^MD
Media DarknessPreview: not drawnA relative darkness adjustment for this format, on top of whatever the printer is already set to.
Syntax
^MDaParameters
| Parameter | Description and accepted values | If omitted |
|---|---|---|
| a | Steps to add to the current darkness. Negative values lighten.-30 to 30 — adjustment applied to the current darkness | 0 |
How it works
^MD nudges the darkness the printer is configured with, rather than setting it. `^MD10` means ten steps darker than the current setting, and the next ^MD in the same format replaces that adjustment — it does not add to it.
Darkness is the balance between too little heat, which gives grey bars a scanner cannot read, and too much, which spreads the ink and closes up the gaps between them. Both failures look like a scanning problem and only one of them looks faint.
Because it is relative, ^MD travels badly. The same format on two printers with different base settings prints at two different darknesses — which is why fleets tend to set darkness on the printer with ~SD and leave ^MD out of the label.
Example
^XA
^MD10
^FO50,50^A0N,40^FDDarker^FS
^XZRendering…
How the preview on this site handles it
Not drawn. Darkness is how much heat the printhead applies to the media, and the preview has neither — every label previews at full black. A symbol that looks perfect here can still print too light to scan, which is what a test print is for.
Common mistakes
- Treating it as an absolute setting. ^MD is relative to the printer's own darkness; ~SD is the absolute one.
- Stacking adjustments. A second ^MD in the same format replaces the first rather than adding to it.
- Pushing it up to fix a smeared barcode. Too dark closes the gaps between bars; if the symbol is already dark, the problem is speed or media, not heat.