Rad Shipping Labels Guide

Once the plugin is active, a Rad Shipping Labels column is added to the WooCommerce orders list. Click the Label button in an order's row to create its label.

When Bulk Printing is enabled in the Label tab, a Print Label option is added to the bulk actions on the orders page. Tick the orders you want, choose this action and apply it — all the labels are created on a single page. There is no limit on the number of orders.

The order edit screen has a Shipping label box in the sidebar. Click its Label button to create the label for that order.

If you have set up a conditional background, its checkbox also appears in this box, so you can print the label with the conditional background (for example “Fragile”).Pro

While setting up the plugin you don't need to keep going back to the orders page. The Label Preview button in the settings toolbar shows the label of your latest order with the current settings.

• The preview page has Previous order and Next order buttons, so you can check the design against different orders (short and long addresses). The labels of the previous and next orders are prepared in advance, so stepping between them is instant, without reloading the page.
• With Styles in Preview turned on in the Style tab, a list of the ready-made templates is added to the bar at the top of this page.Pro
• Auto print never runs in preview mode.
• If the order has validation errors, a red Validation errors found button appears instead of the report opening by itself; click it to open the report.Pro

Users with the Shop manager role can always print labels. Access to the plugin settings can be granted to them in Settings.Pro

If a customer entered something incorrectly, there's no need to edit the order. Click the text on the label and correct it as you would in a word processor. Changes apply to this print only; the order itself is not modified.

What can be changed on this page is set by Label Editing in the Label tab: editing and pasting text are on by default, and drag and drop (moving text or images with the mouse) is off.

With Manually Adjust Font Size enabled in the Label tab, you can resize a whole label or any part of it right on this page. This is handy when an unusually long or short address leaves the label half empty or pushes text outside the frame.

Resizable parts: the whole label content, header, sender, recipient, order details, customer note, order items table, motivational quote and footer, as well as images and QR codes. If you reset a part that wasn't resized itself but contains resized parts, the plugin points those parts out to you.

Press Ctrl+P or choose Print from the browser menu. If Print Dialog is enabled in the Label tab, the browser's print dialog opens automatically and you only need to confirm.

If validation is enabled and an order's data doesn't match the defined patterns, a report window opens on the label page. Working with this window is described in the Validation section.

Enter the width and height of a single label in millimeters (25 to 1000 mm). Next to these fields is a list of Common label sizes, from 50 × 25 mm up to A4; picking one fills in both fields. Each size also shows its equivalent in inches (for example, 100 × 150 mm is the popular 4 × 6 in shipping label).

The ⇄ above the “×” swaps the width and height. A listed size entered the other way round is still recognised and shown as landscape, for example 105 × 74 mm (A7, landscape). A sizes are listed portrait, as the standard writes them.

The size doesn't have to match the paper exactly. For example, to use only half of an A5 sheet, set the width to 148 mm and the height to 105 mm (shown as A6, landscape).

Set the inner spacing between the content and the label edges, separately for Top and bottom and Left and right, so text doesn't touch the edges or fall outside the printable area. Some templates also add their own frame or spacing.

Rotate the label 90° rotates the whole label(s) 90° in the preview window and in the printout. It is useful when the orientation of your template differs from the orientation of your label paper, for example when your labels are landscape but your label template is portrait. Your label output will then be portrait. Enter the real size of your labels in Label Dimensions; the label is laid out upright and turned to fit them, and the margins apply to the upright layout.

With Rotate only when printing (the Show the preview normally (without rotation) option), the label preview is shown normally for easier reading and only the printout is rotated.

Fonts selected for print quality, legibility and weight:

• Latin: Inter, Roboto, Noto Sans, Atkinson Hyperlegible, Barlow Condensed, Roboto Mono and Tahoma
• Other scripts: Noto Sans Arabic (Arabic), Rubik (Hebrew), Hind (Hindi) and Sarabun (Thai)

On Persian-language sites, a dedicated set of Persian fonts is offered instead. To use any other font, define it with CSS in the Style tab — you can even give a single section (for example the sender details) its own font.Pro

Font Size is the base text size of the label (in mm). When Auto Font Sizing is on, the plugin grows the text from this size up to the Maximum Font Size until the empty space on the label is filled. Because every customer's address has a different length, the result is a set of evenly filled labels whose font size varies slightly.

Enables resizing of a whole label or any part of it on the label page. See Working on the label page for how it works.

With Allow editing the label content on the preview page (on by default) you can correct a label on the label page before printing: click a text and type or delete. Changes apply to that print only; the order itself is not modified. With it off, labels can only be viewed and printed. In the free version, label editing is always off.

