Using the Label-Editing Function Keys in Your DuraLabel Lobo

Overview

The Lobo has various label-editing and navigation functions that are accessed by pressing the function keys. These function keys are located around the perimeter of the keyboard on the upper, lower, and right sides.

Like visuals? You can view examples here: DuraLabel Lobo User Guide

File

The File menu includes the following functions:

Open allows you to open label files that were created on the Lobo. It will display files stored either internally or on the SD card, depending on what is chosen for the Location setting (farther down in the File menu.)

You can only open a project file that matches the size of the print cartridge that is loaded. If a label file doesn’t match the current print cartridge, you will see a note explaining this and will not be able to open the file.

New begins a new label project. If you were working on an existing label, you will be asked whether you want to save the existing label before starting a new label.

Save will prompt you for a file name to save the current label project. Files are saved to Lobo’s internal memory, or to an optional SD card, depending on the selection in the Location field. File names may only include numerals and capital letters, with a maximum file name length of 8 characters.

Delete gives two delete options: Delete File and Delete All. Delete File allows you to select a file for deletion. Delete All will delete all saved labels. (Use the Clear function key to delete a label currently being worked on.)

Location can be set to Internal (to use Lobo’s internal memory) or SD (to use an optional SD card.) Use the left and right arrow keys to toggle between the two locations. To use the SD card, it must be present when Lobo starts up.

Free Memory displays information about the Lobo’s internal storage, and the SD card (if one is present). It shows the number of label files, the total physical memory and the available memory.

Copy All Files gives you two options: copying all files from internal memory to the SD card, or copying all files from the SD card to internal memory.

NOTE: If file names in one location are identical with file names in another location and you use the Copy All Files function, the process will overwrite the identically named files. You will be given an on-screen warning to remind you of this when copying files.

Show File List displays a list of all of the files in the selected location, and those files’ sizes.

Symbol

Pressing the Symbol key displays a menu of symbol categories. Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight the desired category, and press Enter to browse the symbols in that category.

Use the arrow keys to highlight the desired symbol, and press Enter to place that symbol onto the label canvas.

Layout

Pressing the Layout key lets you choose from several layout configurations.

The sections of a layout are called cells.

Negative-cell layouts: Some layouts have negative cells, meaning that the background and foreground colors will be switched in those cells. In other words, if a label usually prints out as white-on-red, then a negative cell would print out as red-on-white. The negative cells are displayed in the Layout menu as dark cells. (There is also a Negative setting accessed via the Print Options key that prints a negative of the current label.)

Vertical layouts: Some layouts are oriented vertically instead of horizontally. (Barcodes cannot be positioned vertically because they would be too small to be scanned in that orientation.) The vertical-layout labels are indicated by the perpendicular ABC/123 text.

Label Length

The Label Length menu lets you change between an Auto mode and a Fixed mode for the label length.

The label length is set to Auto by default. This setting adjusts the length of a label automatically, based on the content placed on the label canvas.

To use a fixed length, select the Fixed option and press Enter. Type the desired length and press Enter to set the length of the label design. You will be returned to the label canvas.

NOTE: If the label already includes content, the length may not be reduced.

There is also a Width value in this menu screen; it cannot be changed and is displayed only as reference. The width of a label is determined by the print cartridge that is loaded.

The label canvas displays the current label dimensions (width and length) along the side of the screen.

Frame

The Frame menu gives options for placing frames around the label edge or around the label cells.

The first menu item, Frame, lets you switch between Off, Border and Grid. Off is the default setting. If Border is selected, a frame is placed around the outer perimeter of the entire label. If Grid is selected, a frame is placed around every single cell. (Selecting Grid displays the structure of the layout, which is usually invisible.)

Frame Thickness lets you control how thick the frame will be. The three choices are Thin, Medium, and Thick.

Font

The Font menu lets you choose from three fonts: Lobetica, Triumvirate, and VisuSans.

Font Size

The Font Size menu allows you to change the size of the label text.

By default, font sizes are in Auto mode. This automatically adjusts the size of text to fill the label as content is added.

To manually enter a fixed font size, press the Font Size key, change the Font Fix/Auto setting to Fixed, and press Enter. In the Input Fixed Font Size screen, type the desired font size, and press Enter. (The Max value, shown below the input field, indicates the maximum font size based on the space available.)

You can apply the font size change At Cursor, turning the setting on at that point in the text, or to the entire Selected Field, making all text in that field have the assigned attributes.

Font Options

Font Options lets you edit the style of the label text. The menu items and their functions are as follows:

Bold turns boldfaced styling on or off.

Italics turns italicized styling on or off.

