Your guide to DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer.

Free downloads

Start with a simple template.

Pick a layout, import it and make it your own. All four work with DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer Free 1.0.0 or later. No account or Pro licence needed.

These previews were generated by the plugin using fictional order details. Your own order data replaces the connected fields after import. Blank fields stay blank if your order has no matching value.

100 × 50 mm

Order label

One per order. Order number and recipient, with room for your shop name.

Download order label ↓

100 × 50 mm

Product label

One per line item. Product name and SKU for packing or stock identification.

Download product label ↓

100 × 100 mm

Address label

One per order. Recipient and shipping address. This is not a carrier postage label.

Download address label ↓

80 × 50 mm

Thank-you sticker

One per order. A simple message to personalise with your own shop name.

Download thank-you sticker ↓

Free, Pro and your licence

Install and activate Free first. Purchase Pro through the product page, then sign in to your account to find the licence key and Pro ZIP. Upload Pro through Plugins → Add Plugin → Upload Plugin and activate it alongside Free.

Open DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer → Pro licence. Enter the key and choose Activate / check licence. This sends your key and site address to dawsony.com; update checks also send the Pro version. No order data is sent to the licence service.

Updates and support require an active annual licence. Installed features keep working during a service outage or after expiry. Deactivate a site in the licence screen or your account before moving a limited licence to another domain.

Manage automatic renewal through your account billing portal. Cancelling renewal keeps access until the paid period ends. Download links are temporary and check your licence again when opened; request a new link from your account if one expires.

Free generates PDFs on your WordPress server and returns them to your browser without retaining them. Pro stores PDFs and customer-data snapshots privately until retention or privacy erasure removes them. Only Pro supports background queues, document history and email actions.

Before you install

Free includes label design and manual PDF generation. Pro is a separate add-on for automation and document workflows. Back up and test the plugins on staging before using them for orders.

The plugin requires WordPress 6.8 or later, PHP 8.1 or later with mbstring, and WooCommerce. PDF generation runs locally. WooCommerce Action Scheduler handles background jobs. Multisite network activation is not supported.

Testing has covered WordPress 6.8 and 7.1 with WooCommerce 10.7.0, PHP 8.1–8.5, and both HPOS and legacy order storage. That is a tested matrix, not a guarantee for every third-party plugin or hosting configuration.

Install and update

Install Free from WordPress.org: open Plugins → Add Plugin, search for DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer, then install and activate. You can also download the Free ZIP from this site and use Upload Plugin. WooCommerce must be active.

Open DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer from the admin menu. The dashboard displays your templates and links to the designer, documentation and settings. Pro adds documents and automation. Staff need the manage_woocommerce capability.

If you installed the earlier Dawsony Label Studio release, deactivate Pro and the old Free plugin first. Install and activate DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer Free 1.1.0, then update and reactivate Pro. Your existing templates and settings are retained. Do not use uninstall data deletion during this change.

Version 1.1.0 adds element locks, rotation-aware alignment, template copies, shrink-to-fit text and printer calibration to Free. Pro adds queue pagination, job counts, separate output failure filters, rule copies and WooCommerce status choices. Update Free to 1.1.0 or later before activating Pro 1.1.0. The Pro licence screen shows installed versions; WordPress’s Pro details window includes its changelog.

Before updating, back up the database and plugin files. Install the replacement ZIP through WordPress, then check a saved template and generate a sample PDF. The private source repository is not a public download or a WordPress automatic-update service.

Make your first label

Open an existing template from the dashboard or choose Create template. Name it, set the physical width and height, and choose once per order, line item or quantity.

Choose a Preview order in the left panel. Search using an order ID or exact billing email. The preview does not modify the order. For line-item labels, choose the current item to inspect its values.

Add or select elements, save the design, and choose Generate PDF. Open or download the result and print at 100% / actual size. Generating also saves pending design changes.

