Label alignment off and a gray back ground is printing

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Marlene

#1 Posted : 2/8/2016 11:21:15 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 4
Location: Sanford, FL

I am trying to print a sample label for a client on OL75PX (baby pink) but when I print it there is a grey rectangle behind the design that prints on the entire label. The settings for the label currently don't have a color selected for the background. It happened with another set of labels yesterday but I thought it was a one time thing since I had already printed two other designs without any problems. Also the image that prints shifts down a bit exactly like the other one label I had problems printing.

The labels I already printed without a problem were OL5375LP, OL5375CL and OL2520LP. The one I had a problem with yesterday was OL2088LP. The first 3 were graphic files created by my boyfriend, a graphic designer and the last one was just one I typed the words on to directly again without a background.

In running several tests with the label today I also had him redesign it to fit on OL2520LP and it printed the gray again. The design I am trying to print tonight is set to print with a clear background since its printing on a color label. Could this be the problem? If so, what was the problem with OL2088LP as I designed that one directly on your software at it too printed with a gray shape (circle) and off centered?

I'm using the Color Laser Jet Pro M252dw (Thank you Josh for the recommendation! Works like no other printer I've ever had).

Trying to get this resolved asap to mail the sample to the client. I'll be there in the am to pick up another sample pink but will be printing the same exact file on it.

Thank you
Marlene

Josh

#2 Posted : 2/9/2016 10:58:38 AM(EST)

Rank: OnlineLabels Rep

Posts: 895

Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 77 post(s)

I'm happy to hear that you're having success with the HP Color LaserJet Pro M252dw - I haven't had the opportunity to use that specific printer model yet, but I've used a number of other printers in the HP LaserJet Pro series and have always been impressed.

Regarding the gray rectangle problem you're currently experiencing, I've spent some time this morning trying to recreate the issue using the templates that you mentioned in your post. I haven't been able to reproduce the gray rectangle effect when printing yet, but based on some similar reported issues in the past there is a printer setting that could potentially improve your printing results.

With the PDF file open in Adobe Reader, click on the print icon to open your printer dialog box. Once the dialog box is open, look for the button titled "Advanced". Clicking on that button will open the "Advanced Print Setup" - look for the setting titled "Print As Image" and click on the checkbox next to it. Then click on "OK" to close that menu, and proceed with printing your design. We have seen the "Print As Image" setting resolve problems with background discoloration in the past, so hopefully it'll do the trick here as well.

Regarding the alignment issues that you are experiencing we have documented a number of very helpful troubleshooting tips at the link below:

http://www.onlinelabels.com/articles/printer-alignment-guide.htm

I hope this information is helpful in resolving the issues that you are currently experiencing. If you should need any additional details please just let me know. If you would like to have someone from our Customer Service department reach out to you for assistance I'll be happy to have someone contact you this afternoon.

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Marlene

#3 Posted : 2/9/2016 12:47:37 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 4
Location: Sanford, FL

Please have someone call me. I don't see that option on my print window.

Thanks

Josh

#4 Posted : 2/9/2016 1:35:57 PM(EST)

Rank: OnlineLabels Rep

Posts: 895

Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 77 post(s)

I've forwarded your information to our customer service manager and someone will be reaching out to you shortly to assist you with finding the "Print As Image" option in your settings, as well as your alignment issues. Thank you for your business!

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Josh

#5 Posted : 2/10/2016 3:39:21 PM(EST)

Rank: OnlineLabels Rep

Posts: 895

Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 77 post(s)

Marlene -

I just spoke with Joe, and he let me know that you were able to resolve the issue that you were experiencing. I'm happy that we were able to help!

For anyone else experiencing a similar issue when printing labels with an HP LaserJet printer model, there is a very specific setting tucked deep away in the options that did clear up the unusual gray background described earlier in this thread. To find this option please follow the steps detailed below:

- Click on the Print icon to open the print dialog box.

- Click on the "Properties" button, found next to the printer name near the top of the print dialog box.

- On the new screen that appears, click on the leftmost tab titled "Advanced".

- Under the section titled "Document Options" look for the subsection titled "Printer Features". Below "Printer Features" you will see an option titled "Print Data Optimization". This setting will likely be set as default to "Auto".

- Change the "Print Data Optimization" option to "Optimize for Text and Vector".

Following these steps, Marlene was able to print her labels successfully without the unwanted gray background appearing behind her image/text.

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tlsikora

#6 Posted : 3/28/2016 1:35:56 PM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 6

Location: Midwest

I have been dealing with the same problem for weeks now.

Several of my designs (which printed fine previously - prior to the "upgrade") started printing out with random gray boxes on the label under my designs. This appears to be related to text - if you remove the text, the label will print fine with just the colored background. I have wasted so many labels and ink over this and other issues.

I have been emailing with support - they have been trying to help, but no luck.