Underline turns underlined styling on or off.

Character Position lets you switch the font style between Normal, Subscript or Superscript, with Normal being the default value.

Expand/Condense adjusts the width of the text to an approximate percentage of its normal width; the settings are 50, 100, 150 and 200.

Apply options: After choosing a font style, you will choose where the style will be applied: At Cursor, Selected Field, Entire Cell, Entire Label or All Labels.

At Cursor will make the font style active at the cursor. This option effectively “turns on” the chosen style; any new text that is entered will have the applied font style.

Selected Field will apply the font style to all text in the current field.

Entire Cell will apply the font style to all text in the current cell of the label. (If you have not selected a Layout, your label may only have one cell.)

Entire Label will apply the font style to the entire label, across all cells.

All Labels will apply the font style across all labels in a multi-label project.

Text Align

The Text Align menu offers controls for the alignment of your text.

Justification changes the justification (or alignment) of the label’s fields. The three options are Left, Center, and Right, with Center being the default value. Changing this setting changes the justification of all fields, no matter the type (text, barcode, symbol, sequence or time/date).

Line Spacing changes the spacing between the horizontal content fields of a label. The three options are Normal, Tight and Loose, with Normal being the default value.

Baseline changes the vertical alignment of the text. The two baseline choices are Center and Fixed. This setting is most important when your label includes more than one text size in a single line.

Apply options: Text Align styles apply to the entire label. You can choose to apply the chosen style to the Entire Label only, or to All Labels in the current project.

Repeat Print

Repeat Print is used for printing multiple copies of labels.

If the current label includes a sequence, you will be prompted to Input Quantity. This is the number of sequential labels that will be printed. For instance, if your label’s starting sequence is 0001 and you enter a quantity of 2, the Lobo will print labels with two steps of the sequence: 0001 and 0002.

The next screen allows you to Input Copies. This refers to the number of copies of each unique label that will be printed. For example, if you chose an Input Quantity value of 3 and an Input Copies value of 2, two copies of each of the three labels in the sequence (six labels in total) would be printed. When working on a label without a sequence, you will only see the Input copies prompt.

The Time/Date stamp updates only when a new unique label is being printed; when multiple copies of labels are being printed, the copies will have the same Time/Date stamp.

For more information about printing, see the Print function key section.

Barcode

The barcode creation menu gives you several barcode formatting options. Not all options will be available on all barcode types.

The barcode menu items and their functions are as follows:

Code lets you choose from 9 barcode types: CODE39, CODE128, 125, EAN8, EAN13, EAN128, UPC-A, UPC-E, and CODABAR.

NOTE: Some barcode types require specific data formatting, or a specific number of digits. If the data entered does not match the necessary format, Lobo will attempt to create a valid barcode by adjusting the data. Always check your barcodes for accuracy.

Human Readable shows (ON) or does not show (OFF) a copy of the barcode’s content in human-readable characters. For smaller labels where space is limited, you may need to turn off human-readable text so that the barcode is larger and can be more easily scanned.

Justification gives three justification options for the human-readable barcode characters: Left, Center or Right.

Position gives two options for where the human-readable characters are positioned: at the Top or Bottom of the barcode.

Density lets you adjust the horizontal density (and, therefore, the horizontal size) of the barcode. The three options are Small, Medium and Large.

Ratio lets you change the ratio of the wide bars to the thinnest bars. The two ratio options are 2:1 and 3:1, with 3:1 being the default value. A barcode with a ratio of 2:1 has thick bars that are two times the width of the thinnest bars. A ratio of 3:1 means that the thick bars are three times the width of the thinnest bars.

Check Digit lets you turn the automatically calculated barcode check digit on or off.

Sequence allows you to use the sequence function for a barcode. Barcodes using the sequence function can accept a maximum of 13 characters. For more information on sequencing, see the Sequence description in the next section.

Entering the barcode value: When you have set barcode options, press Enter and you will be prompted to input the barcode value. If Sequence has been turned on, you will be walked through a series of sequence data input screens.

Sequence

A sequence is an item on the label that changes automatically after every print, either increasing or decreasing. When designing a label, you can add a sequence as its own field (using the Sequence key) or as part of a barcode (using the Barcode tools).

A sequence has a maximum of 13 characters. In addition to numbers, letters can also be used in sequence data. As long as the sequence ends with numerals those will be the numbers that are treated as sequenced data. For example, the sequence 10AB001 would be followed by 10AB002 and then 10AB003.

To add a fixed suffix to a sequence, create a sequence without the suffix and then add a text field directly after the sequence that contains the suffix text.

