Zebra ZXP Series 3 Support

Use the Printer driver button above for Windows or Mac. Run the installer, then connect the printer by USB and turn it on. When the printer shows up in Printers & scanners, print a test card to confirm everything works.

On a Mac, if the installer will not open, go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Company computers may need IT to allow it.

Most printers rarely need it. Update only if our support team asks you to, or to fix a known issue. Download the firmware (.bin file) from Firmware update above. Then Devices and Printers › right-click the printer › Printer properties › Device Settings › Tools › Select File, choose the file and click Start Firmware Download. Don’t turn the printer off until the screen says READY, or it won’t start.

Do not turn off or unplug the printer while it updates. If you would rather not do it alone, call us and a technician will run it with you over remote support.

All of them, including Windows 11. The Zebra ZXP Series 3 driver and Bodno ID Card Software both work on any version of Windows. Get them from the downloads above.

Yes. Download the Mac driver above. Bodno ID Card Software runs on Mac too.

Devices and Printers › right-click the Zebra ZXP Series 3 › Printer properties › Device Settings › Tools. Choose a test card (Standard, Printer Parameters or Encoder Parameters) and click Print.

If the test card prints cleanly but your cards do not, the problem is in the software or the card design, not the printer.

Ribbons made for the Zebra ZXP Series 3:

• Zebra 800033-840 Color Ribbon for ZXP Series 3 - YMCKO - 200 prints $74.00
• Zebra 800033-340 High Capacity Color Ribbon for ZXP Series 3 - YMCKO - 280 prints $100.00
• Zebra 800033-301 Black Monochrome High Capacity Ribbon - K - 2,000 prints $29.60

Cards: CR80 PVC cards, 10 to 40 mil, set with the thickness dial on the card feeder. Most badges are printed on 30 mil cards, like our Bodno CR80 30 mil PVC cards. Keep them in the box until you load them, because dust and fingerprints show up on the print.

• Bodno Cleaning Card Kit for Zebra ZXP Series 3 (Zebra 105999-302 Compatible) $31.00

Clean when the screen shows CLEAN PRINTER or print quality drops, and right away if you see specks, dots or lines on your cards.

• CHECK RIBBON: wrong ribbon or not loaded correctly. ZXP Series 1 ribbons don’t fit. Reload the cartridge.
• OUT OF RIBBON: load a new ribbon cartridge.
• OUT OF CARDS: load cards and press the panel button for 1 second to restart the job. If cards are loaded, see the card feed question below.
• LID OPEN / COVER OPEN: close it fully.
• MECHANICAL ERROR: usually a jam in the flipper. Open the lid, press the finger tab to the left of the card thickness dial, lift the card feeder and remove the cards. You may need to turn the flipper by hand.
• CLEAN PRINTER: cleaning is due (see below).
• ENCODING ERROR: the magnetic cards don’t match the driver’s high or low coercivity setting.
• COMMAND, PARAMETERS, FLASH or READING ERROR: turn the printer off and on and print again.

It comes down to the card thickness dial on the feeder.

• Feeds two cards: close the dial one or two clicks, one click at a time.
• Won’t feed: fan the stack so cards aren’t stuck together, throw out the first card if its edge is damaged, then open the dial one or two clicks.

1. Turn the printer off. Hold the control button and turn it back on, still holding.
2. When the screen shows PRINTER INFO, let go, then tap the button to step through the details: model, serial number, firmware and then IP address, mask, gateway and DHCP.
3. On each computer, run the Zebra driver installer and choose the Ethernet driver. Pick the printer from the list or type its IP address. The printer and computers must be on the same subnet.

With the printer on, hold the control button for 5 seconds. Then follow the screen:

1. REMOVE RIBBON THEN CLOSE LID
2. EMPTY FEEDER THEN CLOSE COVER
3. FEED LONG CLEANING CARD: feed the long card. The printer pulls it through and ejects it.
4. INSERT FEEDER CLEANING CARD: open the feeder cover and put in the feeder cleaning card.
5. When the screen says READY, reload the ribbon and cards.

• Small spots: dusty cards or a dirty cleaning roller. Check the protective cover was peeled off the cleaning roller on the ribbon cartridge, and run a cleaning.
• White lines across the card: the ribbon is wrinkled or not wound straight on the cores, or the printhead is dirty. If cleaning doesn’t fix it, the printhead may be damaged. Contact us.
• Pale or patchy: try another ribbon and another pack of cards, then adjust intensity in the driver’s Image Control.
• Blurry: open and close the lid so the ribbon re-syncs to the right colour panel.

1. Open the lid.
2. Peel the protective cover off the cleaning roller on the ribbon cartridge.
3. Insert the cartridge with the cleaning roller facing down, so the gears on the roller ends drop into their slots.
4. Close the lid and press down until it clicks. With the power on, the ribbon syncs on its own.

Only ZXP Series 3 ribbons fit. Each cartridge has its own cleaning roller, so you get a fresh one with every ribbon.

Printing Preferences › Card Setup:

• Black Panel Options: tick Black text and Black graphics so they print with the solid black (K) panel instead of mixed colour. For one area, like a barcode, use Defined areas in the Area manager.
• Monochrome Conversion: use Barcode for text, barcodes and line art, and Diffusion for photos.

Three things, in this order: the printer driver, Bodno ID Card Software, then a test card. Activate the software with the code from your purchase email. If activation does not go through, see Activation & license help or call us.

• Your printer model and the serial number from the label on the printer
• A photo of the card or the error message
• Windows or Mac, and which version
• USB or Ethernet
• Your order number, so we can check your coverage, including TotalCare