Dymo 320, 310 User Manual

Enhance Your Image

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Chapter 1

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to outline the many steps that
can be taken to ensure the best possible output quality of
images and graphics when printing on a LabelWriter 300 series
printer. These printers include the LabelWriter 300,
LabelWriter 310, LabelWriter 315, LabelWriter 320,
LabelWriter 330 and LabelWriter 330 Turbo. The document
assumes that the LabelWriter printer is functioning properly
and that the most current version of DYMO LabelWriter
Software (DLS) is installed on the host computer.

Paper and Print Head

Tw o things that are very easy to overlook when examining the factors effecting print quality with a
LabelWriter are the paper and the condition of the print head. First, make sure you are using new
label stock that has been properly stored. Labels that are old and/or have been exposed to heat or
direct sunlight will adversely affect the quality of any printed information. Similarly, the condition
of the print head will also have an effect. The print head should be clean and free from dust and
dirt. To be sure a print head is clean, a DYMO LabelWriter Cleaning Card should be run through
the printer before printing.

Format of Graphic

DLS supports the importing of several different kinds of graphic formats. The most common
are: JPG, BMP, TIF and GIF. While all of the different formats yield similar quality when
printing, there are certain attributes of the graphics that are preferable. First and most
important is that the graphic or photograph is not color, they must beconverted to black
and white. Graphics that are not converted will always decrease the overall quality of the
output. Therefore it is recommended that graphics be monochrome ex: line drawings
(See Figure 1) or greyscale for photographics (See Figure 2).

Enhancing image quality output

using a LabelWriter 300 series printer

Figure 2.Figure 1.

Optimizing graphical output

The second most important attribute is graphic size. A graphic should always be imported as
actual size where possible. Whenever a graphic is resized by the software, a lessening of
the output quality will occur. Thus, to print a graphic that is 1" wide x 1" high on the LabelWriter,
the ideal size of the image should be 300 dots (or pixels) x 300 dots.

Application Settings

The Windows version of DYMO LabelWriter Software (DLS) has a setting to optimize the output
of graphical images. The setting can be found under the Preference menu in the “General Settings”
tab. It is called “Optimize Graphic & Bar Code Printing for Best Quality” (See Figure 3). Utilizing
this option will always place the LabelWriter printer into Bar Code and Graphics mode when print­ing complex graphical images. This reduces the amount of dot “blooming” and results in sharper
and more detailed graphics. Note that this setting slows down the print speed of the LabelWriter by
approximately 50%.

Print Driver Settings

Both the Mac and Windows versions of the LabelWriter print drivers also have a similar
setting for Print Quality. Again, Bar Code and Graphics mode is preferred when printing any
kind of complex graphic. On the Mac platform, this setting can be found in the “Page Setup”
dialog box (See Figure 4) and replaces the application setting that is present in the Windows
software. While the Windows print drivers have a similar setting, it is only utilized when printing
from non-DYMO versions of software. Additionally, the Windows platform offers some OS-level
controls for printing graphics.

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Figure 3.

Figure 4.