When you press the Sequence key, you are walked through a series of data input screens, as follows:

Inc/Dec: This option sets whether the sequence increases (Inc) or decreases (Dec) in value after each print. The default is Inc; use the left and right arrow keys to change this option, and press Enter to continue.

Sequence Count Value: This is the amount by which the sequenced number will increase or decrease in a single step, after each label is printed. For example, if you wanted a sequence of numbers that incremented by 2 every time (such as 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.), you would enter 2 here.

Sequence Start Value: This is the sequence’s starting value, which will be the first value to be printed when a multiple-label print job is begun.

The number of digits in the Start Value will set the number of digits for the rest of the sequence. For example, if you wanted each number in the sequence to have three digits, and the first sequence value to be 1, you would input 001 as the Start Value.

Printing: To print labels with sequences, you can either use the Print key or the Repeat Print key. For either approach, you will see an Input Quantity screen to input a number. This is the number of labels with changing sequence data that will be printed. For instance, if your label’s sequence begins with 0001 and you enter a quantity of 2, the printer will print two sequential labels: 0001 and 0002.

Time/Date

Pressing the Time/Date key places a time field and a date field on the label canvas.

The time and the date fields cannot be edited on the label canvas. They are special fields that auto-fill with the current time and date, based on the current time and date set in the Lobo. These fields will update after each printing to reflect the new time and date.

You can change the Lobo’s internal time and date by using the Setup menu. The Setup menu also allows you to configure the Time/Date key to place only the time or the date (not both) onto the label canvas.

Print Options

There are three items in the Print Options menu: Mirror, Negative, and Rotate Label. They can be toggled with the left and right arrow keys.

Mirror makes your label print as a mirror image, or “backwards.” This effect will not be applied to the label canvas; instead, a small M in the lower right corner of the screen will indicate that Mirror has been turned on.

Negative makes your label print in negative, or with inverted colors. For example, a design that would normally have black text on a white background would be printed with white text on a black background. There are some layouts that include negative cells; these cells are displayed in black in the Layout menu.

Rotate Label allows you to rotate the label design 180 degrees for printing or return it to the usual 0 rotation. This option may be necessary when using a specialty supply that has been partially pre-printed. For most labels, there will be no reason to rotate the label, because the finished label will be the same either way. The rotation will not be applied to the label canvas; the effect is only visible when the label is printed.

After changing any of the Print Options, you will be prompted to apply the effect to the Entire Label or to All Labels in a multiple-label project.

Clear

The Clear function gives you several ways to delete label content:

All Labels: This command erases all labels in the current project. Current format settings will still be present.

All Labels, Restore Defaults: This erases all labels in the current project. It also erases any changes you have to the label’s settings, returning them to their default values. Defaults can be edited through the Setup > Set Defaults menu.

Current Label: This erases only the current label. This allows for the removal of a single label from a multi-label project.

Current Cell: This erases only the contents of the current cell.

Each of these options is followed by an “Are you sure?” prompt, requiring you to select Yes before the deletion is completed.

Setup

The Setup menu allows you to change the following formatting and printing options:

Set Defaults: This menu allows you to edit the default values for many of the settings of the Lobo, including text formatting, label-cutting preferences, frame preferences, print preferences, and barcode settings. These edited default settings will be saved on the Lobo even when power is shut off. To restore the Lobo settings to their factory presets, use the Factory Reset option at the bottom of the menu.

Auto Cut: There are three available settings for Auto Cut: On, Off, and Mark.

1. On: This is the default setting: it automatically cuts the labels based on what is chosen in the Cut Mode options: either Every or Batch.
2. Off: This setting turns off label cutting. If Auto Cut is Off, multiple labels will print out continuously without a separation. If necessary, manual cutting can be performed by pressing the Cut key.
3. Mark: In this mode, the printer prints marks between labels instead of cutting between labels. The labels can be manually cut at a later time.

Cut Mode: There are three options for Cut Mode: Off, Every, and Batch.

1. Off: Turning Cut Mode to Off turns off the automatic cut between labels.
2. Every: When Auto Cut is set to On, the Every option will cut between every single label that is printed.
3. Batch: When Auto Cut is set to On, this mode prints labels in a multiple-label print job continuously, without cutting between labels. The only cut performed is after all labels from a single print request are finished printing.

Print Speed: This setting cannot be changed and is only shown for reference.

Print Darkness: This setting cannot be changed and is only shown for reference.

Language: This lets you switch between available display languages.

Units of Length: This lets you switch between Inches and cm (centimeters) as the unit of length in Lobo menu screens.

Font Size Units: This lets you switch between Points, Inches and cm as the displayed font size unit in Lobo menu screens.

