Print Zebra labels from Excel or Google Sheets

You can print Zebra labels straight from Excel, Google Sheets or a CSV file without retyping a single SKU. Load the sheet, connect its columns to the label once, tick the rows you need, and send the batch to your Zebra. Every row becomes its own label, so a bulk run of 40 barcode labels takes the same few clicks as one. No signup.

How it works

Every row in your spreadsheet becomes a label

sample-products.csv5 rows

	A	B	C
1	SKU	Product	Variant
2	00123	Linen tea towel	Natural
3	00124	Linen tea towel	Sage
4	A-203	Stoneware mug	Ash
5	A-204	Stoneware mug	Moss
6	A-205	Stoneware mug	Clay

5 rows5 labels

Your receiving list, on a Zebra roll

Open the receiving label with the sample list loaded, swap in your own sheet, and print one to scan before the run.

Turn your spreadsheet into Zebra labels →

One warehouse list, several label jobs

Picture a small stockroom (the business and the data are made up). A delivery arrives against two purchase orders, five SKUs in total. Someone already typed the receiving list into a spreadsheet, so nobody should have to type it again into label software:

That one sheet feeds more than one label. A 4 x 2 receiving label tells the person putting stock away where it goes. A 2 x 1 SKU label goes on each item. A 3 x 2 label can carry the variant and batch for the shelf edge.

Here's the part that trips people up: a bin location barcode and a product SKU barcode hold different things. On the receiving label, the barcode is the Location column (A-03-2). Scan it and your system learns where. On the item label, the barcode is the SKU column (00123). Scan it and your system learns what. They come from different columns of the same row, so pick the column on purpose for each barcode. If the two get swapped, every scan books stock into the wrong place.

Zebra barcode label examples you can open

These are real renders from the editor, filled with the fictional list above (the shipping card uses made-up addresses). Click one and it opens with the same layout and its sample sheet already loaded, so you can step through the rows before you bring your own.

4 x 2 receiving location labels4 x 2 in roll. Location as text and barcode, Product, SKU, PO. 2 x 1 SKU labels from a product list2 x 1 in roll. Product, Variant and SKU columns, CODE128 of the SKU. 3 x 2 variant labels from the same list3 x 2 in roll. Product, Variant, Batch and SKU columns. 4 x 6 shipping label4 x 6 in roll. Name, address, order, tracking columns.

The 4 x 6 card is a label with your own order number and address on it. It doesn't buy postage. For carrier labels, see printing shipping labels on a Zebra.

Choose 2 x 1, 3 x 2 or 4 x 6 Zebra thermal labels

Start from the roll that's actually in the printer. Read the size off the box or the core, then open a layout that matches it. A 2 x 1 design squeezed onto a 4 x 6 roll, or the other way around, is where scaled and clipped prints come from. The editor doesn't read the roll width from your printer, so this one is on you. If your stock isn't one of the examples, set a custom width and height. The Zebra label sizes page lists the common ones, and Zebra 4 x 6 covers the shipping size.

Zebra thermal labels come in two kinds, and it's worth knowing which you bought:

• Direct thermal labels darken with heat. No ribbon. They're the usual pick for shipping and short-life labels, and they fade in sun and heat over time.
• Thermal transfer labels need a ribbon and a Zebra built to take one. The print lasts longer, which is why people use them for shelf and bin labels that stay up for years.

Your layout is the same for both. What changes is the roll, the ribbon, and the print method set on the printer itself.

Import Excel, a Google Sheet or CSV

Click Data in the editor. It has three tabs:

• Upload takes Excel files (.xlsx, .xls, .xlsm), CSV and TXT. Keep the column names in the first row.
• Google Sheet takes a published CSV link. If your stock list is private, don't publish it: download it as CSV from Google Sheets and use Upload instead.
• Paste is for a few rows copied straight from a spreadsheet.

Uploads keep leading zeros, so 00123 stays 00123. The catch is Excel itself: if it already turned 00123 into 123 in the cell, the zeros are gone before the file ever reaches the editor. Format the SKU column as Text before you type or paste codes. Want to try it with a file first? Download the five-row sample as CSV or Excel. More on getting the sheet right: labels from Excel, labels from Google Sheets and labels from CSV.

Bind the SKU to a CODE128 barcode and the names to text

1. Open https://app.mylabelmaker.com with the receiving label. The list above is already loaded. No signup.
2. Click Data and upload your own Excel or CSV file, or load your Google Sheet.
3. Click the product name on the label, then Variables, and pick your Product column. It turns into {{Product}}. Do the same for the PO line.
4. Click the barcode, then Variables, and pick the column that barcode should hold. On a bin label that's Location. On an item label it's SKU.
5. In the barcode Format list, keep CODE128 (alphanumeric). It handles letters, dashes and leading zeros, so A-03-2 and 00123 both encode as written.
6. Use next and previous to step through the rows (Row 1 / 5). Stop on the longest product name and check it doesn't crowd the bars.

Already working in ZebraDesigner? These walk through the same job in Zebra's own software: variable data from Excel in ZebraDesigner and ZebraDesigner Essentials 3 with Google Sheets.

Select the rows and copies

Rows start unticked after an upload, so nothing prints by accident. Open Edit row, type in the search box to find what came in today ("mug" finds the three mug rows), and tick the ones you're labeling. The bar shows something like "2 of 5 selected".

Then click Print and set Copies. With two rows ticked and Copies set to 3, the editor tells you "Each of the 2 checked rows prints 3 times." That's six labels. Copies apply to every ticked row the same way. There's no quantity column that gives each row its own count, so if one SKU needs 24 and another needs 6, print them in two passes.

Need one more of a single label? Print this prints only the label on the canvas and asks for its own number of copies. For the full walkthrough of a run, see batch printing labels on a Zebra and printing labels from Excel on a Zebra.

Print through Zebra Browser Print or This computer

Pick a printer in the top bar before you click Print. There are two ways to reach a Zebra:

• Zebra Printer sends the labels through Zebra Browser Print. It has to be installed on the computer and has to see your printer. If the list is empty, start with the Browser Print setup guide.
• This computer uses the Zebra driver already installed on your computer, through the normal print dialog. Choose the paper size that matches your roll and print at 100% (actual size), with any fit-to-page option off.

Proof one label, then fix clipped, skipped or scaled prints

Before you send 40, print one label at actual size and scan both barcodes with the scanner your team uses. If something looks off, it's usually one of these:

• Cut off at an edge: the design is bigger than the roll, or the driver paper size is wrong. See Zebra labels cut off.
• Blank labels between prints: the printer lost track of the gap between labels. See Zebra labels skipping.
• Everything smaller than it should be: the print dialog scaled it to fit. Set 100% and turn fit-to-page off.