Printing check-in labels on an iPad or tablet
Many churches run their check-in station on an iPad or an Android tablet at the classroom door. When you print a name tag straight from the tablet's browser, AirPrint (on iPad) and the Android print service both like to "scale to fit" the page — which shrinks, stretches, or shifts a label that is supposed to be a fixed size. This article explains the Print on iPad / Tablet button, which prints your labels at exactly the right size on a tablet.
Desktop vs. tablet: two buttons
When you open a check-in label to print, you'll see two buttons at the top of the screen:
- Print Labels — the standard button. Use this on a desktop or laptop computer. It opens your browser's print dialog, where you set the paper size to match your label and margins to None.
- Print on iPad / Tablet — use this on an iPad or Android tablet. Instead of printing the web page, it opens a true-size PDF of the label. Because the PDF has the label dimensions baked in, the tablet's print dialog cannot resize it.
A short reminder on the print screen tells everyone which button to use, so volunteers don't have to remember.
Rule of thumb: printing from a computer, tap Print Labels; printing from a tablet, tap Print on iPad / Tablet.
Printing from a tablet, step by step
- Check the person in, then open their label to print (tap the printer icon next to their name on the roster).
- Tap Print on iPad / Tablet. A true-size PDF of the label opens.
- Tap Share → Print.
- Choose your Brother printer from the list.
- Tap Print. The label prints at the exact size you set — no scaling.
The PDF includes the same label(s) you'd get on desktop: the child name tag and, when your setup uses one, the parent security tag. If you picked a specific template on the print screen, only that label is generated.
Why tablets are different
Desktop browsers let you turn scaling off and set an exact paper size, so printing the web page works fine. Tablets don't give you that control — AirPrint and the Android print service assume they're printing a document and auto-fit it to the paper. For a name tag on a fixed Brother QL label roll, "fit to page" is exactly wrong: a 62 mm x 100 mm tag comes out undersized or clipped.
The Print on iPad / Tablet button sidesteps this. The PDF's page is set to your label size, so what the printer receives is already correct. The tablet has nothing to scale.
Brother printer notes
This works with AirPrint-capable and network Brother label printers, including the popular:
- Brother QL-810W (wireless / AirPrint)
- Brother QL-820NWB (wireless, Bluetooth, network)
Tips for a clean result:
- Make sure the tablet and the Brother printer are on the same Wi-Fi network so the printer appears in the Share → Print list.
- Confirm the roll loaded in the printer matches your label size in Check-In settings (for example, 62 mm continuous or a die-cut size). The PDF is generated at the size configured there — see Label Templates and the Label Designer.
- If a label still looks off, check that the printer's own paper/media setting matches the roll, and that no extra scaling is turned on in the tablet's print options.
Desktop hasn't changed
If you print from a computer, nothing is different — keep using Print Labels, set the paper size to match your label, and set margins to None. The tablet button is purely an addition for AirPrint and Android printing. See Security Codes, Labels, and Child Safety for how labels are laid out and what appears on them.