Will the labels print at the exact millimetre size?

Yes, if you disable scaling when printing. Every PNG carries a pHYs chunk that states its physical resolution, and every SVG is sized in millimetres, so a 12 mm label opens as 12 mm. What breaks the size is a print dialog set to fit to page or scale to media, so always choose 100% or actual size.

Why is a 12 mm label printed at 9 mm on a Brother P-touch?

Tape printers cannot print edge to edge. On Brother TZe tape the printable band is about 3.9 mm on 6 mm tape, 6.8 mm on 9 mm, 9.0 mm on 12 mm, 13.6 mm on 18 mm and 18.1 mm on 24 mm tape. The generator can size the artwork to that printable band so nothing is clipped, which is the Fit to printable area option.

Can I make labels for a whole drawer at once?

Yes. Switch to batch mode, paste one label per line, optionally adding a subtitle after a vertical bar, and download every label as a ZIP of PNG or SVG files. Icons can be matched automatically from the text, and all labels can share the same length so a drawer looks tidy.

PNG or SVG: which should I use for label printing?

Use PNG for label printers such as Brother P-touch Editor or Dymo Connect, because their software imports images reliably. Use SVG when you want to edit the label in Inkscape or Illustrator, send it to a vinyl cutter, or import the outline into CAD.

How do I attach labels to a Gridfinity bin?

Laminated tape sticks directly to the printed bin front and peels off cleanly later. For frequently changing contents, print a label sheet and slide the labels into a printed label holder or clip, or stick them to a strip of tape on the bin so the bin itself stays clean.

Is my label text uploaded anywhere?

No. The generator runs entirely in your browser. Text, icons and the finished PNG or SVG files never leave your device, and there is no account or sign-up.

Gridfinity Label Generator - Free Printable Bin Labels

Three steps

How the generator works

Type what is in the bin

One clear name, plus an optional second line for the detail you always forget — thread pitch, grit, wattage, expiry.

Pick a size that matches the bin

Choose the tape height you own and, if you like, a length that matches a 1U, 2U or 3U bin so a whole drawer lines up.

Download and print at 100%

The PNG carries its physical size and the SVG is measured in millimetres. Turn off any “fit to page” option and the label comes out exactly as previewed.

The guide

How to label your Gridfinity bins so you actually find things

Gridfinity solves the geometry of a drawer — a 42 mm grid, bins that stay where you put them. What it does not solve is memory. A drawer of 30 identical grey bins is a drawer you will still be digging through in six months. Labels are the cheap half of the system, and they are the half most people skip.

Label the contents, not the category

“Screws” is a label you will read once and ignore forever, because every bin in that row says screws. “M3 × 10 socket head” is a label you read from a metre away and never open by mistake. The rule of thumb: if two bins could plausibly share a label, the label is too vague. Put the distinguishing detail — size, thread, grit, value, colour — on the label itself, and use the second line for everything else.

Pick one height and stay with it

Mixed label heights are what makes a tidy drawer look chaotic. Pick the tape you own and commit: 12 mm is the best all-rounder — big enough for a name plus a smaller second line, small enough for a 1U bin front. Go to 6 or 9 mm only if your bins are shallow, and to 18 or 24 mm for shelf bins you read while standing up.

Match the length to the grid

Gridfinity’s unit is 42 mm. A label that spans a bin front looks deliberate; one that stops two thirds of the way looks like a mistake. The length presets in the generator are sized for that: about 38 mm for a 1U bin, 80 mm for 2U and 122 mm for 3U, leaving a hair of margin so the label does not wrap around the rounded corner. In batch mode, “give every label the same length” makes 40 different words line up like a printed index.

Icons carry across the room

Text tells you what is in the bin once you are close. An icon tells you which half of the drawer to walk to. Using one icon per family — one for nuts, one for washers, one for drill bits — turns a wall of text into a map. This is also why the icon sits on the left: your eye lands there first, then reads.

Print at 100%, always

Almost every “my labels came out the wrong size” story ends at the same setting: the print dialog quietly scaled the image to fit the media. Every file this generator makes states its own physical size — PNG through a pHYs metadata chunk, SVG through millimetre units — so the only thing you have to do is choose 100% / actual size and turn off “fit to page”, “scale to media” or “auto-fit”.

Then label the drawer, not just the bins

Once the bins are done, a single 24 mm label on the drawer front (“M-series fasteners”, “soldering”, “baking”) saves you opening three drawers to find the one you meant. Same tool, one size up.

Starting points

Label ideas by room

Steal these straight into batch mode — one line per bin.

Workshop

The classic Gridfinity drawer: fasteners by size, then consumables.

M3 × 10 | socket head
M4 nuts | nyloc
Washers | M3–M6
Wood screws | 4 × 30
Wall plugs | 6 mm
Drill bits | 1–10 mm
Heat-set inserts | M3

Kitchen

Small bins beat a spice rack: everything faces you at once.

