already 4×6.
- Fit — best when the cropped PDF is slightly larger or smaller than 4×6.
- Shrink oversized pages — safe fallback if you're not sure.
Avoid "Custom scale" above 100% — it usually clips the barcode.
3. Match the orientation
Most 4×6 thermal printers are portrait. If your label is landscape, rotate it in the cropper before exporting, or set Auto-rotate and center in the print dialog.
4. Driver settings that matter
- Paper size: 4 × 6 inches (or 100 × 150 mm).
- Density: medium to high — barcodes need crisp edges.
- Speed: lower it if barcodes scan poorly.
5. Test one label first
Print a single page, scan the barcode with your phone, and check that the AWB number is sharp. Once it scans cleanly, batch-print the rest.
Common problems
- Tiny label with huge margins — PDF is A4. Crop it first.
- Barcode clipped — scaling above 100%, or wrong page size in the driver.
- Sideways label — rotate the page in the cropper before exporting.