How to print your own labels from Canva

Create the label designs

Create a new Canva design with exactly the same dimensions as your label. You can create it as you normally would, or you can create it when launching the Label Sheets app.

If you already have a label design, ensure that the width-to-height ratio of the design matches the physical width-to-height ratio of the label you are printing on. Our system does not stretch or crop label designs to fit the labels, so if the width-to-height ratios do not match, you will see empty space around the printed label.

Before using the Label Sheets app, finish designing your label. If you need to print multiple label designs on the same sheet, create each design on its own Canva page (click + Add page beneath your last design).

Create designs from spreadsheet data (mail merge)

If you need to generate label designs with data from a spreadsheet — also known as mail merge — to create name tags, address labels, or other data intensive label designs, Canva offers another app specifically designed for that: the Bulk Create app. It allows you to seamlessly merge data from a spreadsheet into your label designs, making it a great companion to the Label Sheets app.

Start the Label Sheets app

When you've finished designing, click on the Apps icon in the far-left column of the screen. Search for apps using the keyword 'label' and from the dropdown list below, select the Label Sheets app.

Select label format, brand and code

The app supports printing on 86 different label sheet brands and thousands of templates in both Letter and A4 formats. Start by selecting the format of the label sheets you're printing on, then the brand, and finally the template code.

Indicate the number of Designs per Label Sheet

The label sheet you are printing on contains a fixed number of labels, and the app gives you the flexibility to distribute different label designs across the same sheet. Depending on your needs, you'll want to choose one of the following options:

• Repeat the same label design on all labels
  
• Print multiple label designs repeated in different quantities on one label sheet
  
• Print the same design but with different content (mail merge)
  

This app supports all of these options, which is why it asks you to choose how you intend to proceed. If you select the wrong option, no worries — you can always go back and start over.

Choose the Label Designs you want to print

In the next step, you'll be asked to choose the Canva design page or pages that contain the label designs you want to print. In Canva, this selection process is called "Export". The export view lets you set the following options:

• File type
  Choose either JPG or PNG. For most home label printing, JPG works well. If you notice any print quality issues, you can switch to PNG, but first make sure the file size and quality settings below are appropriate, as they have a greater impact on print quality.
• File size
  Keep the size of your labels in mind. Larger file sizes are only necessary when printing larger labels.
• Quality
  Leave this at the recommended value. Increase it only if you are printing larger labels and need higher detail.
• Select pages
  This element lets you choose the Canva design pages you want to print.
  • If you chose to print the same label design on all labels, select only one Canva page here.
  • If you chose to print multiple copies of several label designs, select the Canva pages that contain those designs.
  • If you chose to print the same design but with different content (mail merge), you'll first need to generate all label Canva pages — either manually or by using Canva's Bulk Create app.
    Once all the Canva pages are generated, you'll need to select all of them here. If the number of pages exceeds the number of labels on a single label sheet, the app will generate multiple label sheet printouts.

Distribute multiple Label Designs across a Label Sheet

When you choose to print multiple copies of several label designs on a single label sheet, the app lets you decide how many copies of each design to print (after you select them in the Export step). The total number of copies cannot exceed the number of labels on a single sheet.

Preview the Label Sheet Printout

Once you've completed all the steps above, the app will take your selected label designs and arrange them into a label sheet printout in PDF format, based on your settings. A preview of the printout will be shown next. From there, you can click the "View and print" button to either download the file or send the printout directly to your printer.

Build a Custom template

If you can't find the template for the label sheet product you're printing on, or if you need to print on plain adhesive label sheets and cut the labels yourself, you'll love our Custom option. It lets you create any label layout you need: simply enter the size of your labels and the spacing between them, and the app will automatically lay out the labels accordingly. You can always contact us to request the addition of a missing template, but the Custom option lets you get the job done right away.

Advanced Layout Settings (Optional)

The steps described above are sufficient to get you started and generate a printout that is ready to be sent to your printer. However, you may want to fine-tune a few settings to achieve perfect print alignment or adjust certain layout aspects. For this reason, the app provides a dedicated Layout Settings section that helps mitigate print alignment issues and apply specific layout options.

This section is available for both standard and custom label sheet templates. The screenshots below show the location of the Layout Settings button for both standard and custom templates. Click this button to open and manage the Layout Settings for the upcoming printout.

The Layout Settings include the following options. See the screenshots below.

• Horizontal offset (ho)
  When the paper sheet sits a little to the left or right in the tray, labels can print off-center. This setting lets you apply a horizontal offset of 1 to 3 mm to compensate for small shift-type misalignments.
• Vertical offset (vo)
  Inkjet and laser printers don't always feed paper with perfect vertical precision, which can cause labels to print slightly higher or lower than intended on the sheet. This setting allows you to apply a vertical offset of 1 to 3 mm to compensate for small shift-type misalignments.
• Bleed area
  When your label background isn't white, slight misalignments during printing can cause a thin white edge to appear along one or more sides. A simple and effective way to avoid this is to print the label image slightly larger than the label area, so the background extends beyond the label's actual edge. This method is called applying a bleed.
  If you notice white edges, select a bleed area between 1% and 5%, depending on how much coverage you need.
• Orientation - Available in Standard templates only
  If you want your label images to be inserted vertically (that is, rotated −90 degrees) within each label, you would normally need to design your labels in a rotated orientation, which can be inconvenient. To handle this seamlessly, you can continue designing your labels in the normal orientation and simply switch this setting to Landscape. The app will automatically rotate the designs and generate the label sheet printout accordingly.
• Cutting marker (cm) - Available in Custom templates only
  Users often choose the Custom option to print labels on plain adhesive (or non-adhesive) sheets with no spacing between labels, as they plan to cut the labels themselves. When the labels have no spacing between them, setting this option to "Yes" will cause the app to print cross-shaped guides at the corners of each label, making cutting easier and more precise.
• Labels to skip
  This setting is useful when reusing a label sheet where some labels have already been printed and peeled off, allowing you to print only on the remaining labels and avoid wasting the entire sheet. Set this field to the number of labels that have already been used and should be skipped in the upcoming printout.
• Labels to print
  This setting lets you control how many labels will be printed on the label sheet or sheets.
  The app takes into account the value of "Labels to skip", the number of different label designs being printed, and the total number of label slots on the sheet, and applies an upper limit to this value.
  When necessary, the app will continue printing on additional sheets (second, third, and so on).
  

Send the printout to your printer

Once the app generates the printout preview and you click the "View and print" button, Canva displays a notice informing you that you will be forwarded to the Hlabels site. Click Continue to proceed to another preview of the generated PDF printout. From there, you can send it directly to your printer or save it to your computer for printing at any time.

To reduce print alignment issues, we recommend first saving the PDF file to your computer and then opening it in a PDF reader to print from there.

Printers are troublemakers — especially when printing for the first time. Many settings and conditions must be correct; otherwise, the printout may not align properly with the labels on the sheet. We have written a detailed guide explaining the common causes of these issues and how to identify and fix them. Please take the time to read it here.

Using another tool to design your labels?

We meet you where you are. Learn how to use our label printing service from within Adobe Express, Google Docs, Google Sheets, or even directly from your browser.