These quick instructions will show you how to use a Word file containing addresses to make mailing labels
Assumptions:
- You’re running Office 2011 for Mac
- You have a comma delimited file with the same number of fields in each address
- You have already purchased, or plan to purchase labels that match one of the options in Word labels
Your Address File
In the first row you need to put the names of each of the fields you’ll want to identify, e.g. Name, Address, city, state, and zip. Note that I have 5 fields in each address, the title row is separated by commas and each address row also has 5 records separated by commas.
Close this file.
Open a Blank Word Document
Select Mail Merge Manager from the Tools Menu
The Mail Merge Manager
We’re going to simply step through each part of the manager.
Select Document Type
Use the Pulldown under step 1 – Create New, and select Labels
Select Your Label Type
- Find the label manufacturer
- Select the product number (will be printed on the label box
- Review the dimensions and verify from the box
- Click OK
Note that even off brands will say something like “equivalent to Avery 5160” so you don’t have to buy one of the big brands.
Records Showing in Word
Word will lay out the labels for you as shown
Open Your Address List
Under Step 2, Click the pulldown for Get List, and choose Open Data Source
Select Your Address List
Add the Fields You Want to Print
This is where you will select the fields you want to print, the order in which to print them and how they will be displayed
Choose the Fields
Use the Insert Merge Field to choose the Name
All Fields Selected
Keep adding fields, using the enter to separate lines, and commas to separate city/state and space or comma before zip. click OK
Review Fields
Review the fields on the page to verify that they are as you expected
Merge to New Document
As tempting as it is to stick your highly priced labels into the printer and click Print under Complete Merge, don’t do it. I promise you something will be wrong and you’ll have wasted money.
Instead click the second button to Merge to New Document
Review Labels
This creates a new document with your labels. I always print this on plain paper and hold it up to a bright light with the real label paper behind it to make sure no one’s address slops over a line. This can often happen with long addresses, or where a husband and wife have two different names. I like to correct these before printing.
After circling back to this point and getting an acceptable print, you are free to stick your highly priced labels into the printer and simply print as you would any other document.
I use an Excel sheet for addresses. When I merge, I filter the contents for only records that are “Not Blank” in a column called Holiday Labels. This filters out those I do not want to send cards to. When I do this, it omits similar names that are correctly labeled in the Holiday Labels field. For example, it will include the first person with the last name Smith, but all the other Smiths are omitted. If I run the Mail Merge without the filter, this does not occur, but I now have names of those I do not want labels for.
Any help on how to fix this would be appreciated. My version of Word 2011 for Mac is 14.5.1.
Many thanks.
Any time I can play in Excel is a fun day! Can you make up a dummy set of data that has this behavior, and put it in a Dropbox link for me to play around with? I bet I can figure it out.
So I created a new sheet with fake names and could not get it to repeat. It only does it with the original file. If I can figure it out, I will send it to you. Many thanks.
For years I have used DesignPro from Avery to do labels on my old PC. However, it is “toast,” and I have struggled to do the labels in various softwares on my Mac. Your tutorial was accurate, clear and concise and led me to get my mailing out in just a couple minutes. Thanks
Larry – that makes me so happy to here! I remember trying to use the Avery app ages ago and it wasn’t pleasant. It was very kind of you to take the time to tell me it worked for you.
Michael – this is a good clue! I think it’s possible that there are some extra characters in at least one of the name. Maybe leading spaces in all the other Smiths for example? That’s where I’d start looking. In Word, I think if you look under View you should find Show or View Formatting. If I remember properly you’ll see paragraph markers and little dots for spaces. Keep me posted!
Hello – this is a great tutorial but after following all the steps, I am only getting one address label per sheet, instead of a full sheet of different labels… any idea where I’m going wrong?
Hi – Not sure what changed, but after shutting the apps and rebooting the computer, the merge went without a hitch. Go figure!
Many thanks for your help.
Why are addres I look for coming up differently from my Google search lens?