Printer Skips Labels

Possible Causes:

• Zebra Printer does not support printing the label size loaded in the machine

• Zebra Printer is having trouble seeing the gaps between labels.

• Zebra Printer Sensor is out of position

• Zebra Printer was previously used with a different label size and was not recalibrated to work with the new size.

• Zebra Printer Supplies from 2 vendors are being randomly mixed together that may have slightly different characteristics. 

• Label Gaps are not to Zebra Specs.

• Label Software settings being sent with print jobs are conflicting with printer settings.

Zebra printers have maximum and minimum label length specs. The printer that you have may not be designed to handle the stock that is installed. See our printer specs pages. The maximum label length setting could also be set to a length that is exceeded by the actual label length. If your labels are 4 x 13" and the Zebra printer is set to a maximum label length of 6" then you need to increase the value in the printer menu.

Zebra printers that are being used with synthetic stocks (non-paper) can sometimes have trouble seeing the gaps in the material between the labels. This happens when paper stock was previously used (with a thin liner) then a synthetic label is introduced. Set the printer to work with the more difficult label. (the synthetic stock).

Zebra printer media sensor is out of position. Your Zebra printer (depending on the model) comes with sensors to see the material. The more feature rich printers have the ability to allow the sensor position to be realigned. If your gaps, notches, or black marks are not where the sensor can see them, then you may need to slide the sensor over to a good position. (see our media sensor position adjustment page) The Xi series and S series printers support these kind of adjustments.

Zebra printers that are not properly calibrated will skip labels. (see Zebra printer calibration pages) If the printer thinks that the label in the machine is 2" long but you have a 1" long label installed, it may skip labels. If you constantly swap label sizes all day long, then you need to either recalibrate the printer each time you switch supplies or get more Zebra printers.

If you calibrated your Zebra printer to work with 4 x 3" labels from vendor A and then slap in 4 x 3 labels from vendor B you might have problems with skipping. At 10"/second after a few thousand labels you might skip an occasional label if one vendor's label gaps are 1/32nd of an inch different then the other vendor. Stick with one vendor for a day and see if the problem goes away. Both vendors may have quality labels that will work, but don't mix them together unless you recalibrate when you switch vendors.

Zebra printers prefer approximately a 1/8" gap between labels. Other gaps may work, but you are "on your own". We have clients that have had 1/2" gaps because they have circular labels. They run fine, but are "on their own". Also some of the older thermal printers used to require larger gaps but no longer. Stick with 1/8. 1/16 inch gaps sometimes get missed altogether causing skipping also.

Software settings that send down conflicting information with the actual supplies in the Zebra printer machine can cause many problems. If you have a ribbon, then avoid sending jobs that contain information about telling the printer to run in direct-thermal mode. If your label design is 2 x 1 and the supplies are not, then be accurate in your formatting in the label design software.  (see our page on software vs hardware settings)