Royal Mail Click & Drop: 4×6 Label Setup Guide

Royal Mail Click & Drop is the shipping tool most UK ecommerce sellers use to buy postage, print labels and hand parcels over at the Post Office or Delivery Office. By default it outputs A4 PDFs — which means printing on paper, cutting them out and taping them on. Switching Click & Drop to 4×6 (100×150mm) thermal label output takes about five minutes and pays back immediately in speed, cost and scan reliability.

Why 4×6 is the right Click & Drop format

• 4×6 (100×150mm) is Royal Mail's own recommended thermal label size for parcel services.
• Direct thermal printing produces sharper barcodes than inkjet or laser on A4 — barcodes wash out and fail scans at Delivery Offices.
• One label per parcel: no cutting, no tape, no waste.
• Fanfold stacks feed continuously so you can print a full manifest without reloading.

Before you start

• A Royal Mail Click & Drop account (business or OBA).
• A 4×6 direct thermal printer — Zebra ZD420, Rollo X1038, Munbyn ITPP941 or Polono PL60 all work.
• A pack of 4×6 fanfold direct thermal labels (100×150mm).
• The printer's driver installed and set as the default printer for label printing.

Step 1 — Set the label format in Click & Drop

1. Sign in at click-drop.royalmail.com and open Settings.
2. Open Label Format Preferences (sometimes shown as Printing Preferences).
3. Set Label Layout to 6" x 4" (or 100mm x 150mm) — this is the thermal option.
4. Set Include customs declarations on label to On if you ship internationally on services that require it.
5. Save the preference.

Step 2 — Configure the printer

1. Open your OS printer settings and select the thermal printer.
2. Set the media size to 100mm × 150mm (or 4" × 6").
3. Set orientation to Portrait and scaling to 100% — do not use Fit to page.
4. Set the print speed to 4 ips (100mm/s) and darkness to the printer's mid-range (Zebra: 10–15; Munbyn: 10; Rollo: 6) as a starting point.
5. Run the printer's auto-calibration on a fresh fanfold stack so it learns the label gap.

Step 3 — Print a test label

1. Create a low-value test order in Click & Drop (or use an existing order).
2. Click Print labels — the PDF should be a single 4×6 page, not A4.
3. Print to the thermal printer. The barcode should be crisp black bars on white, no grey banding.
4. Scan the barcode with your phone's camera — it should decode instantly.

Troubleshooting

Label prints too small or is shifted

Almost always a scaling problem. Reopen the OS print dialog and confirm scaling is 100% and paper size is 100mm × 150mm. If Click & Drop is still generating an A4 PDF, the label-format preference didn't save — repeat Step 1 and sign out/in.

Barcode is faint or grey

Darkness is too low, or the labels are loaded upside down. Direct thermal only prints on the coated side — scratch a fingernail across the label; the side that marks is the printable side. Raise darkness by 2–3 steps and reprint.

Printer skips labels or double-feeds

The gap sensor hasn't calibrated. Run the printer's calibration routine on the exact fanfold stack you're using. Cheap, inconsistently-folded labels are the usual culprit — proper 4×6 fanfold packs (matte, BPA-free, 500/pack) feed cleanly on every printer above.

Delivery Office rejects the barcode

Never inkjet or laser onto a thermal label — the print smudges. Always use a direct thermal printer with 4×6 fanfold or roll labels. Keep the printhead clean with an IPA wipe every 1–2 packs.

Which labels to use

Oplect 4×6 fanfold direct thermal labels are 100mm × 150mm, 500 per pack, matte, BPA-free, with a permanent acrylic adhesive tested against Royal Mail scanning tolerances. £12.00 per pack VAT-inclusive with free UK mainland delivery; automatic bulk discounts at 4, 8 and 16 packs.

Related reading

• Zebra, Rollo & Munbyn 4×6 fanfold printer setup.
• Best 4×6 fanfold thermal labels for UK sellers.
• Best thermal printers for Royal Mail Click & Drop.