To Set Up the Printing of Carrier Labels on a Thermal Printer

For thermal printers, the carriers usually provide labels in EPL or ZPL formats.

You can create a batch file for the operating system so that the system sends the label file to the thermal printer once you double-click the label file. To create the batch file, follow the steps in the following sections.

To Share a Printer

Connect the printer to a local network computer by using a USB cable, and turn the printer on. To share the printer on the network, do the following:

  • For Windows XP:
    1. Open the Start > Printers and Faxes window, right-click the thermal printer, and select Sharing.
    2. Select the Share this printer option, write down the shared printer name (or copy it to the clipboard), and click OK to close the dialog box.
  • For Windows 7:
    1. Open the Start > Devices and Printers window, right-click the thermal printer, and select the Printer Properties option.
    2. On the Sharing tab on the Printer Properties dialog box, select the Share this printer option, write down the shared printer name (or copy it to the clipboard), and click OK to close the dialog box.

To Prepare a Batch File for Label Printing

On the computer to which the printer is connected, create the batch file PrintLabels.bat that will handle the printing. (You can change the suggested batch name if needed.)

If you will use a USB printer, create the file as follows:

  1. Open Notepad, and type the following text:
    Net use LPT2: \\%ComputerName%\SharedPrinterName
Copy %1 LPT2
Net use LPT2: /Delete
  2. Replace SharedPrinterName with the shared printer's actual name that you wrote down or copied earlier. Do not change %ComputerName%; the system will replace it automatically with your computer name.
  3. Save the file as PrintLabels.bat to the appropriate location. Make sure that you select All Files for the Save as Type action.

If you will use a network printer, take these steps:

  1. In Notepad, type the following text:
    print /d:\\ServerName\PrinterName %1
  2. Replace ServerName with the name of your network server.
  3. Replace PrinterName with the name of your network thermal printer.
  4. Save the file as PrintLabels.bat to the appropriate location. Make sure that you select All Files for the Save as Type action.

To Associate the File Extension with the Created Batch File

You can register the file extension with the Windows operating system as follows:

  • For Windows XP:
    1. Open Start > Control Panel > Folder Options and select the File Types tab.
    2. Click New to register the extension of the carrier's file.
    3. Select the extension from the list of extensions and click the Change button under the details section.
    4. Select the PrintLabels.bat batch that you’ve created earlier.
  • For Windows 7:
    1. Click Start and type Index in the search text box. On the list of search results, that appears as you type, select Indexing Options.
    2. On the Indexing Options dialog box, click the Advanced button.
    3. Open the File Types tab and add the carrier file's extension to the list.
    4. Click OK to save the settings and close the dialog box.
    5. Open Start > Default Programs > Associate a file type or protocol with a specific program, select the added extension. In the Current Default columns, select the PrintLabels.bat batch that you’ve created earlier.

Connect the printer and load the label stock. Now the system will be able to attach carrier labels to the appropriate lines in the shipment documents.