Label stock and "what's loaded"

Two ideas live on Admin → Printers & stock:

Label stock is the list of labels you use, grouped by kind.
In it now is what's inside each printer right now. A printer holds one roll, or one kind of sheet, at a time.

Die-cut, continuous and sheets

Die-cut labels are separate labels, all the same size, like Standard Address (DK-1201, 3.5 × 1.1 in).
Continuous rolls, like DK-2205 (2.4 in wide), are cut to whatever length each label needs. Notes, food labels and appointment cards use one.
Sheets (Avery) are Letter-size pages of labels for an inkjet or laser printer.

What fits which printer

When you set up a printer, Laberty only offers labels that fit it:

Printer	Takes
Brother QL	Brother DK rolls and labels, up to 2.4 in wide, or 4 in on the QL-1100 and QL-1110NWB
DYMO LabelWriter	Genuine DYMO labels
Zebra, Rollo and other thermal printers	Thermal labels up to the printer's width, such as 4 × 6 in shipping labels
Inkjet or laser	Label sheets, such as Avery 5160
Receipt printer	Paper, 80 mm or 58 mm wide. That isn't label stock: it's set on the printer

Sizes you add yourself are offered to every roll printer they're narrow enough for.

The list

Label stock is grouped into Brother DK rolls, thermal labels, DYMO labels, label sheets, your own sizes, and the paper in each receipt printer. Every size is shown in inches and millimetres.

New accounts start with three Brother sizes:

Code	DK part	Name	Size
201	DK-1201	Standard Address (201)	3.5 × 1.1 in
208	DK-1208	Large Address (208)	3.5 × 1.4 in
2205	DK-2205	Continuous 2.4in roll (2205)	2.4 in wide, any length

You rarely need to add labels by hand: picking one while setting up a printer adds it. To add one anyway, choose it in Add from catalog.

Adding your own size

For labels that aren't in the catalog, use Add your own size:

Give it a name.
Under What kind?, choose Separate labels, all the same size or A continuous roll, cut to length.
Type the width in inches. For separate labels, type the length too. Leave the length empty for a roll.
The short code and the part number on the box are optional.

Then press Edit on the printer it goes in, and tick it on the What's in it? step.

The default size

One size is the default. It's picked for you on the member's print screen, and the member can still choose another size there. Label batches emailed through the API use it too, unless told otherwise. Press Set default next to a size to change it.

Removing a size, and restoring it

Press Remove next to a size you no longer use. Laberty first shows exactly what will change, and nothing happens until you press Remove again:

A printer that has it in now. If that printer uses only one other label, Laberty records that one as in it. Otherwise the printer's card says No roll recorded (No sheets recorded for an inkjet) until you choose what's in it.
Swap buttons. It comes off every printer's list, so no Swap roll button offers it.
The default. If it was the default, another size takes over, and Laberty tells you which. Separate labels are picked before sheets and rolls. If it was your last size, there is no default. The member's Print still works, at the standard address label size (3.5 × 1.4 in), until you add a size.
Labels waiting to print. Labels held for someone to press Print keep its name, and still print.
Apps using the API. A job or loaded-stock call that names it gets unknown_stock, as if it had never existed.

Nothing is deleted. A removed size moves to Removed stocks, a folded list at the bottom of the label stock section. Press Restore to bring it back. It returns to the list, but not into any printer or swap list. It becomes the default only if you have none. Adding the same label from the catalog, or picking it while setting up a printer, restores it too.

In it now, and swapping rolls

Every printer card shows In it now, and a Swap roll → … button (Swap sheets for an inkjet) for each other label that printer uses. When you change the roll, press the button for the one you put in. Every swap is recorded in the activity log.

To change which labels a printer uses, press Edit on its card.

Confirmed or Not sure

Under In it now, each card says whether Laberty knows that roll is in the printer for sure:

The card says	What happens when someone prints on a different roll
Confirmed, with who and when	Laberty stops the print before it reaches the printer. The member sees one sentence, such as "The printer has the Large Address roll in it. Change the roll, then tap Swap roll in Laberty — or print from this iPad.", with the usual button to print from the iPad instead.
Not sure	The print is sent, as it always was. A Brother QL that answers its status check still refuses the wrong roll, and your admins are emailed.

"For sure" means someone did something at the printer, on a Laberty device. A roll becomes Confirmed when someone:

sets a roll switch or selector on a Laberty device to that roll
picks the roll on a device's screen or knob, then presses its confirm button
presses a confirm button with nothing picked, which confirms the roll already recorded as in it

Swap roll → … on the card, the printer's Edit form, a tap on a Laberty Screen, and an app all record the roll as Not sure. The card says: "Confirm a roll “for sure” from a Laberty device at the printer (a switch or a confirm button)."

No device? Let Admin or your app confirm

Under the printer cards, Who can confirm a roll “for sure” has two boxes. Only admins can change them, and every change goes in the activity log:

Admin confirm it here. Then Swap roll → … confirms the roll, a card that says Not sure offers I’m sure it’s this roll, and the Edit form has an I’m sure this roll is in it now tickbox.
Apps confirm it through the API. Then "confirmed": true confirms the roll (see the integration guide). Without it, the app is told the roll was recorded as not sure, and why.

A tap on a screen never confirms a roll, whatever these boxes say.

It goes back to Not sure when someone presses Not sure anymore (always allowed), or changes the roll without confirming it. It also goes back when the stock is removed, or when the bridge reports that the printer disagreed with the confirmed roll. In that last case your admins are emailed.

When a roll is confirmed:

Labels waiting to print that need a different roll can't be printed with Print anyway. Swap the roll first.
Occasion labels set to print on their own wait under Ready to print instead, and your admins get the "ready to print — load …" email.
A job an app already queued, that needs a different roll, fails with stock_mismatch without printing. Occasion labels go back to waiting.

If you're not sure, leave it on Not sure. That's exactly how printing always worked.

Laberty relies on In it now in three places:

Sizing continuous labels. The default printer's roll sets the width of notes, food labels and appointment cards.
Brother QL by IP. The bridge prepares each job for the roll. See Brother QL printers by IP.
Wrong-label protection. When an app says which labels a job is for, Laberty refuses the job if something else is in the printer. See Wrong-label protection.

On Business, an app with a Full access key can update it too, with POST /api/printers/{id}/loaded-stock. That's handy when your app is the one asking staff to swap rolls.

Signs that "In it now" is wrong

Labels come out the wrong size, or cut in the wrong place.
A Brother printer shows an error light after a job.
An app's jobs are refused with stock_mismatch, or an email says "Load … in …".
A job fails with "Wrong labels in …".

The fix is the same each time: put the right roll in, or press Swap roll on the printer's card for the roll that's really there.