How to Use The Shipping Store's Label Designer

The Shipping Store’s Label Designer is a free-to-use program that runs in your browser — no installation needed.

Ready to dive in? Here’s how to use Label Designer. Use the quick links to jump to any area.

  1. Finding and opening your template
  2. Understanding the navigation and features
  3. Using the safe zone, bleed line, and center guides
  4. Applying to all labels vs. This label only
  5. Adding text, images, shapes, QR codes, and barcodes
  6. Using the Data Merge spreadsheet feature
  7. Previewing, aligning, and printing your labels
  8. Finding additional help

1. Finding and opening your template

  1. To find your label size at theshippingstore.com, use Label Templates in the top menu or the Search Templates box.
  2. On the product page, look under Download Templates.
  3. Click Design Online! The designer opens for that exact label size.
  4. In Label Designer, the header shows your template code, exact size, and label count. For example: R007 · 65.875 × 25.4 mm · 30 per sheet. Check this matches the labels you bought before designing anything.
  5. Use the Orientation dropdown on the top right to switch between Portrait and Landscape.
  6. Your work saves to this device, not to an account. The header shows Saved on the far right when it's up to date, but if you clear your browser or switch computers, your design won't follow you. Download your PDF once you're happy with it so you have a copy before switching computers.

Prefer other software? Work in the program you already know with downloadable templates available on the product page:

  • Word DocX
  • Google Doc
  • Adobe PDF
  • Adobe Illustrator
  • Canva
Header Label Designer quick link to full template library. Current label size, template code, and number of labels per sheet. Orientation selection, Design and Preview toggle, save status, and ⋯ menu with Start over (clears the design and begins again) and Help.
Left rail Add text, Images, Shapes, Codes, Spreadsheet — everything you can put on a label. Help at the bottom.
Middle The single label you're editing.
Navigator Every label on the sheet, and the All labels/This label only switch.
Toolbar Undo, redo, copy, delete, layer order, Grid, Safe zone, Center guides, Background, zoom, Fit label, Actual size.

Two zoom buttons worth knowing

  • Fit label: Fills the designer window with your label. Use this while you're working.
  • Actual size: Zooms out so the label appears at its real physical size. Use this before you print to see whether it's really legible on the label.

3. Using the safe zone, bleed line, and center guides

You'll see dotted lines on your label. None of them print.

  • Red dotted line: This is your safe zone. Keep text and logos inside it, or they may be clipped.
  • Gray line: This is the label edge.
  • Blue dotted line: This is the bleed line outside the label edge. Extend background colors to the bleed line to ensure the full label prints. Only label sizes with gaps between them have a bleed line.
  • Grid and Center guides: Optional alignment aids, toggled in the toolbar.

Can you run color off the edge?

It depends on your label sheet, and Label Designer will tell you in Preflight.

  • Labels with gaps between them: You can extend a background slightly past the label edge to the bleed line so no white sliver shows if the print shifts a little.
  • Labels that touch each other: These sizes don't have a bleed line. There's no waste paper between them, so anything printing past the edge lands on the next label. Leave a small border instead of running color right to the edge.

4. Applying to all labels vs. This label only

This is the setting that saves you the most time. Set it before you start designing.

  • All labels: Everything you add appears on every label on the sheet.
  • This label only: Changes apply to just the label you're on.

The Navigator always shows which mode you're in. Labels you've customized individually are marked Customized, and the one you're working on is Active. Leave it on All labels for anything shared — your logo, business name, background color. Switch to This label only when one label needs to differ.

5. Adding text, images, shapes, QR codes, and barcodes

Text

Click Add text, then type. Set the font, size, color, bold/italic/underline, horizontal and vertical alignment, letter spacing, and line height in the panel. Keep text inside the safe zone so it isn't clipped.

Set Text style to Curved to bend text along an arc, which is how you get text following the edge of a round label. The Curve slider sets the angle: positive values curve the text up, negative values curve it down. For best results, type your text while in the Straight style, then set to Curved and adjust the slider.

