Batch printing

By Alexis Rios-Negron · ThermalPrint 0.12.0

Batch printing fills one label design with the rows of a spreadsheet and prints one label per row. Use it for customer addresses, product SKUs, asset tags, serial-numbered stickers, or anything where the layout stays the same and the words change.

Numbered labels without a spreadsheet#

To print a run of numbers, such as 100 to 195 in steps of 5, use File → Print a number range… in the Designer instead. See Label Designer.

How it works in three steps#

1. Put placeholders in your design. In the Label Designer, type ${ColumnName} wherever a value should go, in text, barcode, or QR content.
2. Prepare a CSV file whose first row names the columns.
3. Open the batch window with File → Batch print from CSV…, choose the file, check the preview, and print.

Step 1: placeholders in the design#

A placeholder is a column name between ${ and }. For the sample file below, a design might contain:

• Column names are not case-sensitive: ${sku} matches a column called SKU.
• Use as many placeholders as you like, in any text, barcode, or QR object. The same column can appear more than once.
• ${date} and ${serial} keep their usual meaning, including the formatted versions ${date:%d/%m/%Y} and ${serial:4}, which are never mistaken for column names. In a batch, ${serial} starts at the design's serial number and goes up by one per row.

Step 2: the CSV file#

Export a CSV from your spreadsheet program (File → Save as → CSV). Here is a small example:

Name,City,SKU
Ada Lovelace,London,SKU-1001
Grace Hopper,New York,SKU-1002
Alan Turing,Manchester,SKU-1003

Step 3: the batch window#

1. Open File → Batch print from CSV… in the Label Designer.
2. Press Choose CSV file… and pick your file. The window shows customers.csv · 3 rows · 3 columns.
3. Read the messages below it:
   • A red message means the design uses a placeholder the file has no column for, such as The design uses ${Phone} but the file has no column with that name. Printing is disabled until you fix the name.
   • A gray line lists Columns not used. This is only information.
   • An orange message says the design has no placeholders yet.
4. Change Preview row to see the finished label for any row.
5. Press Print N labels. If Print Center asks for more than one copy, the button says so (for example Print 3 labels × 2 copies).

What happens when you print#

• Every row is checked first. ThermalPrint draws all the labels before it sends anything. If any row has a problem, nothing is printed and the message names the rows, for example Row 2: EAN-13: … . Fix the data and try again.
• The labels are then sent in order to the printer chosen in Print Center, using its media, resolution, and copies. Alignment offsets apply too.
• If something goes wrong partway through, the batch stops and tells you which row it stopped at.
• With Print using raw ZPL turned on (Export menu), labels are sent as ZPL instead of PDF.
• The finished batch appears in Recent prints as one entry, such as Customer label · batch of 3.

Values are inserted exactly as written. A value that itself looks like a placeholder, such as ${City}, is printed literally and not replaced again.

Common problems#