Time/Date Stamp: This lets you edit the setting of the Time/Date function. The three choices are Time, Date, and Both. By default, both the time and date will be added when you press the Time/Date key. The other options will insert only the Time or only the Date.

Time Format: There are two Time Format options: 12 hour and 24 hour. Selecting 12 hour will use the 12-hour time format, with AM or PM shown after the time, while 24 hour will use the 24-hour time format, popularly known as military time.

Date Format: There are two options for the date format: Short and Long. Short will display the date in the MM/DD/YY format, where MM is the month number, DD is the day number, and YY is the year number. Selecting Long will display the date in the longer Month/Day/Year format; e.g., Oct. 08, 2021.

Set Time/Date: This menu lets you edit the internal time and date settings of the Lobo. There are six units of time and date information, ranging from the year down to the second.

Print

Pressing the Print key will print the current label you are working on. Change printing and cutting options in the Setup menu.

PRINTING A SEQUENCE

If the label currently being worked on has a sequence, pressing the Print key will present an Input Quantity prompt, choosing how many labels in the sequence series will be printed. (See Sequence for more information about working with sequences.) If the sequence series contains Time/Date stamps, these will also update with every print.

PRINTING A MULTIPLE-LABEL PROJECT

If you are working in a project with multiple labels and would like to print multiple copies of the labels in the project, use View Label > List of Labels to choose how many of each label you want to print.

Next Cell

The Next Cell key is a navigation key. If the label being worked on has a multiple-cell layout, pressing Next Cell will move to the next cell on the label canvas. Pressing Shift + Next Cell will move back to the previous cell.

If you are working on a label with multiple cells, an icon with the label’s layout structure will be displayed at the top right corner of the screen. The current cell will be highlighted yellow on the layout icon.

Next Label

The Next Label key is a navigation key. In a multi-label project, pressing Next Label moves to the next label. Pressing Shift + Next Label will move back to the previous label.

If there is no next label, pressing Next Label will create a new label.

The number of the label currently being worked on is displayed in the lower left corner of the display screen.

A maximum of eight labels can be created in any one label project.

Use Clear > Current Label to erase a label from a multi-label project.

End

The End key is a navigation key. Pressing End will move the cursor to the very end of the current field. Pressing Shift + End it moves the cursor to the very beginning of the current field.

Directional Arrows and Enter

On the label canvas, the up and down arrow keys are used to move between content fields. The left and right arrows are used to move the cursor inside a field.

In the control screens, the up and down arrows are used for moving through menus, while the left and right arrows are used to change settings.

On the label canvas, the Enter key is used to move to another line of content. In control screens, Enter is generally used to accept any changes that have been made.

Cut

Pressing the Cut key advances the print supply reel approximately one inch and performs a cut.

Status

Pressing the Status key displays a list of all of Lobo’s current settings.

Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the status screens.

Image Resize

Image Resize is used to resize an image or symbol. When you press Image Resize, the first image on the label will be selected, and a box will appear around that image. If there are multiple images on the label, pressing Image Resize again will select the next image.

With an image selected, press the up arrow key to make the image larger or press the down arrow key to make it smaller.

When you are finished resizing an image, press Enter to accept the changes and exit the image resizing function, or press Image Resize again to select another image.

View Label

Pressing the View Label button gives you two options:

Print Preview and List of Labels.

Print Preview displays a preview of the current label. This is the only way to see the complete design of a multi-celled label. If the label is too long to be seen all at once, the left and right arrow keys can be used to scroll across the length of the label.

List of Labels displays a table of all of the labels in the current project. This table is used to control how to print a multi-label project. The Copies column of the table lets you input the number of copies of each label you’d like to print. After setting the copy numbers for the various labels in your project, pressing the Print key begin printing the specified copies.

NOTE: You cannot print labels that have changing sequence data or changing Time/Date data with the List of Labels printing function. It only prints identical copies of labels.

Image Move

Image Move is used to move an image or symbol from its original position. When you press Image Move, the first image on the label will be selected, and a box will appear around that image. If there are multiple images on the label, pressing Image Resize again will select the next image.

With an image selected, use the arrow keys to move the image around on the label canvas. When the image is in the desired location, press Enter to accept changes and stop repositioning images, or press Image Move again to select another image.

When you reposition an image, the adjustment is made relative to the image’s original location, or anchor point. Adding other text or content can move the image’s anchor point, causing the image to move as well. To remove an image, you must delete it from its anchor point.

More Support Options

If you have any questions about using your DuraLabel Lobo printer, get help from Graphic Products’ world-class support team by calling 800-788-5572 or visiting GraphicProducts.com. We’re here to help with all your labeling needs!