~SD
Set DarknessPreview: not drawnSets the printer's darkness outright, from outside any label format.
Syntax
~SD##Parameters
| Parameter | Description and accepted values | If omitted |
|---|---|---|
| ## | The darkness value itself, 0 to 30.0 to 30 — the darkness setting itself | Printer setting |
How it works
~SD is the absolute counterpart to ^MD. It sets the printer's darkness to a value between 0 and 30 and, being a tilde command, it acts the moment the printer reads it rather than waiting for a format to close.
That immediacy is the point. A configuration file that ends with ~SD leaves the printer at a known darkness for everything that follows, so the labels themselves do not have to carry a darkness adjustment at all.
The setting survives until something changes it, and ^JUS makes it survive a power cycle. Without that it is lost when the printer restarts.
Example
~SD18
^XA
^FO50,50^A0N,40^FDZPL Toolkit^FS
^XZRendering…
How the preview on this site handles it
Not drawn. The preview has no printhead, so darkness has nothing to act on and every label previews at full black. Being a tilde command, ~SD also sits outside ^XA…^XZ — the preview skips past it to the format and draws that normally.
Common mistakes
- Expecting it to persist. Without ^JUS the setting is gone at the next power cycle.
- Sending it inside a format. ~SD is a printer instruction, not a label command; it belongs before ^XA or in its own file.
- Setting it per label. If every label sets darkness, changing it means reissuing every template — set it on the printer once instead.