Finally, through a search on this forum, I saw someone with a similar problem and with the above tip, I changed the setting to "print as image" and the problem has resolved. I do not think the print quality is as good as before I changed this setting, but the gray boxes are gone.

Just wanted to add this message in case others are having this problem.

dcarmany

#7 Posted : 3/29/2016 2:01:54 PM(EST)

Rank: Label King

Posts: 769

Location: Sanford

Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 45 post(s)

Originally Posted by: tlsikora

I have been dealing with the same problem for weeks now.

Several of my designs (which printed fine previously - prior to the "upgrade") started printing out with random gray boxes on the label under my designs. This appears to be related to text - if you remove the text, the label will print fine with just the colored background. I have wasted so many labels and ink over this and other issues.

I have been emailing with support - they have been trying to help, but no luck.

Finally, through a search on this forum, I saw someone with a similar problem and with the above tip, I changed the setting to "print as image" and the problem has resolved. I do not think the print quality is as good as before I changed this setting, but the gray boxes are gone.

Just wanted to add this message in case others are having this problem.

Tlsikora - I am glad to hear that the "print as image" option in Adobe Reader worked for you. I'm glad you found information on the topic on the support forum, but I'm sorry that our customer service team didn't resolve your issue or offer you that option when you spoke with them on the phone.

I have forwarded information on "print as image" to our customer service manager so he can make sure that our customer service team has been trained and made aware of this option. Thanks again for your business.

Dave C.
OnlineLabels.com

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tlsikora

#8 Posted : 4/18/2016 1:50:50 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 6

Location: Midwest

Originally Posted by: dcarmany

Originally Posted by: tlsikora

I have been dealing with the same problem for weeks now.

Several of my designs (which printed fine previously - prior to the "upgrade") started printing out with random gray boxes on the label under my designs. This appears to be related to text - if you remove the text, the label will print fine with just the colored background. I have wasted so many labels and ink over this and other issues.

I have been emailing with support - they have been trying to help, but no luck.

Finally, through a search on this forum, I saw someone with a similar problem and with the above tip, I changed the setting to "print as image" and the problem has resolved. I do not think the print quality is as good as before I changed this setting, but the gray boxes are gone.

Just wanted to add this message in case others are having this problem.

Tlsikora - I am glad to hear that the "print as image" option in Adobe Reader worked for you. I'm glad you found information on the topic on the support forum, but I'm sorry that our customer service team didn't resolve your issue or offer you that option when you spoke with them on the phone.

I have forwarded information on "print as image" to our customer service manager so he can make sure that our customer service team has been trained and made aware of this option. Thanks again for your business.

Dave C.
OnlineLabels.com

Thanks for the reply. As a rule, your customer service is great. I do hope your team will continue to look at this issue since it is a new problem that did not happen before the upgrade.

While the "print as image" is somewhat of a work around, the print quality is not as good with this setting. It adds some strange marks around the edge of the text or the image so I prefer not to use it unless I have to.

Thanks,
Tammy

dcarmany

#9 Posted : 4/18/2016 6:41:05 AM(EST)

Rank: Label King

Posts: 769

Location: Sanford

Was thanked: 46 time(s) in 45 post(s)

Originally Posted by: tlsikora

Originally Posted by: dcarmany

Originally Posted by: tlsikora

I have been dealing with the same problem for weeks now.

Several of my designs (which printed fine previously - prior to the "upgrade") started printing out with random gray boxes on the label under my designs. This appears to be related to text - if you remove the text, the label will print fine with just the colored background. I have wasted so many labels and ink over this and other issues.

I have been emailing with support - they have been trying to help, but no luck.

Finally, through a search on this forum, I saw someone with a similar problem and with the above tip, I changed the setting to "print as image" and the problem has resolved. I do not think the print quality is as good as before I changed this setting, but the gray boxes are gone.

Just wanted to add this message in case others are having this problem.

Tlsikora - I am glad to hear that the "print as image" option in Adobe Reader worked for you. I'm glad you found information on the topic on the support forum, but I'm sorry that our customer service team didn't resolve your issue or offer you that option when you spoke with them on the phone.

I have forwarded information on "print as image" to our customer service manager so he can make sure that our customer service team has been trained and made aware of this option. Thanks again for your business.

Dave C.
OnlineLabels.com

Thanks for the reply. As a rule, your customer service is great. I do hope your team will continue to look at this issue since it is a new problem that did not happen before the upgrade.

While the "print as image" is somewhat of a work around, the print quality is not as good with this setting. It adds some strange marks around the edge of the text or the image so I prefer not to use it unless I have to.

Thanks,
Tammy

Tammy,
Thanks again for the feedback. I will definitely pass this information on to our development team so they can continue to work on finding ways to resolve the issue.