• Paste (default: on): paste text copied from elsewhere into the label.
• Drag and drop (default: off): move selected text or an image, such as a logo or QR code, with the mouse, even to another part of the label.

Once your settings are reliable and you no longer need to inspect every label, turn on Automatically send print command to printer in label display window. The browser's print dialog then opens as soon as the labels load, which speeds up printing many orders. You can still cancel and return to the label page.

On a busy server or a slow connection, the print command may fire before the label has fully loaded. In that case set a Print delay time of a few hundred milliseconds.

By default, all label requests open in the same browser tab and a new request replaces the previous one. With Open print requests in separate tabs, each request opens in its own tab.

Enable bulk label printing in orders page adds a Print Label bulk action to the orders page. It also reveals Print Order, where you choose whether labels print Top to Bottom or Bottom to Top (following the current sort order of the orders list).

Some stores use pre-printed envelopes or return-address stickers and don't need this on the label. Turn this option on if you want the sender details printed; the rest of the tab appears once it's enabled.

Use the standard WordPress editor to enter your store name, return address and phone number, plus a logo, barcode or any text your carrier requires. The editor starts with sample content — simply replace it with your own.

To create a QR code, click the QR Code button in the editor toolbar. Your site address is pre-filled in the URL field; change it if needed (for example to your Instagram page), set the Size (px) and confirm. The QR code is inserted at the cursor. You can add as many QR codes as you like.

Limit the height of the sender information section on labels reserves a fixed height (in mm) for this section. Shorter content leaves empty space; longer content is cut off or may overlap other sections. Use it only in special cases.

Like the sender option, this reserves a fixed height for the recipient details. If space runs short, part of the address may be hidden — use it only in special cases.

Align the recipient details left, center or right. Addresses written in a left-to-right script keep the correct direction even on a right-to-left label, and vice versa.

Show title at the beginning of the recipient information section prints the word “Recipient” before the customer details.

Some themes and checkout forms don't require a shipping address, so an order may only have billing details. With Use billing details if shipping details are empty, whenever the recipient name in the shipping address is empty the label uses the billing name and address instead. Keeping this on is recommended.

WooCommerce's Address line 1 and Address line 2 are two parts of one address, yet many customers treat them as two separate delivery addresses, which carriers don't accept. This option removes Address line 2 from the label.

Prints the company name when the customer has entered one.

If the state appears as a short code (such as CA or NSW), turn on Show full state name to print the full name instead.

Hide country name on the label when shipping to the store's base country leaves the country off domestic parcels. The base country is the one set under WooCommerce › Settings › General › Store Address.

For parcels going to other countries, the country is always shown. On these labels the country and state names, the order items table captions and the currency code are always printed in English, so international carriers and customs can read them. Text you wrote yourself (sender, header, footer), the customer's address as entered, and titles added by the style template stay unchanged. To print your own texts on these labels too, use International Shipments in the Localization tab.

Show phone number on the label if available and Show email on the label if available add these details to the label.

Display postal code in grid boxes (one digit per box) prints each character of the postal code in its own box, like on paper postal forms.

For declared-value insurance, the parcel value must be declared to the carrier. Show order total amount prints the order total, in your store's currency, on the label.

Choose Custom to open the template builder and arrange the customer details any way you like. Its building blocks:

• Variable block: inserts one customer detail (first name, last name, company, country, state, city, address, address line 2, postal code, phone, email or package value). Each variable has Before and After fields for text printed before or after it — for example, write “State: ” before the state.
• Static text: fixed text such as “Attn:” or “Thank you for your order”. Plugin shortcodes can be placed here too.
• Line break: blocks sit side by side by default. A break has three types: New line (move to the next line), New paragraph (with more spacing) and Separator line (next paragraph with a horizontal rule).
• Load presets: if one of the ready-made layouts is close to what you need, load it into the builder and change only what's necessary.
• Move blocks with the up and down buttons and remove one with its delete button.

Bold text

To show text you typed in the template (in the Before and After fields or a static text block) in bold, put it between two * characters. For example, *Name* is printed on the label as Name. This applies only to your own text, never to the customer's details.

Icons instead of titles

You can use icons instead of titles. Write one of the codes below in the Before and After fields or a static text block and the matching icon appears on the label. The same list, with a preview of each icon, is shown under the custom template in the plugin settings.

The Template Preview shows the structure of the selected layout. By default it shows field names; turn on Show sample data in preview to see a realistic sample address. You can change the sample address itself in the Localization tab.

Recipient details are printed without titles by default. With Show title or icon next to customer information, choose for each field whether a Title (for example “Phone:”) or an Icon appears next to it. Changes show up in the preview immediately.

