Printing is a bit complex with digital gift cards for several reasons.
While many printers can print double sided, this feature is not always reliable in terms of making sure everything is aligned exactly on both sides, so it's hard for us to replicate a double sided experience — so we've made a choice not to offer options that require double sided printing.
Another challenge is that, since it's unlikely that many consumers will have plastic "paper" available we had to account that most gift cards will be printed on standard printer paper.
Instead, we have developed three printing options that simulate double sided printing in a way that's more reliable.
Note: Only paid subscribers have access to all three print style options. Free users only have access to the "wallet" size option.
It's also important to note that we use some advanced code that controls how our gift cards print so they, by design, do not always include all the features you see on a screen.
You do not need to supply any additional images for print versions. The print version grabs files used elsewhere.
Wallet size
This is the default format and the only one available on free plans.
When a user prints a gift card with this option active, it will print on a single sheet of paper that looks like this (we've added a border to help show where the paper ends, but this does not print):
If you look closely, you'll notice this prints some instructions for the person who printed it. There is also the image of your digital gift card rotated 180 degrees ("upside down"). This rotation is not an accident. Below this, you'll see the information needed to redeem the gift card: The store name, gift card code, QR code and initial value.
This option is designed for users to cut out around the these two sections, as shown here:
Users can then fold the cutout in half to simulate a double sided card.
The idea here is that this simulates double sided printing at relatively the same size that many consumers are used to seeing for physical gift cards.
Bifold
The bifold option prints on a single sheet too.
Much like the wallet size, users can cut this out and fold in half. This again simulates a double sided print.
Quadfold
This option requires the user to cut out the card and then fold it twice to create the appearance of a greeting card style layout. If you remember the early days of PrintShop, you might recall this is how greeting cards were printed on it.
The user folds it first along the horizontal line, with something like this for a result:
The customer then folds it in half again along the vertical line.
This creates a printed version like this:
