Print Cards for Staff in house
If you’re looking to make ID cards for staff or visitors on the spot, it’s easy to do.
You need a printer, consumables (ribbons & cards) and some software to store the printed cards and the template design.
Below we discuss all the things you need to get started.
It’s much easier to just buy a printer bundle by the way! If you’ve any queries please contact us we’ll be happy to help.
Card Printer Recommendations
- Just get what you need - can always upgrade late
- Don't overspend - most printers are very similar
- Pick a printer with good online support
The truth is, most printers are very similar inside and in terms of the card quality produced. Most printer brands make a range of machines that go from cheap to middle to very expensive. The difference between most of the models is not vast. All printers we sell are capable of printing thousands of cards a week, so there’s no risk of buying a printer that won’t keep up with demand.
If you’ve a requirement to do a few cards per day, we recommend a decent mid range printer such as the Magicard 300 or the Smart 31.
Printer Consumables Choice
Most printers have a specific ribbon that needs to go with each model. If you select a printer from the menu above, the “related items” will show the correct ribbons you need.
If you just want to print full colour on the front of the card, then you need a “YMCKO” ribbon.
If you’ve got a double sided printer, you can use the YMCKO ribbon, but it will use two cards’ worth of ribbon to print both sides. Printer brands offer a YMCKOK ribbon, which allows you to print full colour (logos, photos) on the front, then flip the card and print solid black on the reverse for just text. Typically this reduces your per card cost.
ID Card Printing Software
Most printers come with free software made by the manufacturers, but they’re never that user-friendly.
Every printer we sell comes with the entry level version of EasyBadge.
EasyBadge is really easy to setup, you can link a webcam to it so you can take headshots easily. The entry level version stores 100 cards in the internal database. If you want to upgrade you can just buy a licence key for the Pro version which has unlimited records.
There are tutorials on how to get started with easybadge available on youtube.
Database Printing
If you have all your staff details on a database or system, you can either connect directly to the database, or export the file to Excel and connect it there.
Both EasyBadge Professional and cardPresso allow you to connect to any ODBC database source, which pretty much covers any kind of database. It might take a bit of fiddling to get set up, but once you connect the software to a database, it makes printing multiple ID cards far faster and easier.
Photos for ID cards
There’s a few ways to get photos for ID cards. Generally you want to have all the photos formatted correctly so they match the cardholder details.
Ask everyone to email you their details and photos
This will get complicated and messy if you are making more than a few cards a day.
Use your staff database and match photos to people in the software
Slightly less painful but still a lot of clicking for each card. You need to number each photo file and make sure that number matches the card or staff number in the database.
Use EasyBadge iPhone app
EasyBadge has a clever interface that allows you to collect photos using your iPhone. Once you’re ready to print, the software matches up the correct photo to the right persons details.
If you want an easy life, this is the way to go.