Print PPL labels on a thermal label printer (100×150)

Whether you ship to an address or to a PPL Parcelshop or PPL Parcelbox, PPL creates its labels in the business web application Aplikace Klient, through the CPL API or through its e-shop plugins. With the right printer option and a 100×150 mm label in the driver, a Zebra, TSC or Honeywell thermal printer prints each label in one pass.

Before you start: PPL label sizes

PPL's manual for Aplikace Klient gives two standard label sizes. Both fit a 100 mm wide thermal label:

A 100×150 mm label takes both. The shorter domestic label leaves part of the label blank. PPL supports ordinary laser printers and thermal printers that understand the ZPL language, such as Zebra and Datamax models. On a laser printer, labels go on A4 sheets with four label positions.

Set up the printer in Aplikace Klient

Aplikace Klient can send labels to a thermal printer in ZPL or create a PDF that you print through the Windows driver. Printer settings are under "Nastavení" (Settings) › "Nastavení tiskáren" (Printer settings).

ZPL thermal printer

1. In the settings, open "příprava tiskárny" (printer preparation) and select your printer.
2. Click "Vybrat COM port" (Select COM port), mark the port the printer is connected to and click "Připojení" (Connect).
3. Click "Tisk testovací etikety" (Print test label).
4. If the test label comes out correctly, click "Uložit nastavení" (Save settings).

Printing through the Windows driver

The printer selector also offers "Laserová tiskárna" (laser printer) and "Ovladač Windows" (Windows driver). The labels then open as a PDF file ("etikety"). PPL doesn't say which option suits a label printer, but its change log mentions printing on thermal printers "přes ovladač windows" (through the Windows driver). Try "Ovladač Windows" with your printer's own driver, print the PDF as in step 4, and ask PPL if the size is wrong.

Print labels for your parcels

1. Create the parcel under "Zásilka" › "Nová zásilka" (Shipment › New shipment) and click "Vložit a tisknout" (Save and print), or "Vložit" (Save) to print later.
2. To print one parcel later, open its detail, pick the printer in the selector next to "Tisk" (Print) and click the start position you want.
3. To print several, tick them in "Seznam zásilek" (Shipment list), click "Vytisknout vybrané" (Print selected), choose the printer under "Výběr tiskárny" (Printer selection) and click "Tisk".
4. Confirm with "Pokračovat" (Continue). PPL receives the data, and the parcel can no longer be edited.

The start positions 1–4 are the four label places on an A4 sheet; PPL's API uses the same numbering for A4 pages. A reprinted label keeps the same parcel number, so destroy the first copy to avoid sending the same parcel twice.

Set up the printer for 100×150 mm labels

1. Load direct thermal 100×150 mm labels with the printable side up and calibrate the printer so it finds the gaps between labels.
2. In the driver's printing preferences, set the label to 100 mm wide and 150 mm high: in the ZDesigner driver on Zebra, as a new Stock in the TSC driver, in InterDriver on Honeywell.
3. On thermal transfer models, set the print method to direct thermal and leave out the ribbon.

PPL names Zebra, Datamax and other ZPL printers for its ZPL mode. TSC printers understand ZPL through their TSPL-EZD language, and the Honeywell PC42E through its ZSim2 emulation, but PPL doesn't list these brands, so print a test label first. Step-by-step driver settings: Zebra, TSC and Honeywell PC42E.

Print the PDF at the right size

1. Open the "etikety" PDF and choose Print.
2. Select your thermal printer. The paper size should show 100×150 mm.
3. If the PDF page is exactly 100×150 mm, print at actual size (100 %). PPL's own guide calls this "Skutečná velikost". For any other page size, including the 100×127 mm domestic label, choose fit to page.
4. Choose portrait orientation, or let the program pick it.
5. Print one label and scan the barcode before you print a batch.

Stick the label on the top of the parcel where it is fully visible. PPL asks that no tape or film covers it and that old labels are removed.

Print from your e-shop

PPL publishes its own plugins for WooCommerce, PrestaShop, OpenCart and VirtueMart. In WooCommerce you print from the order detail with "Tisk etiket" (Print labels) or from the order list with "Vytisknout zásilky" (Print shipments).

The WooCommerce plugin manual lists two print formats, "1x etiketa na stránku A4" (one label per A4 page) and "A4 4x formát" (four labels per A4 page), and no format for label printers. Check the page size of a 1x PDF first and use the thermal printer only if the page is label-sized. Shrinking an A4 page onto one 100×150 mm label makes the barcode bars too thin, so print A4 pages on an office printer or ask PPL about a label printer format.

PPL's developer pages list no Shopify app of its own. Its integrators page lists partners such as xConnector, which runs on Shopify, and JR Shopify; check their settings for a label printer or 100×150 mm format. More on platforms: Shopify shipping labels on a thermal printer and WooCommerce shipping labels on a thermal printer.

Common problems