PDF Labels Printing Wrong Size at 100% Fix Guide

You hit Print, you select 100% (or “Actual size”), and your labels still come out wrong. The text looks a hair too big, the margins shift, or the whole sheet drifts until half your labels are unusable.

If you’ve ever thought, “It says 100%, how can it not be 100%?”, you’re not alone. The trick is that “100%” is only one piece of the pipeline. Your PDF viewer, your operating system print dialog, and your printer driver can each apply their own rules, rounding, margins, borderless behavior, or “helpful” scaling.

This guide breaks down the real causes, viewer by viewer, and gives you repeatable steps you can run in a few minutes to get clean, aligned label sheets.

The goal is not perfection on screen. The goal is predictable physical output: the same page size, the same margins, the same scale, every time.

What “Actual Size” Really Means and Why It Still Fails

The hidden pipeline from PDF to paper

Printing a PDF label sheet looks simple, but there are several translation steps:

1. The PDF page definition (page size like Letter or A4, plus the coordinate system used to place content)

2. The PDF viewer’s print engine (Chrome’s built-in PDF viewer, Mac Preview, Adobe Acrobat/Reader)

3. The OS print system (Windows print subsystem or macOS printing)

4. The printer driver (manufacturer settings, scaling defaults, printable area, borderless modes)

5. The printer hardware (roller tolerance, feed variance, duplex path changes)

“Actual size” typically only means the viewer is not intentionally scaling the PDF content. It does not guarantee:

• The printer isn’t applying driver-level scaling.

• The page isn’t being slightly resized to fit a printable area.

• The output isn’t being rasterized at a resolution that causes rounding and reflow.

• Your “Letter” is truly Letter, not “Letter (borderless)” or a near-match.

The most common reasons labels drift even at 100%

Here are the top culprits that create small but disastrous shifts:

• Page size mismatch (Letter vs A4): The viewer may “fit” content to the chosen paper size without making it obvious.

• Driver scaling: Some drivers default to “Fit to printable area” or “Scale to fit” even if the app says 100%.

• Borderless printing: Borderless modes often enlarge slightly and then crop, which is great for photos and terrible for labels.

• Margins and printable area compensation: Most printers cannot print edge-to-edge. Drivers may nudge content inward.

• Rasterization differences: Some viewers convert the PDF to an image before sending it to the printer. That can introduce rounding.

• “Enhancement” features: Settings like “sharpen text”, “edge smoothing”, or “toner save” rarely change geometry, but some “layout” optimizations do.

A quick diagnostic that saves wasted sheets

Before you troubleshoot, run a controlled test that tells you where the problem is.

Test A: Print only page scaling and paper size

1. In your PDF viewer, open the label PDF.

2. Print to a plain sheet of paper (not labels).

3. In the print dialog:

   • Paper size: pick the exact target (Letter or A4)

   • Scaling: “Actual size” or 100%

   • Turn off: “Fit”, “Shrink to printable area”, “Borderless”, “Auto rotate”, “Center” (if it changes placement)

4. Compare the printed sheet against a label sheet by holding it up to light.

If it’s too large or too small uniformly, it’s a scaling or paper size issue.

If size looks right but the grid is shifted up, down, left, or right, it’s an offset issue (margins, printable area, driver positioning).

If the top aligns but drift increases down the page, it’s often feed variance or driver compensation.

Real-world scenario: the “looks fine until row 6” problem

A common case: the first few rows print well, but by the middle of the sheet, labels are off by 1–2 mm.

That drift often comes from either:

• A tiny scaling error (like 100.5% instead of 100%), which accumulates down the page, or

• A printer feed issue (roller variance), which tends to worsen consistently in one direction.

Takeaway: Don’t trust a single label near the top. Check alignment at the top and bottom. A small scaling error can hide until it ruins half the sheet.

Printing from Chrome PDF Viewer Without Surprise Scaling

Chrome is convenient, but it’s also one of the most frequent sources of “I swear it’s at 100%” label problems. Chrome’s print pipeline can rasterize pages and apply “helpful” adjustments depending on settings, printer model, and OS.

Step-by-step: the safest Chrome settings for label PDFs

Use this exact sequence to reduce unexpected resizing.

1. Open the PDF in Chrome.

2. Press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac).

3. In the print panel:

   • Set Destination to your real printer (not “Save to PDF”).

   • Click More settings.

   • Set Paper size explicitly to Letter or A4.

