Brother QL-800 setup guide

Brother QL-800 setup has one trap: out of the box, the printer starts in Editor Lite mode, where your computer sees it as a drive instead of a printer. To print from a browser or any normal app, install Brother's QL-800 driver, turn Editor Lite off, then match the DK roll size in the driver and the app and print one test. The steps follow Brother's QL-800 Quick Setup Guide (PDF) and its USB connection FAQ.

• You needThe QL-800, its USB cable, a DK roll, and Brother's driver for your computer.
• Time it takesThe driver install, a minute to load the roll, then one test label.
• What you getA QL-800 that shows up as a printer and prints at the size of the roll.

What the QL-800 prints

The QL-800 is a USB label printer for Brother DK rolls up to 62 mm (about 2.4 inches) wide. It can print black and red on Brother's two-color DK roll.

That 62 mm limit matters when you pick a design. A 4 x 6 shipping label won't fit, and neither will a 4 inch DK roll like DK-1240. Those need a wide-format QL. Stay at 62 mm or narrower.

DK rolls come in two kinds:

• Die-cut labels are already cut to size, like DK-1201 (29 x 90 mm address) or DK-1202 (62 x 100 mm shipping).
• Continuous tape is one long strip, like DK-2205 (62 mm), DK-2223 (50 mm) or DK-2210 (29 mm). The printer cuts it at whatever length you set.

The box comes with two starter rolls: die-cut standard address labels and a black/red continuous roll, 2.4 inches wide.

Install the QL-800 driver, then connect USB

1. Go to Brother's QL-800 downloads page and pick your system. When we checked, it listed Windows 11 and Windows 10, and recent macOS versions.
2. Download the printer driver (the full software installer also adds P-touch Editor). On Windows, run the installer and choose Local Connection (USB) when it asks. On a Mac, open the DMG and follow the steps.
3. Turn the printer off. Plug the USB cable into the back of the QL-800 and straight into the computer, not a hub.
4. Turn the printer on. The status light goes green.

On a Mac, Brother's FAQ says to connect the cable only after the driver is installed. Then add the QL-800 in Printers & Scanners if it isn't listed.

Turn Editor Lite off so the computer sees a printer

Editor Lite is Brother's plug-and-label mode, and it's on by default. With the green Editor Lite light on, a Windows computer opens the QL-800 like a USB drive and offers to run P-touch Editor Lite from it. A Mac shows a QL-800 icon on the desktop, because Editor Lite isn't available for Mac.

That's handy for a quick label from Brother's own app. It's also why the QL-800 is missing from the print dialog.

1. With the printer on, press and hold the Editor Lite button.
2. Let go when the green Editor Lite light turns off.
3. If the computer still doesn't see it, unplug the USB cable, make sure the printer is on, and plug it back in.

Hold the same button until the light turns on again if you ever want Editor Lite back.

Load the DK roll

1. Turn the printer off and lift the DK roll cover. Remove the protective sheet from the output slot the first time.
2. Set the roll in the spool guide, with the spool arm seated firmly and the stabilizer in its notch.
3. Line the edge of the roll up with the upright edge of the output slot, and push the first label through until it reaches the mark.
4. Close the cover and turn the printer on. It lines up the end of the roll by itself.

Don't leave printed labels in the slot, and take the roll out when you won't use the printer for a while.

Match the DK size in the app and the driver

A wrong label size on a QL-800 is almost always a mismatch between the roll, the design, and the paper size in the Brother driver.

• Die-cut roll: the design and the driver should both be that die, such as 29 x 90 mm for DK-1201. Don't set a die-cut roll to continuous.
• Continuous roll: set the width to the roll (62 mm for DK-2205) and choose the length yourself. Make the design that same length.
• Look up your roll on the Brother label sizes page, or set a custom width and height in the editor.

Brother DK-1201 addressDK-1201, 29 x 90 mm. Name and address columns. Brother DK-1202 shippingDK-1202, 62 x 100 mm. Ship-to block and order number. Brother DK-2205 continuousDK-2205, 62 mm continuous, set to 100 mm long.

The DK-1201 card loads a short fictional address list. The other two open one finished label: a ship-to block on DK-1202, and a 100 mm shelf label on DK-2205.

Print your first QL-800 label from the browser

1. Open https://app.mylabelmaker.com with the Brother DK-1201 address label. No signup.
2. Type a name and address you can read at arm's length.
3. In the printer list at the top, pick This computer.
4. Click Print this and ask for one copy. The editor tells you the paper size it opened and asks you to use 100% or actual size.
5. In the system print dialog, choose the QL-800, pick the paper size that matches your roll, and set scale to 100% with any fit-to-page option off.
6. Print one. Check that the text is centered and the label cuts where it should.

Keep this first test in black. For two-color printing on the black/red roll, Brother's guide points you to P-touch Editor.

Once the test looks right, the DK-1201 page covers printing a whole address list from a sheet.

When the QL-800 is missing, feeds too long, or prints the wrong size

These steps come from Brother's documentation, not from a test on our own printer.