Learn how to fix your silhouette print and cut issues. Having trouble with your silhouette print and cut not lining up? It’s easy to fix.
I love my Silhouette. But when it comes to the Silhouette Print and Cut Function, the relationship changes. And not in a good way.
A few weeks ago, I was trying to print and cut labels for my shop and was almost in tears during the process. My carefully crafted labels printed beautifully, but every time I tried to cut them, the cuts were getting farther and farther from being right. It was incredibly frustrating.
So I want to share the process of how I solved my silhouette print and cut issues.
Need more information on using Silhouette Print and Cut? I’ve got you covered with this post on how to cut stickers.
Solve Your Silhouette Print and Cut Issues
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- Open your Silhouette Design Studio software.
- Open the settings panel. It can be found in the lower-left corner.
- Click on the “Advanced Panel”.
- Change the packet size from the default of “1000 bytes” to “500 bytes.”
- Click “OK.”
This should solve the issue of the cuts not aligning correctly. I’m not even sure why it works, but it’s something about how much data the Silhouette sends to the computer. Sending less data sounds bad, but it’s actually better because it keeps it from getting bogged down. This is a pretty common problem, so I’m not sure why it is set so high to begin with.
Your silhouette print and cut should line up perfectly now.
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More Silhouette Troubleshooting Ideas for Alignment Issues
- Lighting. Your silhouette needs to have a decent amount of light to be able to read the registration marks. Place a lamp near your silhouette or place it near a window for daytime use.
- Bluetooth. Even though my machine sits inches away from my computer, I can’t always get it to link via bluetooth. Just plug it in.
- Images in the registration zone. You can’t have anything in the registration zone. Cut your design apart and place them on separate pages.
- Make sure that you paper is properly aligned on the cutting mat.
- If all else fails, sometimes turning it off and turning it back on, plus restarting the Silhouette Studio software can fix your problem. Sometimes, I turn it off and walk away. When I come back to it, it seems to work. Be sure to close out of the software as well.
- Remove the blade and replace it. Sometimes the blade is the problem.
This is another possible fix from Silhouette.
Have you solved your alignment cutting issues any other ways? Let me know. There’s nothing more frustrating that tech issues and I would love to help as many people as possible.
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Emy is a vintage obsessed mama of 2 DIYer who loves sharing affordable solutions for common home problems. You don’t need a giant budget to create a lovely home. Read more…
Oh thank you! I’ve been going out of my mind! No one else says to put a light by the cutter. Sheesh!
You are a GENIUS! This was the PERFECT help for me! You can’t believe how excited I was to make my first set of stickers!! Thank you!!
Oh my gosh!! You are a genius! I have been googling and struggling for over a month now and tonight I stumbled upon your post. This one little fix changed everything for me! Thank you thank you thank you!!
These solutions worked at first but doesn’t anymore. Any new tips or tricks?
unfortunately didn’t work for me.
Before your fix – it balked at registration, failing repeatedly. It finally cut only to be exactly the same amount off all across the page.
I switched the packet size to 500 bytes and the next attempt cut perfectly.
Thank you!
Your packet size fix worked for me. So glad to have found your page. Many thanks!!!
You are a star – the “offset” cuts had become a regular, almost permanent problem, and this has solved them in a breath – thank you!
I’m so glad this worked well for you!
I did that it still cuts off the lines just not as much as b4 any other tips
I tried changing my packet size to 2000 bytes and it worked!
So glad it worked!
I never comment on people’s stuff…. I know I’m horrible…. but girl this helped me tremendously! I work with very large plotters at work and rarely have this issue… you saved my butt today! THANKS!
The newest version of Studio software doesn’t seem to have this setting in the Advanced panels. Do you know how we can adjust this another way? Thanks!
This is the most perfect post in the history of Silhouette posts <3 Thank you so much for this tip…it worked PERFECTLY! As a graphic designer I consider myself very savvy in the field of Adobe products but I was starting to think my budding sticker business was doomed because Silhouette Studio is a heifer and I couldn't get the darn thing to calibrate. No worries now!
Not sure why someone said the latest version of software didn't have this feature; I just updated to the Cameo 3 on September 20th and have the very latest software update…it was right where you said it'd be. To be fair with my original Cameo I was "fully updated" but it still had me on the older software version which looks nothing like the new one. So maybe that's the problem!
I’m glad my tip helped! I haven’t updated my software because I tend to wait a bit.
this didn’t wirk for me =( it is still not cutting in the correct place.
omg I LOVE you!!! Thank you so much for this! I have been fighting with my stupid machine forever, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So silly. Every time I email Silhouette asking for help, I just get a boring link to their website that never answers my questions 🙁 🙁 🙁 So thank you so much
So glad it helped!
I don’t usually comment on things, but I just had to say THANK YOU!! I have been having issues with my print and cuts drifting gradually off as they got further down the page and I was at my wit’s end. I was seriously so frustrated I was about to go buy a Cricut. I can’t believe simply changing the packet size made just a difference.
Once again…. THANK YOU!
So glad it helped!
I was about to throw my silhouette out of my living room window. The cuts kept drifting as I went down the page. I calibrated about 10 times over and nothing changed.
found your blog by chance and now it is absolutely perfect!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this