Label batches
A label batch is a set of labels queued up to print together — a delivery's worth of product labels, a run of location labels for new shelving.
Why batch at all
Printing labels one at a time is fine for one. It is not fine for two hundred.
A batch also lets you gather labels before you need them: build it as stock is received, check it, then print the lot in one go at the printer rather than walking back and forth.
Where batches come from
A batch records what prompted it, which is how you tell one from another in a list.
Manual — you built it yourself, choosing what goes in.
A purchase order — labels for what you ordered.
A goods receipt — labels for what actually arrived, which is the more common one: you label what turned up, not what you hoped would.
A transfer — labels for stock arriving from another site.
Another batch — built from one that already exists, for a reprint run or a variation.
See label batch sources.
Draft until printed
A batch is a draft while you are building it. Add to it, take things out, check it.
Printing it marks it printed, and that is the record: this batch was produced.
Treat printing as the commitment. Build and check while it is a draft, because that is the stage designed for changing your mind.
Where it prints
A batch is printed at a printer you choose when you print it, rather than being fixed when the batch is made.
That fits how batches are used: build it at a desk, print it at the machine with the right labels loaded. Which printer is offered follows the usual rules — see how a printer is chosen.
What the labels look like
The template for that subject decides, and the data is filled in when the batch prints — so a batch built yesterday and printed today shows today's data.
Batches are for your own labels
Product, location and licence-plate labels. Courier labels are not batched: they are bought per parcel as you pack. See courier labels and reprints.