QR code labels and stickers on a Mac

A QR code label that keeps working is static, short, big enough for the distance it will be scanned from, and test-scanned before the batch is printed. Getting the code is the easy part; a Mac can make one without any extra software. What goes wrong is nearly always size, density or the choice of generator.

Static or dynamic: decide before you print

A static QR code contains your web address, or whatever text you put in it, directly in its pattern. It works for as long as the address does, with nothing in between.

A dynamicQR code, which many generator websites produce by default, contains a short link to the generator's server, which then redirects to your page. The advantage is that you can change the destination later. The cost is that every printed label depends on that company: if it closes, changes its terms, or your subscription ends, the labels stop working.

For printed labels, static is usually the right answer. If you want the flexibility, get it without the dependency: point the code at an address on your own website, such as yourshop.com/care, and change where that page goes whenever you like.

Size, data and error correction

A QR code is a grid of squares called modules. The more text you put in, the more modules it needs, and at a fixed size each module gets smaller. A short address makes a coarse, easily scanned code; a long tracking URL with parameters makes a dense one that needs to be printed larger. Shorten the content before you shrink the code.

Practical sizes:

• Phone held close(a product, a jar, a business card): about 2 to 2.5 cm square for a short address. On a 50 × 30 mm label that is most of the label's height, which is fine.
• Arm's length or further (a shelf, a box on a rack, a poster): use the rough rule of one unit of width for every ten units of distance. A code read from a meter away wants to be around 10 cm.

QR codes also have four levels of error correction: L, M, Q and H, able to recover roughly 7%, 15%, 25% and 30% of the code if it is damaged or covered. Higher levels add modules, so they make the code denser at the same size. Medium is a good default for a label; high is for codes with a logo on top, or codes likely to be scratched.

Leave a blank border around the code, at least four modules wide, called the quiet zone. Text or a label edge pressed against it is a common reason for a code that only scans on the third try.

The free way on a Mac

You do not need to buy anything to make a QR code. The Shortcuts app on macOS has a Generate QR Code action: build a two-step shortcut that takes your text and saves the resulting image, then place that image in Pages, Word or any layout app, and print. It makes a static code with no account and no website involved.

Two cautions with that route. Resize the image as little as possible, and in whole steps where you can, since a QR image smoothed by scaling has soft module edges. And Pages and Word think in sheets, so on a thermal roll you will be setting custom paper sizes, which our 4x6 printing guide explains. Avery Design & Print Online is the other free option, with QR codes built in, if you print on Avery sheets.

QR code labels in LabelPrint

If you print QR labels regularly, especially on a thermal roll, the designer in LabelPrint keeps the code and the rest of the label in one place:

1. Pick a label size, such as the built-in 50 × 30 mm product label or the 50 mm round sticker, or start from a template.
2. Add a code and set its type to QR. Type the address or text. The code is static: what you type is what it holds.
3. Optionally add a logo. The app converts it to black and white for the thermal head, puts a white pad behind it, generates the code at error correction level H, and limits the logo to 30% of the code's width so there is enough left to rebuild.
4. Print one label. Scan it with two or three different phones, from the distance people will actually use, in ordinary indoor light. Only then print the run.

Without a logo, codes are generated at level M, which keeps them less dense, and that matters on a 203 dpi printer where each module has to be several dots wide to print cleanly. If a small code with a logo will not scan, try it without the logo before making it bigger.

A QR code can also be filled from a spreadsheet column, giving each label its own link, which is covered in printing labels from a CSV. For linear barcodes such as Code 128 and EAN-13, see barcode labels on a Mac.

Printing a label that contains a QR code needs Unlimited. Designing it does not, so you can lay it out and check the size first. Pricing.

Before you print a hundred

• Open the link on your phone and confirm it goes where you meant, not to a staging page or a URL with a typo.
• Scan a printed label, not the screen. A code that scans from a Retina display can fail on paper.
• Check the darkness setting if the code looks gray. A thermal label that is printing faded will hurt a dense QR code before anything else on the label.
• Think about where the label goes. A code wrapped around a narrow jar or bottle curves away from the camera; keep it small enough to sit on the flattest part.