Elements and the canvas

Add text, Media Library images, boxes, lines, QR codes or barcodes. Select an element on the canvas or through Layers. Change its position, dimensions, rotation, text or colour in Element properties.

Use Align on label for rotation-aware edge and centre alignment. Lock element protects its position, dimensions and removal; unlock it before changing those. Duplicate template makes an independent copy of the whole design from the dashboard or designer.

For long values, choose Shrink to fit and set a minimum size in points. Keep font size is the default. If text still cannot fit at the minimum, PDF generation stops with an error. Test the longest likely order values.

Drag to move and use handles to resize or rotate. Arrow keys move an element by 1 mm; Shift moves it by 5 mm. Ctrl/Cmd+C and Ctrl/Cmd+V copy and paste elements. Undo is Ctrl/Cmd+Z; redo is Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Z.

Rectangle fill has a colour picker and a No fill option. Duplicate, Delete, Bring forward and Send back control the selected element. Layers lets you recover an element that has moved outside the visible page.

Grid, snapping and bleed

Grid shows 1 mm guides with stronger 5 mm lines. Snap · 1 mm rounds dragging and resizing to whole millimetres; turn it off for fractional positions. Both are editor preferences remembered per user and browser. Guides do not print.

Elements can extend beyond the label edge. A clipping warning does not block saving or generation. The PDF crops each label independently, including on sticker sheets, so oversized backgrounds cannot spill onto neighbours.

Keep important text and machine-readable codes inside the label. This crop behaviour is not a printer bleed setting: edge-to-edge output still depends on the printer, stock and driver.

Connect WooCommerce fields

Select a text, QR, barcode or image element, then click a field under Live order data. Search fields to find shipping, billing, order, line-item, product and custom metadata.

Use a fallback when a value may be missing. Formatting steps run in order: trimming, case changes, prefixes, suffixes, replacement, truncation, number formatting, URL encoding and supported date formats.

Order labels use order-level data. Product and item values need the matching item context. Generic nested metadata is available with bounded depth; sensitive-looking keys are excluded and technical fields are hidden unless requested. Specific ACF or Product Add-Ons versions are not yet certified.

Images, barcodes and QR codes

Choose local Media Library PNG, JPEG or WebP files. Image bindings must resolve to an attachment ID, not a remote URL. Contain preserves the full image; Fill and crop fills its box. WebP needs GD WebP support.

Code128 accepts printable ASCII values up to 80 characters. EAN-13 and EAN-8 need the correct number of digits including a valid check digit. Use a real assigned identifier where your workflow requires one.

Very small or dense codes fail validation to protect readability. Leave quiet space around them, print at actual size, and scan a physical sample. Image files are limited to 10 MB and distinct images share a 20-megapixel budget per document.

Label stock and sheets

Open Page presets & sheet labels for common stock, inches or millimetres. The internal design uses millimetres; changing display units does not scale the artwork.

For sheet labels, set page size, rows, columns, gaps and top/left margins. Skip labels on first sheet lets you finish a partly used sheet. The label layout must fit within the sheet dimensions.

Printer offsets move artwork horizontally or vertically by up to 20 mm without changing stock positions or label clipping. Positive X moves right; positive Y moves down. Print Calibration PDF at actual size on plain paper first. Its outlines show stock positions, its crosshairs reflect offsets, and its 10 mm markers help check printer scaling. Calibration contains no customer data and does not skip partly used positions; at most 100 positions are drawn.

Labels are placed across each row, then down the page. Compare a plain-paper sample with the stock before printing a full batch.

Create an automation rule

Save a template, then open Automation and choose New rule. Start disabled. Select order creation, payment completion, status change or manual execution; choose the template and number of copies.

Status-change rules offer your store’s registered WooCommerce statuses. Duplicate an existing rule to create a disabled copy, review the template, conditions and recipients, save it, then test before enabling.

Conditions support nested ALL/ANY groups and text, number, boolean or date comparisons. An empty ALL group matches every order, so add conditions when you need a narrower workflow.