When enabled, ten fields — first name, last name, company, state, city, address, address line 2, postal code, phone and email — are checked against regex patterns. The default patterns suit most stores worldwide, for example:

• Names: letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes
• Address: at least 5 characters
• Postal code: 2 to 10 letters, digits, spaces or hyphens
• Phone: 7 to 20 digits; +, spaces, dots, dashes and brackets allowed

To use your own rule, enter its regex in the field. If you're not familiar with regular expressions, AI tools can write one for you in seconds. Hover over the icon next to a field to see its default pattern.

Each field has three buttons:

• Enable / Disable validation: turns validation of that field on or off.
• Check for value: only checks that the field isn't empty, instead of checking its format.
• Reset to default: restores the field's default pattern.

If an order's data doesn't match the patterns, a report window opens on the label page. It lists the orders with errors and highlights the problem values in red.

• Click the arrow next to an order number to scroll to and highlight that label, then correct the data right there.
• Close an individual report to remove that order from the list.
• Drag the window's edge to change its width; the width is remembered for next time.
• Close report closes the window and Print label(s) starts printing.

With auto print on, a label with wrong details could be printed straight away. Ignore auto print command if customer information contains errors keeps the print dialog closed when errors are found, so you can review the report first.

Show order items table prints a table of the ordered items. The Row number, Product SKU, Quantity, Product name, Weight and Unit price columns can each be turned on or off. The last row shows the total number of items, the total weight and the order subtotal.

The weight unit and currency come from your WooCommerce settings and are shown in the column headings.

If the customer left a note on the order (for example “Please leave at the back door”), Show customer note on the order if available prints it on the label for you and the courier to see.

Show order ID, Show payment method and Show shipping method print these details below the recipient address. The order ID is the quickest way to find an order for returns or follow-ups, and the shipping method helps keep parcels on the right route.

To show the order ID, payment method and shipping method elsewhere on the label (sender, header, footer or static text in a custom template), enable Insert order ID, payment method, and shipping method as shortcodes and place this shortcode where you want it, using the Copy shortcode button:

[order_items_shortcode]

Show header on the label reveals the WordPress editor for the header content. QR codes are created the same way as in the Sender tab.

Ideas for the header: your site name or address, “Thank you for your order”, social media handles, a request to review the product, or a motivational quote (via the shortcode).

The default header content has a top row, a middle row split into three columns (right, center and left) and a bottom row. Just replace the sample text in each part with your own — for example, to put your logo in the middle, delete the center column text and insert your image with Add Media.

If the layout gets messed up, the restore link in this option's help note reloads the default content into the editor (save the settings to keep it).

Show footer on the label reveals the footer editor. The default content is “Thank you for shopping with us ❤”; change it, or restore it with the link in this option's help note. QR codes and shortcodes work just like in the header.

Turn on Select default background for the label, then click Select image to choose an image from the WordPress media library. Remove clears it.

• Image Size (Width): as a percentage of the label width, in pixels or in millimeters. For example, 50% makes the image cover half the label width. The height follows the image's aspect ratio.
• Transparency Level: 0 to 100%; the higher the value, the fainter the image (0 is fully opaque, 100 is invisible). Keep it high enough that the label text stays easy to read.
• Image Position: Center, Center Top or Center Bottom.

• No Filter
• Black & White
• Sepia: the warm tone of old photographs
• Color Tint: lays a color of your choice over the image, blended with one of 16 blending modes (Multiply, Screen, Overlay and more).

Cover the entire label by repeating the background image tiles the image across the label like a texture. The smaller the image size, the more tiles you get.

Fade the image at the label edges softens the image towards the edges. It looks great with full-size or repeated backgrounds, and it hides the hard cut if your printer leaves a small white margin.

For special items — fragile or perishable goods, for example — you can define a separate background image (such as a “Fragile” symbol or word). Its settings work like the default image.

• Conditional Background Name: shown as a checkbox in the Rad Shipping Labels box on the order edit page. If left empty, “Conditional Background” is used.
• Default Checkbox State: whether that checkbox is ticked by default when an order page opens.

To print with the conditional background, tick its checkbox on the order edit page and click Label. With the checkbox unticked, the default background is used.

With Show motivational quotes on the label enabled, each label shows one of your selected quotes wherever you place its shortcode. The Motivational Quotes List contains 100 ready-made quotes; select all or just some of them. The list can be collapsed to keep the page short.

Write your own quotes in Add More Quotes, one per line. To print only your own quotes (brand slogans or lines related to your business), untick Select all motivational quotes to deselect all the built-in ones.

Quotes are assigned In order or Random. In order, every label in a bulk print gets a different quote unless you have fewer quotes than labels; random mode may repeat a quote.

The Motivational Prefix is printed before the quote. It defaults to “Daily message:” — change it or leave it empty.

