Project 4D. Mailing Labels

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Project 4D. Mailing Labels

In Activities 4.21 through 4.23, you will create mailing labels for the Botanical Notes newsletter for the City of Desert Park. Your completed document will look similar to Figure 4.51.

Figure 4.51. Project 4DMailing Labels

For Project 4D, you will need the following files:

New blank document

w04D_Addresses

You will save your document as

4D_Mailing_Labels_Firstname_Lastname

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Objective 9. Create Labels Using the Mail Merge Wizard

Word's mail merge feature joins a main document and a data source to create customized letters or labels. The main document contains the text or formatting that remains constant. In the case of labels, the main document contains the formatting for a specific label size . The data source contains the names and addresses of the individuals for whom the labels are being created. Names and addresses in a data source might come from a Word table, an Excel spreadsheet, or an Access database.

The easiest way to perform a mail merge is to use the Mail Merge Wizard. Recall that a wizard asks you questions and, based on your answers, walks you step by step through a process. Labels are used to address newsletters, envelopes, postcards, disk labels, name badges, file folder labels, and so on. Sheets of precut labels can be purchased from office supply stores.

Activity 4.21. Starting the Mail Merge Wizard

Mail merge information can be stored in various formats and programs, including Microsoft Word tables. These tables can be edited just like any other Word table.

The label feature in Word contains the product numbers of the standard Avery label products as well as several other label brands. Each product number is associated with a layout in Word's table format consisting of the height and width of the label. Because the product numbers predefine the label layout, the creation of labels is a simple and automated process. The first two steps in creating labels using the Mail Merge Wizard are identifying the label type and the data source.

Start Word and display a new Word document. Close the task pane if necessary, display the formatting marks and zoom to Page Width . Display the Save As dialog box, navigate to your chapter folder, and then save the file as 4D_Mailing_Labels_Firstname_Lastname

Display the Open dialog box. From the student files that accompany this textbook , locate and open w04D_Addresses . Display the Save As dialog box, navigate to your chapter folder, and then save the file as 4D_Addresses_Firstname_Lastname

A table of addresses displays. The first row contains the column names. The remaining rows contain addresses. This data file will be modified, but not submitted.

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Click to position the insertion point in the last cell in the table, and then press to create a new row. Enter the following information, and then compare your table with Figure 4.52:

First Name:	Duncan
Last Name:	McArthur
Address 1:	3336 S. Flowers Rd.
Address 2:	#234
City:	Desert Park
State:	AZ
ZIP Code:	85123

Figure 4.52.

Save and Close the table of addresses; be sure your 4D_Mailing_Labels document displays.

From the Tools menu, point to Letters and Mailings , and then click Mail Merge to display the Mail Merge task pane. Under Select document type , click the Labels option button.

At the bottom of the task pane, click Next : Starting document to display Step 2 of the Mail Merge Wizard. Under Select starting document , be sure Change document layout is selected, and then click Label options .

In the Label Options dialog box, under Printer information , click the Tray arrow , and then click Default tray (Automatically Select) . Under Label information , click the Label products arrow , and then click Avery standard . Under Product number , scroll as necessary and click 5160 - Address . Compare your dialog box with Figure 4.53.

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Figure 4.53.

The Avery 5160 address label is a commonly used label. The precut sheets contain three columns of 10 labels eachfor a total of 30 labels per sheet.

At the bottom of the Label Options dialog box, click OK , and then at the bottom of the task pane, click Next: Select recipients .

In Step 3 of the Mail Merge Wizard, you must identify the recipientsthe data source. For your recipient data source, you can choose to use an existing listfor example, a list of names and addresses that you have in an Access database, an Excel spreadsheet, a Word table, or your Outlook contacts list. If you do not have an existing data source, you can type a new list at this point in the wizard.

Under Select recipients , be sure Use an existing list is selected. Under Use an existing list , click Browse . Click the Look in arrow , navigate to your chapter folder, select your 4D_Addresses_Firstname_Lastname file, and then click Open .

[Page 548] The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box displays, as shown in Figure 4.54. Notice that the labels in the first row of the Word table are now the column headings. In a database or Word address table, each row of information that contains data for one person is called a record . The column headingsfor example, Last Name and First Name are referred to as fields .

Figure 4.54.

10.

Click the Last_Name field column heading to sort the records in alphabetical order by last name. At the bottom of the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, click OK . Save the document. <<Next Record>> displays in each table cell except the first.

Activity 4.22. Completing the Mail Merge Wizard

You can add or edit names and addresses while completing the Mail Merge Wizard. You can also match your column names with preset names used in Mail Merge.