Test conditions checks a supplied order without generating or sending anything. Run saved rule creates documents and performs the saved actions even if the rule is disabled. Use an order you are authorised to test. Enable the rule only after checking its output.

Generation runs through Action Scheduler. Repeated delivery of the same event is deduplicated; deliberate reruns create new work. Values are resolved when the worker first processes the job and kept for retries.

PDFs, queues and email

Generate PDF produces an immediate file from the saved design and selected order. Queue output creates background document jobs. Bulk order actions can queue separate PDFs or generate a combined PDF within the limits.

Manual print jobs are separate from document generation. Download or open the PDF, print it, then mark the job printed. DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer does not currently send directly to a printer, PrintNode or a desktop connector.

Rules can send a dedicated PDF email to the store admin or customer. This is separate from WooCommerce transactional emails. Test recipients and deliverability carefully before enabling customer email. A ready document can remain available even if its email action fails.

Document history and retries

Documents lists generation state and provides protected downloads. A queued document waits for its worker; running indicates an active claim; ready has a generated PDF. Failed output and generation states need separate attention.

The dashboard shows queue and failure counts. Documents offers separate Generation failed and Output action failed filters. A ready PDF with a failed email/output stays downloadable. Documents and Print queue each have Previous/Next controls in batches of 50; their pages are independent.

Generation retries are bounded to three attempts and preserve the first resolved data snapshot. Email delivery with an uncertain outcome is not blindly repeated because that could send duplicates. Inspect the failure and deliberately rerun only when appropriate.

If a combined-order document is rerun, all linked orders are included. A deliberate rerun may create separate PDFs for those orders.

Retention, privacy and uninstall

Settings controls document retention from 1 to 365 days, with a 30-day default. Expiry removes PDF data and resolved customer snapshots while retaining deduplication records. Templates and rules are retained.

Permanent WooCommerce order deletion or privacy erasure expires associated documents. A combined PDF is expired in full when any linked order is erased. Downloads require an authorised WordPress session.

Deactivation cancels DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer scheduled jobs. Uninstall retains data by default; opt-in uninstall deletion removes the plugin tables and settings. Export designs and take a backup before choosing destructive cleanup.

Troubleshooting

No preview order: select the highlighted dropdown; search by ID or exact email if needed. Empty field: inspect the current item, field binding and fallback. Missing template: reload the dashboard rather than continuing in an old tab.

PDF validation error: check barcode digits, quiet zones, text box height, image file type and attachment ID. Edge clipping is allowed, but malformed definitions, unreadable codes and text that cannot fit its element still need correction.

Jobs not running: inspect WooCommerce → Status → Scheduled Actions and DawsonyWeb – Print Label Designer Settings & diagnostics. A low-traffic site or disabled WordPress cron needs a correctly configured server scheduler. Ask your host before changing cron behaviour.

Wrong print size: use actual size, matching paper stock and no fit-to-page. Delivery problems: inspect the WordPress mail setup and failed action state. Never assume a generated PDF means an email arrived or a label physically printed.

Limits and compatibility

The designer supports 200 templates; Pro supports 500 rules and 100 elements per template. A PDF can contain up to 100 labels and is limited to 10 MB. Queueing supports up to 100 orders, with up to 2,000 labels per order split into chunks.

Generic WooCommerce metadata is supported. Specific third-party integration versions are not certified. Test your own printer, scanner and stock at actual size before printing a batch.

Do not use the plugin as the only copy of operational data. Keep normal WordPress/database backups and export templates when making significant design changes.

Get help and request custom work

Use Help & tour in the designer for a guided walkthrough. For a support request, include the plugin version, WordPress/WooCommerce/PHP versions, the exact error and a minimal example using dummy data.

Do not send licence keys, secret credentials or customer order exports in a public issue or screenshot. Contact dawsony.com for plugin enquiries, custom labels, WordPress builds and WooCommerce integrations.