A quote appears wherever you place this shortcode: sender, header, footer or static text in a custom template. Grab it with the Copy button:

[motivational_quotes_shortcode]

Pick a template from Predefined Templates, click Insert template classes to load its code into the editor, then save. Every template works on both left-to-right and right-to-left labels.

CSS is edited in WordPress's built-in code editor, with syntax highlighting, line numbers and auto-indent. Edit any ready-made template or write your own from scratch.

To find the class of any part, open the Label Preview, right-click that part and choose “Inspect”. The main classes are:

Each label carries classes that describe its order, so you can style each case differently:

• .rslw-domestic and .rslw-international: domestic or international shipment
• .rslw-pay-{gateway-id}: payment method, e.g. .rslw-pay-cod for cash on delivery
• .rslw-ship-{method-id}: shipping method, e.g. .rslw-ship-flat_rate

Example — make cash-on-delivery orders stand out so the courier collects payment:

.rslw-pay-cod .rslw-order-payment {
  background: #000;
  color: #fff;
}

Declare the font with @font-face and apply it to the label or to a single part:

@font-face {
  font-family: "MyFont";
  src: url("https://example.com/fonts/myfont.woff2") format("woff2");
}
.rslw-parcel-content {
  font-family: "MyFont", sans-serif;
}

With View the styles and choose one on the label preview page turned on, a Style list appears in the bar at the top of the Label Preview. Pick a template and the label is shown with it at once; step to the previous or next order to see it on other labels too. Nothing is saved until you click a button, and Current style brings back the saved look.

If you like a template, click Use this style. It does the same as Insert template classes: the template's classes replace the custom CSS and are saved.

If you use a ready-made template unchanged, simply insert it again and save after a settings reset. If you have your own design (even a small tweak of a ready-made one), click Save as My Template. It's saved as “My Template” in the Predefined Templates list and survives a settings reset. For extra safety, also use Settings Backup.

If you have a specific design in mind, you can request a bespoke template through a support ticket titled “Custom template order”. Bespoke design isn't part of standard support; after reviewing your request we'll send you a quote.

Turn this on to show the text fields. Each field shows its default text, faintly, inside it; fill in only the texts you want to change and leave the rest empty to keep the defaults.

Changes to recipient field titles and sample data show up in the Templates tab preview immediately, before saving. Other changes apply to the label preview and printing once saved.

Labels of parcels sent to another country use English texts by default, so international carriers can read them. Turn on Apply these texts to shipments outside the store's country to print your own texts on those labels too.

Restore default texts clears every field in this tab. After saving, the default texts are used again.

Choose the font for the plugin's settings screens, or keep Default (WordPress font). This doesn't affect the label font.

Shop managers can print labels by default but can't open the settings. Allow shop managers to access the plugin settings panel lets them change the plugin settings too.

Rad Shipping Labels saves settings without reloading the page (via Ajax). If saving keeps failing — usually because of server limits or a security plugin — turn on Use classic saving mode and click Save.

Display plugin features in a single-page layout shows all sections one below another instead of in tabs, with a toolbar at the top for jumping to each section.

Show floating toolbar turns that bar into a vertical toolbar that always stays within reach on the side of the page. The toolbar also holds the Save, Reset Settings and Label Preview buttons.

Once you know your way around, turn on Hide help notes for a cleaner settings page.

Export settings saves all your customizations — every tab's settings, the motivational quotes you added and your “My Template” — in one file. Import settings restores them from that file. Use the same feature to move your setup to another site.

WordPress debugging usually means editing wp-config.php. Rad Shipping Labels has its own debugging instead: with Generate error log file enabled, plugin errors are written to a log file that you can download and send to support, or delete.

The Reset Settings button in the toolbar restores every setting to its default. Your “My Template” and your own motivational quotes are kept. Export a backup before resetting.

The label is slightly taller than the printable area. Reduce the height in the Label tab by about 1 mm, and make sure the paper size in the browser's print dialog matches your label size.

Lower the Maximum Font Size or turn off Auto Font Sizing. If that doesn't help, reduce the base Font Size or the Label Margin, or turn off parts you don't need (such as the items table). For individual labels, adjust the size manually on the label page.

Turn on “Background graphics” in the browser's print dialog.

The PHP GD extension isn't enabled on your host. Ask your hosting provider to enable ext-gd.

Allow pop-ups for your site in the browser and reload the orders page.

Turn on Use classic saving mode in Settings. If the problem continues, enable Generate error log file and send the log file to support.

This is intentional: for parcels going to another country, the country and state names, table captions and currency code are printed in English so international carriers can read them. To print your own texts on these labels, turn on International Shipments in the Localization tab.