Dave C.
OnlineLabels.com

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tlsikora

#10 Posted : 4/25/2016 2:38:14 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 6

Location: Midwest

Thank you for continuing to work on this.

jessmj

#11 Posted : 6/14/2016 10:39:19 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 1

Location: Saint Louis, MO

Hello - I am having somewhat of a similar issue printing with the HP Laserjet Pro M252dw printer. I using the Weatherproof Polyester labels for laser - OL2936 - and having one heck of a time printing some of my designs. It seems to mainly be an issue with blues and greens. When I print on this label paper, it transposes an outline of the necker label on to the square label.Sometimes it will also print random lines on the square labels. I've wasted soo many sheets of paper just trying to get it to stop doing so, and nothing seems to work. I have tried changing the Print Settings, tried Labels, Glossy, Plain etc. Any advice or tips would be very helpful! I have to send these labels off to my client asap and I am getting so frustrated :( Thanks!

Josh

#12 Posted : 6/14/2016 2:27:40 PM(EST)

Rank: OnlineLabels Rep

Posts: 895

Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 77 post(s)

jessmj -

I'm sorry to hear about the issue that you're experiencing and I'll be happy to offer any assistance that I can. There are a few additional suggestions that I can provide that will hopefully improve your print quality.

- If you have tried using the "Print as Image" option yet, that would be my first suggestions. Enabling "Print as Image" from the advanced options in your print dialog box will sometimes resolve odd printing inconsistencies.

- You mentioned adjusting the material type setting in your printer options. Having it set to Labels would probably be the best option. Something else to potentially try would be making an adjustment to the print quality setting. Based upon your description of the outline being transposed on to other parts of the page, that would suggest that the printer could be applying an excessive amount of toner to the page. If you are using the highest quality print setting, adjusting to the normal quality setting could have a positive impact on your print quality.

- The manual for the HP LaserJet Pro M252dw offers instructions on printing and interpreting a print quality page from the printer (page. 88 at the user guide linked to below):

http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/HP-Color-LaserJet-Pro-M252-series/7089938/model/7089942/manuals

You mentioned that the issues seemed to be isolated to blues and greens. These instructions will help you determine if you potentially have a faulty toner cartridge that is affecting the print quality.

- Page 88 of the manual also has instructions on running a cleaning cycle, which could have a positive impact on your print as well.

- Page 91 of the manual linked to above has instructions on calibrating the printer to align the colors. This could potentially resolve print-quality related issues.

I hope you find this information useful. If you should need any additional details please just let me know.

Edited by user Tuesday, June 14, 2016 2:30:10 PM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

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Raychel

#13 Posted : 3/6/2021 10:33:27 AM(EST)

Rank: New User

Posts: 1

Hi, I’m sorry to reply to such an old thread but I thought it would be better than starting a new one since I’m having the exact same issue with the same printer. When I try to print my labels they have a gray background and it only happens on this printer but I can’t figure out a setting that fixes it. I tried the print as image and it fixed it, however it adds a red shadow to the text so that is unacceptable. Also, this is an intermittent issue and I have some labels that print perfectly fine and I can’t figure out the difference. I even took a labels design that I know prints perfectly and I replaced the text with the new text and it printed gray. I have finally reached the end of the internet and exhausted every setting I can think of. Would love some new ideas because this literally makes no sense and I’m about to ditch these labels and this printer for good. Thanks

Update: I figured out that the correctly printed labels have a small logo on them in the form of a pdf and the gray background labels do not. I just tried adding a tiny pdf logo to the labels printing gray and they printed correctly. So there just me an auto setting somewhere in Adobe reader that is causing an issue when it’s an all text label.

Edited by user Saturday, March 6, 2021 10:55:28 AM(EST) | Reason: Not specified

Josh

#14 Posted : 3/8/2021 10:51:17 AM(EST)

Rank: OnlineLabels Rep

Posts: 895

Was thanked: 82 time(s) in 77 post(s)

Originally Posted by: Raychel

Hi, I’m sorry to reply to such an old thread but I thought it would be better than starting a new one since I’m having the exact same issue with the same printer. When I try to print my labels they have a gray background and it only happens on this printer but I can’t figure out a setting that fixes it. I tried the print as image and it fixed it, however it adds a red shadow to the text so that is unacceptable. Also, this is an intermittent issue and I have some labels that print perfectly fine and I can’t figure out the difference. I even took a labels design that I know prints perfectly and I replaced the text with the new text and it printed gray. I have finally reached the end of the internet and exhausted every setting I can think of. Would love some new ideas because this literally makes no sense and I’m about to ditch these labels and this printer for good. Thanks

Update: I figured out that the correctly printed labels have a small logo on them in the form of a pdf and the gray background labels do not. I just tried adding a tiny pdf logo to the labels printing gray and they printed correctly. So there just me an auto setting somewhere in Adobe reader that is causing an issue when it’s an all text label.

I'm happy to hear you were able to find a solution to the issue that you've been experiencing. Thank you so much for providing this feedback. I'll be sure to pass it along to the development team in an effort to better troubleshoot issues like these in the future.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you at this time. Thank you for business!

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