   • Set Scale to 100.

   • Turn off: “Fit to page” (if shown), and avoid any “Margins: Default/Minimum” changes unless needed.

   • Turn off “Headers and footers”.

4. Click Print.

If the print still comes out wrong, don’t keep tweaking randomly. Instead, isolate whether Chrome is the issue by printing the same PDF from Adobe Reader (next section). If Adobe prints correctly with the same driver, Chrome is likely the cause.

Chrome’s common traps (and how to spot them)

Trap 1: Paper size silently wrong Chrome can show “Letter” while the printer driver is set to A4, or vice versa, especially if your printer was installed with a default region setting.

How to detect it:

• Your labels look slightly squished or stretched.

• The mismatch is consistent across the whole page.

Fix:

• In Chrome, set paper size.

• In the printer dialog (system dialog), confirm paper size again.

Trap 2: Borderless mode Some printers expose multiple “Letter” options like:

• Letter

• Letter (Borderless)

• US Letter (Edge-to-edge)

Borderless usually enlarges the page a bit, then crops. That is the opposite of what label grids need.

Fix:

• Choose the non-borderless paper setting.

Trap 3: Driver overrides Even if Chrome scale is 100, the driver might apply “Fit to printable area.”

Fix:

• Open the system print dialog (on some systems: “Print using system dialog”) and look for:

  • “Scaling”

  • “Fit to page”

  • “Expand”

  • “Reduce/Enlarge”

  • “Borderless expansion”

• Set these to neutral defaults.

A practical Chrome workflow that wastes fewer label sheets

If you’re printing frequently (shipping labels, product labels, classroom labels), use this repeatable process:

1. Print a plain paper test from Chrome.

2. If it fails, print the same PDF from Adobe Reader.

3. If Adobe succeeds, keep Adobe as your “label printing” tool.

4. If both fail, move to driver settings and paper size verification.

This prevents the most frustrating cycle: burning label sheets while changing one setting at a time.

Case study: Small business shipping label sheets

A small shop prints 30 label sheets per week. They use Chrome because it’s fast. The issue: the rightmost column is always slightly off.

Root cause: The driver was set to Minimum margins, and Chrome was set to Default margins, causing a subtle horizontal shift.

Fix:

• Set margins consistently (prefer default).

• Disable any “center” adjustments.

• Keep paper size fixed and avoid borderless.

Result: Their misprints drop from several sheets a week to near zero.

Takeaway: In Chrome, the safest path is boring settings: exact paper size, 100% scale, no borderless, no margin experiments.

Mac Preview vs Adobe Reader Why One Works Better

On macOS, many people print PDFs from Preview because it’s built in and quick. Preview can work well, but it’s also more likely to hide print pipeline details behind simplified options. Adobe Reader tends to be more explicit about scaling behavior.

Printing from Mac Preview without accidental resizing

Use this method to avoid Preview’s “helpfulness.”

1. Open the PDF in Preview.

2. Go to File → Print.

3. In the print dialog:

   • Set Paper Size explicitly (Letter or A4).

   • Look for Scale and set it to 100%.

   • If you see “Scale to fit”, turn it off.

   • Set Orientation correctly (don’t rely on auto-rotate).

4. Open any expanded sections (often via “Show Details”) and check for:

   • Borderless or edge-to-edge options

   • “Paper Handling” style controls (varies by driver)

A Preview-specific gotcha: If the PDF is slightly outside the printable area, Preview can shrink it to fit without making it obvious. That can cause uniform scale reduction.

Why Adobe Reader is often the “truth serum” for scaling

Adobe Reader (or Acrobat) typically gives clearer controls:

• Actual size vs Fit is explicit

• Page sizing and handling is easier to audit

• It often preserves vector geometry more predictably

Try this in Adobe Reader:

1. Open the PDF.

2. Print.

3. Under “Page Sizing & Handling” choose Actual size.

4. Confirm Choose paper source by PDF page size (if available) only when you trust the PDF’s page size and your printer supports it correctly.

If Adobe prints correctly but Preview does not, keep Adobe as your label printing app on Mac.

The driver layer: where “100%” goes to die

Even with perfect viewer settings, drivers can change output. Here are driver features that frequently break label alignment:

• Borderless expansion: enlarges slightly

• “Fit to printable area”: scales down and shifts

• Custom paper sizes: can introduce rounding or unexpected margins

• Duplex or eco modes: sometimes change feed path and introduce drift (even if printing single-sided)

Step-by-step driver sanity check (Mac or Windows):

1. Find the printer’s advanced settings.

2. Confirm:

   • Paper size is exactly correct.

