I have had a few questions about label printing in InterForm400 in the past month, so I would like to include a short ‘hit list’ to help most to a smooth start.

1. Requirements for the printer: The printer must be ZPLII or EPL compatible. ZPLII is recommended. Please note, that not all Zebra printers are ZPLII compatible.
2. In principle you can connect Zebra printers in any way you want, but I would recommend connecting the printer as a remote writer with remote queue ‘lp’.
3. Overlays must defined in a Label file set in InterForm400 unlike overlays for PCL/PDF output.
4. When merging in InterForm400 you need to select one of the EPL or ZPL printer types.
5. Images and fonts must be installed specifically for the label file sets. Remember to install an image for 203 dpi and a 50% larger image for 300 dpi if you want to print both in 203 and 300 dpi.
6. Auto download is quite simple. You just install a TTF and refer to it in the font number.
7. When merging in InterForm400 you should make sure to specify the correct media type: Use 1=Termo transfer if you are using a black ribbon and use 2=Termo media if no black ribbon is required.
8. To save on the amount of data downloaded to the printers you can consider to download Soft Fonts and Images to the flash memory. Use options 13. Work with fonts in ZEBRA flash memory (in the font menu) or 12. Work with images in ZEBRA flash memory (in the image menu) and press F6 to create a spooled file to ‘print’ the font or image into the flash memory of a printer. If these options are not see on your menu, then you just need to give your user profile access to a Label file set.
9. Label printers share the Unicode soft fonts with PCL and PDF.
10. The internal fonts Triumvirate and Dot Matrix may not include all characters, so for non-western code pages you might need to use soft fonts instead – via option 14. Substitution ZEBRA internal fonts.
11. For the result window in the graphical designer you can choose if you want to view the 203 or 300 dpi result.
12. With the 2013 versions of InterForm400 you can now preview the real result in the physical printer. To do that you just need to specify the printer in the InterForm400 configuration. (The printer should not be used for production printing while using it for previewing). Previewing of ZPL spooled files is also possible in the APFWRKOUTQ/APFWRKSPLF commands.
13. The Ink element is not available for Label file sets. If you want to print white in a black area you simply just create a black frame and insert the second element. (Printing twice in the same spot makes it white).
14. If you want to share a Zebra printer with another application, then you might want to have specific control characters in ZPL. That is configurable as the ‘Zebra principle’ in the InterForm400 configuration.
15. Remember that you can access the printer via a browser to view (and alter) the printer settings. You can e.g. see the exact dimensions of the labels as found via the calibration. It might be a good idea to use this information when defining the label size in InterForm400.
16. Copy management has a special value: 9999 for Label overlays. If you use this setting the printer will keep on printing the very same label.
17. If you are using a ZPLII compatible Sato printer it might be necessary to download the soft fonts into the flash memory of the printer to use them. (This was necessary in one support case).