A thermal printer allows you to print stickers directly onto the paper. You can use it to print shipping labels, posters, signs, and other items. It presents a great way to create professional-looking prints.

But the thing that makes a thermal printer different from a regular printer is that it uses heat to print. That means that you can only print on paper that has been specially treated to resist heat.

How Does a Thermal Printer Work?

If you have ever used a laser printer or inkjet printer, you probably know how these work. They use electricity to fire tiny jets of ink at the paper. But thermal printers use heat instead of electricity.

Instead of firing tiny jets of ink, thermal printers use heat to fuse the ink directly onto the paper. These types of printers allow you to print amazing-looking stickers for any of your needs.

There are two main types of thermal printers: direct thermal printers and thermal transfer printers. The difference between the two is very important to understand because they affect the type of sticker you can make.

How to Print Stickers on a Thermal Printer?

Now that we have a general knowledge of how thermal printers operate, it’s time to print some stickers. Before we begin, let’s go over a couple of things that you will need in order to print stickers:

  • Thermal printer
  • Sticker paper
  • PC or Mac
  • Sticker design

Step 1

Now that we are all set up, it’s time to begin the printing process. The very first step is to plug in your thermal printer to a power outlet and connect it to your PC or Mac.

Step 2

If you already have a sticker designed in Canva for example, choose a high-quality file format (.png is the most common) and the right dimensions for your sticker paper.

Step 3

Save the design to your computer and right-click on it. Select “print” and make sure the right printer is selected in the “Choose printer” section.

Now that the printing is done, remove the sticker paper from the printer, gently peel off the sticker and place it on the surface you want to stick it to.

That’s it! You now know how to print stickers on a thermal printer. As you can see, this process is much easier than you would think.