Use mail merge to create mailing labels

Sending birthday party invitations to a large number of people is a snap when you use mail merge.

If you’ve ever had to send out invitations for a large event, you know how long the process can take. Mail merge removes the labor of personalizing and printing one-off documents and hand-addressing envelopes. Mail merge is perfect for:

• Address and shipping labels
• Party and wedding invitations
• Holiday cards
• Volunteer and non-profit functions
• New business announcements
• Coupon mailings and product announcements

Learn more about making your own greeting cards and printing fun labels!

Save money by printing your mailing labels at home

There are many reasons to use mail merge, which is a free function found in Microsoft Word:

• Save time: No need to personalize each piece individually. Just plug in the information and you’re ready to go!
• Save money: Print at home rather than using a costly printing and mailing house.
• Make big mailings go fast: Large mailings can be done in the time it takes to set up your document, merge the information, and press print!
• Personalize letters: Have a family newsletter coming up? Want to announce a birth, wedding, or graduation? Make recipients feel like you are writing just for them.

Learn more about creating a family newsletter.

Step 4 and 5: Choose Labels as your document type, then click Next: Starting Document.

Step 7: To view the label’s borders, click Layout, then View Gridlines

Here, we will show you how to create a set of mailing labels using Microsoft Word 2010. The steps will be similar for earlier versions of Microsoft Word. For this how-to, we’ve chosen 1" x 2.63" address labels that come 30 to a 8.5" x 11" sheet:

1. In Microsoft Word, select the Mailings tab near the top of the screen.
2. Select Start Mail Merge.
3. For easier merging, select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard. A new window will open on the right side of the screen.
4. Select the document type: Labels.
5. Click Next: Starting document.
6. Under “Select starting document” choose Change document layout ,then click Label options. A new window will open. You will then choose:
• What type of printer you are using
• The supplier that produced your label sheets
• The label number that corresponds to the product number on your label box

Click Ok

7. At this point, your document will look blank. To view the labels’ gridlines, click the Layout tab at the top of the screen. Then click View Gridlines.

Read on to select your contact list.

Click Browse to search for your contact list.

To select your contacts, click Next: Select recipients. Under “Select recipients” choose from:

• Use an existing list
• Select from Outlook contacts
• Type new list

If you have your contacts in Microsoft Excel or Access, select Use an existing list, then click
Browse. You will now locate your file in the Select Data Source dialog box. Click Next: Arrange your labels.

To use contacts from a Microsoft Outlook address book, select that option. If you don’t have one, selecting Type new list will open a form that allows you to type out your contact list. You’ll be able to save it for later.

Read on to arrange contact information on your labels.

Step 2: Don’t forget to click Update all labels! If you skip this step, your labels may not format correctly.

1. To add contact information to your labels, position your cursor where you want the info to be placed. To change the label´s layout, right-click the arrow box, scroll down to Cell alignment ,and choose the layout you want. Then choose:
• Address block to input the entire address
• Greeting line to add a greeting line or prefix to your labels
• Electronic postage (use only if you are adding postage to envelopes or postcards)
• More items if you would like to input specific merge fields from your contact list
2. After choosing the info to include on your labels, click Update all labels This will copy the layout of the 1^st label to all the other labels on the page. Click Next: Preview your labels.

TIP: Even though the labels will all say «Next Record», this won’t affect the layout of the merged labels.

Read on to merge and print your labels.

After previewing your labels, you are ready to print!

1. Check to make sure the labels look how you want. When you have finished previewing your labels, click Next: Complete the merge.
2. You can now either Print your labels or Edit individual labels. choose whether you want to print all your label pages, just the sheet on the screen, or a selection. Click Ok to print.

You may want to print a test document to make sure your labels are lined up correctly.

Mail merge fields are surrounded by chevrons (« »), which won’t show up in the final merged documents.

Saving names and addresses in Microsoft Excel makes merging information easy. And, after making a list once, all you’ll need to do is add to it! Here are some other handy tips:

• Labeling your information by data set (First Name, Last Name, Address, City, etc.) makes it easier to plug it into your labels.
• You may need to change the font style and size of the merged information
• Ensure your labels match the size and product number you have selected in Word.
• Remember to position your labels properly in your printer. You may want to print a test document first to make sure everything is lined up correctly.
• Mail merge fields in your main document are surrounded by chevrons (« »). The chevrons won’t show up in the final merged documents. They just help you distinguish the fields in the main document from the regular text.

For more information and troubleshooting tips, you can go to the Microsoft Word Create and print labels online instruction manual.