Introduction

Watch the Video Walkthrough: In the above video, we show you how to print a Pirate Ship shipping label using a common printer on a Mac using Google Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Mozilla Firefox web browsers (actual walkthrough starts at 0:43).

Set up your printer

Print a Test Document: Firstly, you should have successfully printed a document with your printer. If you have not done this yet, stop reading and follow the directions that came with your printer to set it up!

Use 8.5x11" Paper or Half Sheet Sticker Paper: Since we’re using a regular desktop printer, we’ll be using plain-old 8.5x11-inch paper, which you can tape to your packages…but we recommend getting half sheet sticker paper, so you can peel and stick.
- Note: Perforated 4x6" labels like the ones provided by Avery will not work! You would need to purchase full half-sheet sticker paper if you choose to not use standard desktop printer paper.

Click "Print Label": After you buy a shipping label, click the giant green “Print Label” button.
Select Your Desired 8.5x11 Paper Format: At the top of the pop-up, select the label format you need for your printer. A regular desktop printer will print on 8.5x11 inch paper, which can fit up to two labels per page.
- The 4x6 inch option is for label printers, so only choose this format if you’re using that type of printer.

Preview Your Label: Once you’ve selected the label format, Pirate Ship will generate a label preview below, as long as you’re using a web browser that supports it, like Google Chrome.
- Google Chrome: In Chrome, when you put your cursor over the label preview, there’s this little print button on the top right, which will save you a couple of extra steps when printing your labels. As you can see, clicking it opens a printing dialog box without having to download the file.
- Firefox: In Firefox, you can see that the browser does not support inline PDFs. If you click the big green “Download” button, Firefox will ask you what action to take. I recommend opening the PDF with Apple’s Preview.
- Safari: Safari provides you with a preview of the label. When you hover your cursor over the label preview, you can click this icon to open the PDF in Apple’s Preview.

Open the Print Dialog Box: Once you have the labels open in Preview, go to File > Print (or use the hotkey Command + P) to open Preview’s printing dialog box.

Use Google Chrome for the Best Results: We recommend using Chrome because it supports in-line PDFs, which will simplify printing your labels.

Select the Printer: First, make sure the correct printer is selected under Destination / Printer.
The Paper Size Must Match Pirate Ship: Next, make sure the Paper Size is the same as the Format you chose on Pirate Ship—in this case we selected the 8.5x11 inch format, which can also be labeled as Letter or US Letter.
- Fit to page / Scale to Fit may be useful options if your label(s) aren't quite fitting on the page (they should fit though!).

Click Print: That should be it! Click Print and your label should print as expected.

Follow the Steps to Print Correctly: If your label did not print as expected, make sure you followed each step correctly, as most issues happen from not selecting the correct Label Format in Pirate Ship, or by not selecting the right Paper Size in the printing dialogue box.

Label Printer Recommendations: Lastly, if you’re shipping lots of packages, we recommend using a label printer over a regular desktop printer! Here are all our recommendations for label printers.