# Printing a test Stock Label **URL:** \ **Category:** Country specific: United Kingdom\ **Created:** [14 January 2025 15:14 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427 "2025-01-14T15:14:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/phil-halls/32/3004_2.png) [@phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/u/phil-halls)\ **Post date:** [14 January 2025 15:14 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/1 "2025-01-14T15:14:14Z")
I’m sure this is a PICNIC issue but I am setting Breww up so all is new. I want to create custom templates for our Stock Labels, overprinting thermally onto branded labels with a white print area. I have set up a custom template to see how it looks and send off to our printers but I just can’t test print it. From: > Custom stock template labels Page > I click: > View a Test PDF > There is a drop-down titled: ‘Product to test labels with’ > but it is empty so I can’t select anything. Have I misunderstood what a Product is, as I have set all these up? Thanks ---
**Author:** ![jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/jon-kyme2/32/1926_2.png) [@jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/u/jon-kyme2)\ **Post date:** [14 January 2025 15:37 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/2 "2025-01-14T15:37:20Z")
Have you got any stock of those products? Is it that the dropdown only shows products with stock? ---
**Author:** ![phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/phil-halls/32/3004_2.png) [@phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/u/phil-halls)\ **Post date:** [14 January 2025 15:54 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/3 "2025-01-14T15:54:34Z")
Surely the product stock will come after the beer has been put into container, for which I need labels? But you might be right - it’s just a testing thing ---
**Author:** ![connor-fry](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/connor-fry/32/1365_2.png) [@connor-fry](https://community.breww.com/u/connor-fry)\ **Post date:** [15 January 2025 09:42 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/4 "2025-01-15T09:42:51Z")
Hi Phil, Thanks for raising this on the community! As @jon-kyme2 has suggested this does only work for products that you currently have in stock. This is because we take all the data we are using for the existing stock and use that in the custom template being tested. Let us know if you need any support at all! ---
**Author:** ![jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/jon-kyme2/32/1926_2.png) [@jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/u/jon-kyme2)\ **Post date:** [15 January 2025 10:05 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/5 "2025-01-15T10:05:28Z")
So, how _do_ we test these labels in advance? The only way I can think of is to create some “test” stock - so I guess we’d need a “test” batch of a “test” beer (0% abv to avoid duty implications?). “Rack” one of them, and use that. Seems elaborate. There’s this FR: > [@Demo/Sand box environment](https://community.breww.com/t/demo-sand-box-environment/3347): > > Eyup - not exactly a new Breww feature request, but would it be possible to have access to a demo account (similar to that offered at the beginning) or a ‘sand box’ environment where we could try out new settings/processes before implementing them in our brewery account? This would save a few headaches of setting things up that don’t work the way we wanted, and can’t reverse it cos containers etc can’t be deleted once used/assigned … as an example. I can see our original demo account from my pr… Although that would require copying the template & other label settings out of the “sandbox” and applying them in the “live” account. Probably better to have a “dummy” (pre-populated) option for testing labels, although the ability to test on real products will always be useful. But that’s a FR ---
**Author:** ![connor-fry](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/connor-fry/32/1365_2.png) [@connor-fry](https://community.breww.com/u/connor-fry)\ **Post date:** [17 January 2025 10:48 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/6 "2025-01-17T10:48:46Z")
Hi Jon, This tool is designed to help you test changes to label templates in Breww by quickly checking how existing stock would appear with the template applied. It’s most commonly used after the initial setup, where some initial stock has been imported into Breww. I’d strongly advise against creating stock that doesn’t actually exist just for testing purposes. The tool is intended to test templates with existing products rather than testing how a template looks for a specific new product. ---
**Author:** ![phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/phil-halls/32/3004_2.png) [@phil-halls](https://community.breww.com/u/phil-halls)\ **Post date:** [17 January 2025 11:25 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/7 "2025-01-17T11:25:47Z")
So how do we set up templates in Breww before going live? ---
**Author:** ![jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/jon-kyme2/32/1926_2.png) [@jon-kyme2](https://community.breww.com/u/jon-kyme2)\ **Post date:** [17 January 2025 11:52 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/8 "2025-01-17T11:52:56Z")
Maybe @phil-halls has some pre-existing stock to bring in to Breww. Have done a FR: > [@Testing Custom Labels with no Product in stock](https://community.breww.com/t/testing-custom-labels-with-no-product-in-stock/5453): > > Following on from @phil-halls issue here: It’s currently not possible to test a custom Stock Label if we have no products in stock. This is obviously a problem if we’re a new business that doesn’t have any stock, needs to use a custom template, and needs to test it before racking anything. Breww should support testing these templates without requiring products be in stock. Maybe there should be a dummy, pre-populated option (in addition to actual stock) for testing. ---
**Author:** ![matt-cousins](https://community.breww.com/user_avatar/community.breww.com/matt-cousins/32/3876_2.png) [@matt-cousins](https://community.breww.com/u/matt-cousins)\ **Post date:** [17 January 2025 17:49 UTC](https://community.breww.com/t/printing-a-test-stock-label/5427/10 "2025-01-17T17:49:12Z")
We agree that it would be problematic to create and test labels before entering any stock. We’ve taken another look at this tool and tweaked it so that it will use details from existing packaging if possible but fallback to some dummy information if no packaging exists. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!