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PLATESOFTWARE

Show plates

Making a show plate quickly

The everyday show plate, from empty canvas to printed, in about thirty seconds.

← All guides3 min read

The fast layout

  1. Open the Show workspace.
  2. Type into Show plate text. Press Enter for a second line.
  3. Choose a Font, Weight and Text colour.
  4. Leave Auto fit ticked and the text sizes itself to stay inside the plate.
  5. Set the Size, Plate shape and Corner radius to match your blank.
  6. Choose Front, Rear or Pair under Output, then print.
The Show Plate controls: the text field, front, rear and pair output buttons, font selection, weight, text size, auto fit, letter and line spacing, alignment and text colour.
The Show Plate controls

Worth knowing. Auto fit shrinks text to stay inside the safe zone. Untick it if you want to set the text size yourself.

Colours, borders and backgrounds

  1. Tick Border and set the Border width and Border colour.
  2. Set the Background colour, or use Background image for a full-bleed design.
  3. Turn on Safe zone to see the area the text must stay within.
The Show Plate font row: weight, italic, text size, auto fit, letter and line spacing, horizontal and vertical alignment, text colour and safe zone.
Type controls, including auto fit and the safe zone toggle

Show plates are not road plates

Everything produced in this workspace is permanently marked as not for road use, and you must confirm that before printing. The marker is not optional and cannot be removed.

Did this not answer your question? Email support@platesoftware.co.uk and tell us what you were trying to do.