Practise with interactive training
PrintBench operator guides and demonstrations cover measurement examples, scanner checks and problems that need attention. Practice does not qualify a physical printer.
A good first print check
Use a known test to separate page-size and scaling problems from barcode-input problems. Start with one physical copy.
1. Prepare the right test
- Check the stock loaded in your printer. 100 × 150 mm and 4 × 6 inch (101.6 × 152.4 mm) need different page sizes.
- Select the printer DPI if known. “I don’t know” uses a 203-DPI-generated PDF for geometry; it does not discover printer resolution.
- Prepare the PDF, then download it or open it in your viewer. The preview is rendered from the same PDF bytes you download.
2. Print one copy
Choose the intended printer and exact paper dimensions in both your viewer and printer driver. Select actual size / 100%. Turn off fit, shrink and scaling. Check orientation. Request just one copy. Opening or downloading does not confirm output; wait for the physical label.
3. Check identity and dimensions
Read the fixture ID and version on the paper. All four sheets contain the same barcode payloads. A scan match cannot confirm the selected sheet. Record whether a label appeared, then confirm the ID.
Measure the horizontal and vertical tick centres on paper. The nominal 50 mm references are snapped to whole dots: 400 dots at 203 DPI (50.049261… mm) or 591 dots at 300 DPI (50.038 mm). The app compares against these realised lengths, independently for each axis. Start at ±1%; a tight threshold cannot improve a ruler’s precision.
4. Scan the codes
Select Code 128 or QR, select the suffix your scanner sends, arm the input field and scan the printed symbol. Enter or Tab can finish a capture; Manual keeps the value until Finish capture. Escape stops. Focus loss or leaving the page retains an incomplete capture. A one-dimensional scanner may not read QR: leave it untested.
On a phone or tablet, press the camera button beside the field and hold the selected code inside the box. The button shows only on a device with a camera. Opening it stops keyboard capture, keeping anything typed and unfinished as an incomplete capture, and each read is recorded exactly as decoded and marked as camera input. A camera read shows that the printed code can be read; scan with your keyboard scanner to check the scanner.
Spaces, leading zeroes and line breaks matter. Typing and scanning both arrive through keyboard input; the app cannot distinguish them. Pasted values are labelled where the browser exposes the paste event. A match checks text equality, not barcode grading or symbology detection.
When something looks wrong
| Observation | Useful next check |
|---|---|
| No label | Check the selected queue, pause/error state, connection, stock and viewer. PrintBench cannot inspect them. |
| Both references scaled similarly | Check actual size / 100%, page dimensions and driver scaling. |
| One axis differs | Re-measure tick centres; check driver settings and media feed/calibration in the manufacturer’s instructions. This observation alone cannot diagnose a mechanism. |
| Clipped or rotated | Check page size, orientation and printable margins. The inset boundary is a diagnostic aid, not a printable-area guarantee. |
| Faint or broken marks | Check compatible stock, ribbon where applicable, and the manufacturer’s cleaning, speed and darkness guidance. Change one setting at a time and start another check. |
| Different received text | Check keyboard layout, scanner prefix/suffix and configuration. Use ScannerBench with the downloaded expected-values file for a closer look. |
Keep an honest report
Review the default redacted report before downloading JSON or printable HTML. Full inclusion adds entered names, notes and raw values. Five checks and 50 scan observations per check are retained in memory. Export, then clear when finished. Refreshing or closing the tab loses the session.