Images

Click Images and choose a file. Resize from a corner while holding the Shift key so it doesn't stretch.

Watch the DPI. The panel shows your image's pixel size and DPI. 300 DPI or higher prints crisply; below about 150 will look soft. If it's low, scale the image down or use a better file before printing.

Shapes

Click Shapes. Add a rectangle, oval, or line. Set the fill color, stroke color, stroke width, and stroke style (solid or dotted). Position as needed.

Barcodes and QR codes

Click Codes, then QR Code or Barcode. Enter your Value, pick a Symbology, and set foreground and background colors. You can set the position and size numerically in millimeters for any object. UPC-A codes must be 11 or 12 digits — Label Designer validates as you type.

Keep barcodes dark on a light background and don't shrink them too far. Always test-scan a printed barcode before running a full sheet.

6. Using the Data Merge spreadsheet feature

The Spreadsheet tab imports a CSV or XLSX so every label can carry a different name, address, or code.

  1. Click Upload spreadsheet and select your file.
  2. For addresses, select Add address block to automatically insert your file's data onto every label.
  3. For more customization, scroll to Or add an individual field to select which field(s) to add to the label.
  4. Click the text box(es) to adjust the placement on the label. Because some fields may have differing text lengths, double-check the Preview to make sure each label looks right.

Imported the wrong spreadsheet? No problem. Click Replace spreadsheet and select the correct file.

7. Previewing, aligning, and printing your labels

Click Preview & Print in the toolbar, or toggle to Preview in the header. You'll get a full sheet preview showing every label as it will print.

Check Preflight first

  • Preflight: Ready in green — you're clear to print.
  • Preflight: [#] issues in red or yellow — click it to expand the list.

There are two kinds of issues.

  • Red means something doesn't fit. For example, "A text box doesn't fit," with the label and spreadsheet row it happened on. Click Go to text box to jump straight to it, then move or shrink the text.
  • Yellow is a warning to check. For example, an object crossing the safe zone. Your design will still print, but something sits close enough to the edge that it may get clipped.

Look at the preview sheet too. Give the preview a proper look before printing, especially if you're merging from a spreadsheet.

First print on this printer? Run the alignment test

Every printer feeds paper slightly differently. This test tells you exactly how yours behaves before you commit a single label — and you only have to do it once per printer.

  1. Download the test sheet. Click Test alignment. You'll get a one-page PDF with an outline of every label on the sheet, each with a small crosshair at its center.
  2. Print it on plain paper, using the exact settings you'll use for the real print — same tray, 100% scale, Labels or Heavyweight paper type.
  3. Hold it up to the light. Put the printed paper behind a blank label sheet, line the two up by their edges, and hold both to a window or a lamp. The light shows the label cuts through the paper, so you can see exactly how the printed outlines sit against the real labels.
  4. Read the result. If the outlines line up with the label cuts, you're aligned — skip to printing. If they're off, note which direction and roughly how far in millimeters.
  5. Enter the offsets. Put the distance into X offset (left/right) and Y offset (up/down). Positive X offset values shift the designed labels left, and negative X offset shifts to the right. Positive Y offset values shift the designed labels up, while negative Y offset shifts them down.
  6. Test again on plain paper. Download a fresh test sheet with your offsets applied and repeat the light check to confirm alignment.
  7. Save the profile. Once the outlines line up, name it and click Save profile. Every future print on that printer stays aligned.

What offsets can and can't fix

They shift the whole sheet only. They cannot fix scaling, feed drift, the wrong paper size, or a printer-driver setting. If the whole sheet is off in one direction, an offset fixes it. If the first row is fine but drifting gets worse down the page, that's scaling; set your print scale to 100%, never "Fit to page."

When you're ready to print, Download PDF in the toolbar saves the file so you can print it from there, or Print goes straight to your printer. Use these print settings:

  • Paper size: US Letter (8.5 x 11 in)
  • Scale: 100% or Actual Size — never Fit to Page
  • Paper type: Labels or Heavy paper
  • Test on plain paper first, then load label stock in the same tray

8. Finding additional help

Back to blog