   • Borderless is off.

   • Scaling is 100%.

3. Save a preset named something like “Labels 100%”.

4. Use that preset every time.

Presets matter because printers sometimes revert settings after driver updates or after switching between photo and document printing.

Case study: School admin printing name badges

A school admin prints sheets of name badge labels. Preview prints slightly smaller than expected. Adobe prints correctly.

Root cause: Preview was shrinking to fit printable area because the PDF content sat too close to the margins.

Fix:

• Print from Adobe using “Actual size”, or

• Adjust the print preset so the driver does not apply “fit to printable area” behavior.

Takeaway: On Mac, Preview is fine for casual PDFs. For label sheets where 1% matters, Adobe Reader is more predictable.

Fixing Printer Driver and Hardware Issues That Cause Misalignment

If Chrome, Preview, and Adobe all misprint in similar ways, the culprit is likely the driver or printer behavior, not the viewer.

Step 1: Confirm you’re matching the PDF page size

Labels are usually designed for Letter or A4. If you print a Letter-based label PDF on A4 paper (or the driver thinks you are), you will get scaling or clipping.

Checklist:

• The PDF page size matches your paper (Letter vs A4)

• The viewer print dialog matches

• The driver paper size matches

If one layer disagrees, something will compensate.

Step 2: Disable every scaling feature you can find

Different drivers use different names. Look for:

• “Fit to page”

• “Shrink to printable area”

• “Expand”

• “Borderless expansion”

• “Reduce/Enlarge”

• “Scale”

Set all of them to neutral (100%, off, or “None”). If your driver has a single checkbox for “Scale to fit”, turn it off.

Step 3: Avoid borderless and photo modes

Photo and borderless modes assume you want edge-to-edge output. They often:

• scale up slightly

• change how margins are handled

• change feed behavior

For label sheets, you want plain, boring document printing.

Step 4: Control the paper feed and handling

Misalignment can be physical, not software.

Try these practical fixes:

1. Use the correct tray (manual feed vs main tray can change alignment).

2. Fan the label sheets lightly and load them flat.

3. Do not overfill the tray.

4. Print one sheet at a time for critical jobs.

5. If your printer has a “Thick paper” or “Labels” media type, use it. This can slow the feed and improve consistency.

Step 5: Recognize drift vs offset and fix the right thing

Two patterns matter:

Pattern A: Uniform offset Every label is shifted equally. Example: everything is 2 mm too low.

Likely causes:

• driver margins

• “center” adjustments

• printable area compensation

Fix:

• disable centering or auto positioning

• confirm margins and paper size

• avoid borderless

Pattern B: Progressive drift Top labels align, bottom labels drift.

Likely causes:

• tiny scaling error

• feed variance

• different print path settings

Fix:

• verify 100% at every layer

• change media type to “Labels” or “Thick”

• print from Adobe Reader (more consistent geometry)

Step 6: Use a calibration print that anyone can do

If you need a fast, no-tools method:

1. Print the PDF on plain paper.

2. Place the plain paper over a real label sheet.

3. Hold to a bright light.

4. Check top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right.

If only one corner is off, it’s often skew or feed. If all corners are off uniformly, it’s scaling.

Where FoxyLabels helps

A lot of misprints come from using the wrong template for the label brand or sheet layout. Starting with a template that matches your label stock reduces the odds you’ll be “fighting” alignment with print settings.

If you’re building labels from templates and want files you can print reliably, start by browsing compatible layouts at FoxyLabels. If you want to check plan options for frequent printing or business use, use the pricing page.

If you run into a stubborn viewer or driver issue and want to share details about your printer model and what you’ve tried, reach out through the support contact form.

Takeaway: Viewer settings get you close. Driver settings and feed behavior are what make printing repeatable.

A simple “no wasted sheets” checklist

Before printing a full label sheet:

• Paper size matches the PDF (Letter or A4)

• Scale is 100% or Actual size in the viewer

• Driver scaling is off and borderless is off

• Print a plain paper test and compare against labels

• Use a saved “Labels 100%” preset

If you want the fastest path to fewer misprints, pick one workflow that you trust (often Adobe Reader with a saved preset) and stick with it. And if you suspect your template does not match your label stock, start from a compatible template first using FoxyLabels.