The Metal Plates On Staplers. You may have noticed the metal plate toward the front end of your stapler. If you just assumed it’s there to act as reinforcement to bend the staples you’d be right, but did you know there’s more to it than that, and that your stapler actually has settings? No joke. The metal plate is called an anvil, and if you turn your stapler upside down you can adjust it by spinning the wheel until it lines up with the seemingly random hole in the metal plate. This setting is for a “temporary staple”, and will guide the arms of your staple outward instead of inwards, making it easier to pull out the staple later.