Address Label Printing

If you run an online business you probably won't need a lot of address labels, but if your company sends out a lot of mail you probably need to print many. There is specialist software that will allow you to do this and if you print enough of them it may be worth getting this software. However in most cases it is possible to print the labels straight from Microsoft Word by using an Excel spreadsheet to store your contact list.

In order to print address labels with Microsoft Word the first thing that you are going to have to do is get yourself some labels. There are lots of options available but you will find that your life is a lot easier if you choose Avery labels. These are designed to work with word so they are the best option. They come in a variety of sizes so you should be able to find the ones that will work for you. The labels can be bought at pretty much any office supply store.

The next step is to go into Excel and create a database of your contacts information. This is easy to do even if you have never used Excel before. Just use the cells provided to create fields for first name, last name, address, city, state and zip code. It should be pretty obvious how to do this once you get in there and start working with it. The next step is to actually populate the fields. That means you are going to have to put all of the information for your mailing list into the appropriate fields. This can take some time but it is usually possible to cut and paste it from another document which should save you some time.

Next you will need to decide on the layout of your label. This can be done by going into Microsoft word and selecting the Mailings option. Under that you should find an option that says Labels. Open this up and select the template that you like. You will also be asked to enter the type of labels that you bought. This is a number that is located on the box if you bought Avery labels. At this point you will see a document with a number of small squares on it. These will be the individual labels that you are going to print.

The next step is to merge your Excel spreadsheet with your label layout. In the Word document you created to layout your labels you will see a tab that says Add Recipients, select this and when asked if you would like to use an existing document choose your spreadsheet. Then place your cursor on the first label box and click on Insert Merge Field. The fields you created in your spreadsheet will appear in the box. You can move them around as desired if you want to go last name first for example. At that point you simply click on Next Record until all of the label boxes are filled.