In the Mail Merge task pane, under Use an existing list , click Edit recipient list . At the bottom of the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, click Edit .

The Data Form dialog box displays. You can edit or delete the selected record, or use the same dialog box to add a new recipient.

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On the right side of the Data Form dialog box, click Add New . In the displayed blank record, type the following, and then compare your Data Form dialog box with Figure 4.55:

First_Name:	Harriet
Last_Name:	Hasty
Address_1:	1875 Bullpen Dr.
Address_2:
City:	Taos
State:	NM
ZIP_Code:	87571

Figure 4.55.

At the bottom of the Data Form dialog box, click Close . At the bottom of the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, click OK . At the bottom of the Mail Merge task pane, click Next: Arrange your labels .

At Step 4 of the Mail Merge Wizard, Word provides various ways to arrange and add features to your labels. For example, you can add a Postal bar code, which applies a bar code based on the ZIP code so that the address can be scanned and sorted electronically by the U.S. Postal Service.

Under Arrange your labels , click Address block . In the Insert Address Block dialog box, under Specify address elements , examine the Preview area. Under Insert recipient's name in this format , select the second option Joshua Randall Jr. Clear the Insert company name check box. Compare your dialog box with Figure 4.56.

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Figure 4.56.

This is a list of home addresses, so the organization name is not relevant. The label preview in the Preview box no longer displays a company.

More Knowledge: To Insert and Format Separate Fields

When you insert an address block, all of the fields are inserted as a single item. You can only add formatting to every item of the address block. If you want to format fields differently, under Arrange your labels , click More items . Select and insert the field(s) you want for the first row, and then close the Insert Merge Field dialog box. Press the Enter key, click More items again, and insert another field (or fields). Repeat this procedure until you have inserted all of the desired fields. Format each field separately, and when you are through, click the Update all labels button.

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At the bottom of the Insert Address Block dialog box, click Match Fields . Scroll down and examine the dialog box, and then compare your screen with Figure 4.57.

Figure 4.57.

If your field names are descriptive, the Mail Merge program will identify them correctly, as is the case with the information in the Required Information section, as shown in the figure. If you need to match a field, display the list to choose the correct field from your database or table.

At the bottom of the Match Fields dialog box, click OK . At the bottom of the Insert Address Block dialog box, click OK .

The Address block is inserted in the first label space and is surrounded by double angle brackets. Only the Address Block field name is displayed, but this represents the address block you saw in the Preview area of the Insert Address Block dialog box.

In the task pane, if necessary click the small arrow at the bottom to display all items, and then under Replicate labels , click Update all labels to insert an address block in each label space for each subsequent record. At the bottom of the task pane, click Next: Preview your labels .

Step 5 of the Mail Merge Wizard task pane displays, and the labels are filled in with the information from the data source. The labels are sorted alphabetically by the Last Name field. The order of the labels is from left to right and then down to the next row, as shown in Figure 4.58. In some cases, where there is an apartment or unit number, there are addresses on two lines. The wizard creates the lines automatically when the Address Block is inserted.

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Figure 4.58.

At the bottom of the task pane, click Next: Complete the merge . Save your labels.

Step 6 of the Mail Merge task pane displays. At this point you can print or edit your labels, although this is done more easily in the document window.

More Knowledge: To Preview Your Labels

When the labels are large, the Preview your labels button enables you to scroll through your labels to examine them. This is particularly useful when you are using the Mail Merge Wizard to create letters. You can also use Find a recipient to locate a particular record.

Activity 4.23. Previewing and Printing the Mail Merge Document

Before you print, preview your labels to be sure the information fits in the space reserved for each label.


1.	Click the Print Preview button . Position the mouse pointer over the labels and click the magnifying glass pointer . Compare your screen with Figure 4.59. [Page 553] Figure 4.59.
2.	On the Print Preview toolbar, click the Close button . Display the Footer area. On the Header and Footer toolbar, click the Insert AutoText button , and then click Filename . Adding footer text to a label sheet replaces the last row of labels on a page with the footer text, and moves the last row of labels to the top of the next page. In this case, a blank second page is created.
3.	To submit electronically, go to Step 4. Otherwise, in the Mail Merge task pane, under Merge , click Print . In the Merge to Printer dialog box, in the From box, type 1 , and in the To box, type 1 Click OK . At the bottom of the Print dialog box, click OK to print the labels. The labels will print on whatever paper is in the printer. In this case, unless you have preformatted labels available, you will print your labels on a sheet of paper. Printing the labels on plain paper first enables you to proofread the labels before you print them on more expensive label sheets.
4.	Close the document, click Yes to save the data source, click Yes to save the labels, and then Close Word.