Creating Mailing Labels in Microsoft Word

Word processing is similar to baking in the kitchen – with a good recipe and imagination anything can be created. The beauty of the Microsoft programs (Word, Excel, FrontPage, and Access) is they are designed to be compatible. As with any new skill you learn with the basics and build up. One of the easiest tasks to accomplish is creating labels. Labels sound boring but the uses in the professional and personal world are limitless: address books, Holiday cards, labeling in the kitchen, organizing toys, DVDs, scrap booking, and the list go on. The ability to create labels in Word has limitless uses depending on your needs and imagination.

Starting with an excel worksheet for your information is the first step. Setting up the columns is critical. In row one add column headers.

This is my preference:

Last Name

First Name

Street address

State

Zip code

Phone number

You can add other columns as needed. I like to also have a category of family, friends, and business I even have a parent’s category so I can sort the friends of son for his activities.

Once the address book is set up and saved.

Open Microsoft Word

(I use Microsoft 2000 but the direction can be adapted to any Microsoft Word program.)

Click on Tools

Select mail merge

Create Mailing labels

Active Document

Choose your labels

Click OK

Next you are going to set up your label format

Click insert merge field

Add the columns you would like on the labels

Make sure to leave the arrows in and add spaces and punctuation between the arrows.

Then click OK

Click Merge-once

Click Merge-again

 And there you have labels.

This process can be used in many different ways. I use this for business and personal reasons and is quite simple once you get hang of it.