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zeboose

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I should declare an interest before anything else: I wrote this. So read it as a developer saying a thing exists, rather than a recommendation from someone neutral.

The bit that surprised me, and that I don't think is widely known: DYMO has never shipped an Apple Silicon build of either DYMO Label v8 or the current DYMO Connect. Both are Intel-only, and have been running under Rosetta 2 this whole time. So the usual advice – "upgrade to DYMO Connect" – moves the problem rather than solving it, and macOS 27 uninstalls Rosetta during the upgrade.

The printers are fine. The LabelWriter driver has been universal for years and runs natively. It was only ever the application that was stuck, which is why replacing perfectly good hardware always felt like the wrong answer.

I print address labels most days, and need the security of being able to continue printing once Rosetta apps are no longer supported on Apple silicon, so I spent the summer writing a native replacement.

screenshot.jpg


What it does
  • Opens and writes the same .label files. The templates I developed against render pixel-identically to their reference, and saving one back produces a byte-identical file – other people's templates are working assets, and software that quietly reformats them is losing their work rather than tidying up.
  • Reads DYMO address books (.abx) and CSVs.
  • Keeps a dated copy of the address book before every change, and a command to put an earlier one back. It never converts or moves your existing files.
  • Prints through the driver already installed, so neither the printer nor the label stock changes.
  • Editor: text, addresses, pictures, barcodes, shapes, alignment, snapping, layering, unlimited undo, and rotation at any angle rather than only the four right angles DYMO's format can store.
  • A print alignment test with sub-millimetre offsets, because every machine grips the stock slightly differently.
  • A one-click tidy for addresses pasted out of marketplace orders – commas become line breaks, the case is fixed, and titles and order codes come off.
Universal, macOS 14 or later, signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised, so it opens in one step rather than sending you to Privacy & Security.

Cost

Free and fully unlocked until 1 March 2027. After that, printing your existing labels stays free permanently, and the design side becomes a £9.99 one-off. No subscription, no account, no server – it phones nowhere.

https://zeboose.github.io/prlabeller/

It's a beta and labelled as one. I'd genuinely rather hear what's broken than what's good – there's a diagnostics report built into Settings that you can read before sending, which takes the guesswork out of "it doesn't work on my machine".

Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Sanford, L.P.
 
@zeboose - sounds good - will check it out.

I asked Dymo when they will be releasing a version of Dymo Connect which does not need Rosetta - their reply can be seen below. Given this, your app may be very timely

[td]
Dear Nigel,

Thank you for your reply. We apologize for the inconvenience caused.

After contacting our software team, they informed that the DYMO Connect for Desktop 1.6.0 and 1.6.1 Installer for Apple Silicon (ARM) processors includes ARM-based drivers for this processor architecture; however, the software itself remains Intel-based.

A Universal-based version of DYMO Connect for Desktop is still in development. The exact release date is currently still unknown, but will be release prior to discontinuation of Rosetta 2 with macOS 28, hence September 2027.
[/td]
 
@zeboose - sounds good - will check it out.

I asked Dymo when they will be releasing a version of Dymo Connect which does not need Rosetta - their reply can be seen below. Given this, your app may be very timely
Thanks Nigel, and thank you for actually asking them – a straight answer from DYMO is worth more than any amount of forum guesswork, and I hadn't seen that anywhere.


It is also, more or less, why I built this. I print address labels most days, and "still in development, exact release date unknown" is not something I could plan around. I wanted the guarantee that I'd still be printing next year, from the templates I already have, without waiting on someone else's roadmap or rebuilding everything in a new format.


Do give it a go, and tell me what breaks rather than what works – that's the more useful half.
 
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