How to Print Barcode Labels on Avery 5160 Paper: A Step-by-Step Guide
Written by Tomasz Lichosik
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The Avery 5160 — and its near-identical cousins like the 8160 and 5260 — is the default label sheet for small businesses. Thirty labels to a page (three columns, ten rows), readable on any laser or inkjet printer, and cheap by the box. For labelling a small to mid-sized inventory, it is hard to beat.
The one thing that trips people up is alignment. Few things sting like printing a full sheet and finding every barcode drifting a few millimetres off, so half the page peels off crooked and useless. The good news: that is entirely avoidable, and it usually comes down to one printer setting.
Why the 5160 suits barcodes
- You can buy it in any office supply shop without a special order.
- It runs on the printer you already own — no dedicated thermal unit needed.
- At 1" × 2⅝", each label has room for a dense Code 128 plus a line of human-readable text underneath.
Generating codes that fit
People often reach for a Word mail-merge template, and just as often end up with soft, slightly blurry barcodes that scanners struggle with. A dedicated generator avoids that.
1. Prepare your data. List your SKUs or IDs, one per line. Thirty values fill a sheet exactly, so working in multiples of thirty wastes no labels.
2. Use the bulk export. On the BarcodeReady bulk tool, paste your list, choose Code 128 (the best balance of density and reliability on a small label), and pick the US Letter (3×10, Avery 5160) layout.
3. Generate the PDF. You get a vector PDF with each code centered inside the 5160 margins, ready to print.
Getting the alignment right
A perfect PDF can still be ruined at the print dialog. Three habits prevent that:
- Print at actual size. Make sure "Scale to Fit" or "Shrink to Fit" is off and the setting reads "Actual Size" or "100%". Even a 2% scale compounds down the page until the bottom row is visibly off.
- Test on plain paper first. Print one page on ordinary paper, hold it against a blank label sheet up to the light, and check the boxes line up before you spend a real sheet.
- Seat the paper properly. Snug the tray guides against the sheet so it cannot twist as it feeds.
Laser or inkjet?
Laser is the better pick — toner is tougher than ink and shrugs off damp and thumb-rubbing. If you are on an inkjet, give the labels five minutes to dry before handling them, or you will smear the bars you just printed.
That is the whole trick: a clean vector PDF, the right layout, and "100%" in the print box. You can generate your Avery 5160 sheet on BarcodeReady whenever you are ready.