How to print a sheet of labels

Use this when the stack of QR-code stickers the attic team keeps on hand is running low and needs refilling. The Box Tracker prints labels on Avery 5163 sheets — 10 stickers per sheet, two columns of five — and reserves a batch of fresh box IDs ahead of the print run so each sticker comes out with a unique, scannable code.

What you'll need. A desktop or laptop with a printer set up, a stack of unused Avery 5163 label sheets, and one or two sheets of plain paper for the first-time calibration check (see Step 1 below).

Training vs. production labels. Labels printed from the training environment carry a BOX-T- prefix (e.g., BOX-T-A7K9P2) instead of the production BOX- prefix. Training labels live in a separate practice database and aren't valid for cataloging real church inventory — they're useful for getting comfortable with the workflow before working live. If you see BOX-T- on a sheet, it came from the training site — print those on plain paper, not Avery 5163 stock.

Step 1 (first time on this printer): Run the calibration check. Avery 5163 labels are pre-cut to specific positions on the sheet, and the labels won't line up with the stickers if your printer shifts the page even slightly. The calibration check — a crosshair pattern printed on plain paper — tells you whether the alignment is right before you spend real Avery stock.

On the home page, click Print labels. Near the bottom of the next page, click Calibration page. Print it on plain paper at Scale 100%, Margins None. Hold the printout against a real Avery 5163 sheet up to a window — the crosshairs should land on the actual label corners within about a sixteenth of an inch. If they don't, the on-page help on the calibration page covers what to try. Once the calibration check passes, you don't need to repeat it for this printer.

Step 2: Reserve a batch. Back on Print labels, type how many labels you want and click Reserve and prepare sheet. Two things to know about the count:

• It rounds up to the next multiple of 10. If you type 12, you get 20. The “extra” 8 labels aren't wasted — they're real, scannable IDs that get stuck on real boxes any time later. This is just how Avery 5163 sheets are shaped: whole sheets feed cleanly through a printer; partial sheets jam.
• Once printed, labels can't be “unprinted.” Reserve only what the team will reasonably use over the next few weeks — a typical batch is 10 to 30 labels.

Step 3: Print the sheet. The next page is the actual print-ready sheet, with QR codes and IDs already filled in. Click Print to bring up your browser's print dialog. The settings have to be right:

• Scale: 100% (sometimes labeled Default or Actual size) — anything else shrinks the labels off-grid.
• Margins: None or Default. Don't pick Minimum or Custom.
• Background graphics: Off (the browser default). The Grace logo and the QR codes still print — they're not background graphics.

Feed an Avery 5163 sheet into the printer (sticker side up on most printers; check yours) and confirm the print dialog. If you'd rather get a PDF artifact instead — to email, archive, or print from a different machine — pick Save as PDF in the printer dropdown instead of your real printer. Same labels either way.

Step 4: Confirm the print. After the labels come out of the printer and look right, come back to the print-ready page in your browser and click I printed it successfully. That button is what tells the system the labels are physically out in the world — until you click it, the labels stay in reserved state and you can come back and try again.

Don't click I printed it successfully if the print failed, jammed, or you closed the print dialog without printing. Leave it alone — the reservation is still good, and you can try again from the print-ready page.

Step 5: Hand off the labels to the team. The fresh stickers go on the stack the attic team keeps on hand, ready for them to peel off and assign to real boxes the next time someone heads up to the attic. Whenever the stack runs low, repeat from Step 2.