Paprika | smoked
Cumin seeds
Stock cubes
Tea bags | green
Coffee pods
Sprinkles
Measuring spoons

Craft room

Colour and size are what you search by — put them on the label.

Thread | cotton, warm tones
Buttons | 15 mm
Beads | glass, 4 mm
Needles | sizes 7–10
Washi tape
Glue sticks
Yarn scraps

Office & desk

Cables and adapters are where labels pay for themselves fastest.

USB-C cables | 1 m
SD cards
Paper clips
Binder clips | 25 mm
Sticky notes
AA batteries
Pens | black

Reference

Label sizes for Gridfinity bins

Tape width is what you buy; printable height is what a Brother P-touch actually puts on it. The generator can size the artwork to either.

Tape width	Brother TZe printable height	Good for
6 mm	3.9 mm	Tiny 1U bins, single short words, drawer edges
9 mm	6.8 mm	1U and 2U bins with a short name, no second line
12 mm	9.0 mm	The all-rounder: name plus a small second line
18 mm	13.6 mm	Deep bins, shelf bins, two comfortable lines
24 mm	18.1 mm	Drawer fronts and storage boxes read while standing

Printable height varies a little by model — a desktop PT-P900 uses more of the tape than a handheld PT-D210. Treat the numbers above as the safe common case and print one label before you print forty.

And the lengths

Because the Gridfinity grid is 42 mm, useful label lengths are just multiples of it, minus a little margin: 38 mm for 1U, 80 mm for 2U, 122 mm for 3U and 164 mm for 4U. Leave the length on “auto” and each label ends where its text ends; pick a fixed length and they all match.

FAQ

Questions people actually ask

What size labels do Gridfinity bins need?

A Gridfinity unit is 42 mm, so a 1U bin takes a label of about 38 mm, a 2U bin about 80 mm and a 3U bin about 122 mm. For height, 9 mm and 12 mm tape suit most bins: 12 mm is the sweet spot for a name plus a small detail line, 6 mm suits tiny 1U bins, and 18 or 24 mm is for bins you want to read across a workshop.

Which label printer is best for Gridfinity bins?

A Brother P-touch with TZe tape is the usual answer. The tape is laminated, so it survives oily hands, isopropyl alcohol and being rubbed by parts going in and out. 12 mm TZe fits almost every bin.

Dymo LabelManager tape is cheaper up front and perfectly readable, but it is not laminated and scuffs faster in a workshop. Dymo LabelWriter die-cut labels are great for larger bins and drawer fronts. With no label printer at all, print onto adhesive sticker sheets on any inkjet or laser printer — use the A4 sheet option in batch mode.

Will the labels really print at the exact millimetre size?

Yes, as long as you do not let the print dialog scale them. Each PNG gets a pHYs chunk that declares its physical resolution, so image editors, label software and printer drivers place it at its true size instead of guessing from screen pixels. Each SVG declares width and height in millimetres for the same reason.

The one thing you must do is choose 100% / actual size and turn off “fit to page”, “scale to media” or “auto-fit”.

Why does my 12 mm tape only print about 9 mm?

Tape printers leave an unprintable margin along both edges. On Brother TZe tape the printable band is roughly 3.9 mm on 6 mm tape, 6.8 mm on 9 mm, 9.0 mm on 12 mm, 13.6 mm on 18 mm and 18.1 mm on 24 mm. Leaving “Fit to the printer's printable area” switched on sizes the artwork to that band, so your text is never clipped. Switch it off if you are printing onto sticker sheets or die-cut labels, where the full height is usable.

Can I label 40 bins in one go?

That is what batch mode is for. Paste one label per line — add a second line after a | — and download the whole set as a ZIP of PNG or SVG files, named after their text. Turn on automatic icon matching and the generator picks an icon per line from the words you used (“M3 nuts” gets the nut, “drill bits” gets the bit). Turn on equal lengths so the finished drawer reads like a printed index.

PNG or SVG?

PNG for label printers: P-touch Editor, Dymo Connect and most printer software import images far more reliably than vectors. SVG when you want to keep editing — Inkscape, Illustrator, Affinity — or when you are sending the label to a vinyl cutter or into CAD. The two files are generated from the same geometry, so they are identical on paper.

How do I stick labels onto a printed bin?

Laminated tape sticks straight onto the bin front and peels off cleanly when the contents change. If your bins get reorganised often, print a sheet of labels and slide them into a printed label holder or clip, or lay a strip of clear tape on the bin first and stick the label to that — the bin stays clean underneath.

Can I emboss the label into the printed bin instead?

Not yet — that is the next thing on the list: an STL of the same label in relief, 0.4 mm deep so a single filament change at one layer gives you a two-colour label printed straight into the part. For now the tool covers PNG and SVG for real label printers and sticker sheets.

Is anything uploaded or stored?

No. The generator is a single page that runs entirely in your browser; your text and the rendered files never leave the device. There is no account, no sign-up and nothing to install. The only thing saved locally is your screen-scale slider, so the actual-size preview stays calibrated next time.