Creating Labels and Envelopes


Microsoft Office Specialist: Merge labels with a Word, Excel, or Access data source

Preview and Print documents, envelopes, and labels

When you used the Mail Merge Wizard to create a form letter, you probably noticed that it could also be used to create envelopes and labels. In this topic, we discuss the procedures for using mail merge to print an envelope and a label for each of the records in a data source. The procedures are similar; if anything, the process for printing envelopes is easier because you have fewer options to deal with.

Merging a Set of Labels

To create a set of mailing labels for the form letter used as the example for this chapter, you ll use the data source you created earlier. (To create other labels, you could set up a new list by clicking that option in the Mail Merge Wizard.) Although you are creating mailing labels, keep in mind that you can create labels for any purpose using this same process. Follow these steps to create the mailing labels:

Information about: Creating a data source, page 199

  1. Start with a new, blank document that you can use as the main document for your labels on your screen.

  2. On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings and then Mail Merge Wizard to display the Mail Merge task pane.

  3. Click the Labels option, and then click Next : Starting document at the bottom of the task pane.

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    Other types of labels

    In addition to regular address labels, Word can print labels for packages, file folders, name tags, disks, audio and video tapes, and several types of cards. It is worth checking whether Word can help automate some of your routine label-making tasks .

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    Printing only one envelope or label

    If you want to print a single envelope or label, you don t need to use mail merge. On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings, and then Envelopes and Labels. In the resulting dialog box, click the tab for either Envelopes or Labels. Click Options to change the envelope or label size , and click OK. Enter the information you want to appear on the envelope or label, and click Print. Or click Add to Document to view the envelope or New Document to view the label on the screen before you print.

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  4. With the Change document layout option selected, click Label options .

    The dialog box shown in this graphic appears to help you define the label you want to use:

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    In the Printer information area, you can select either Dot matrix or Laser and ink jet. This setting determines the type of labels displayed in the Product number list. Laser or ink jet labels typically come on 8 ½-by-11-inch or A4 sheets, and dot matrix labels come on fanfold paper. In the Label products box, you can specify the label brand.

  5. Leave Avery standard as the Label product setting, and scroll through the Product number list to get an idea of what is available.

    You can highlight an item to see general information about it in the adjacent Label information area. Click the Details button to see more information about the selected label.

  6. If you have a laser printer, select 5161 Address as the Product number setting, or if you have a dot matrix printer, select the 4143 Address label. Then click Details .

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    Adding bar codes

    You can cut down on postage costs for bulk mailings by printing a POSTNET bar code on labels or envelopes. To insert a bar code, follow the procedure for creating labels or envelopes, and after you have arranged and formatted the first label or envelope, click an insertion point where you want the bar code to appear. (It should appear above the name and address.) Click Postal bar code in the task pane, select the fields that contain the ZIP code and street address (or post office box number), and click OK. Then continue with the label or envelope merge process.

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    The dialog box for the 5161 label is shown in this graphic:

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    The dialog box displays a drawing of the selected label and lists its characteristics. You can change each characteristic ” margins, pitch, height, width, and number across and down ”by entering a new value in the corresponding text box. This flexibility is handy if you want to print labels in a format that isn t included in Word s lists. You can select a format that is similar and then fine-tune it in this dialog box.

  7. Try changing the characteristics of this label, and watch the drawing change. Then click Cancel to close the dialog box without recording your changes.

    If you click OK, Word asks you to enter a name for your custom label in the Label name text box.

  8. Click OK to close the Label Options dialog box, and then click Next: Select recipients to move to the next step.

  9. With the Use an existing list option selected, click Browse , double-click Data Document1 (the recipients list you created earlier), and in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, click OK .

  10. In the Mail Merge task pane, click Next: Arrange your labels , and with the insertion point located to the left of the first blank paragraph mark in the first label, click Address block in the task pane.

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    Directories

    When you want to create lists of information using the fields in a data source, select Directory as the main document type. For example, suppose your company wants to create a list of employee names and emergency phone numbers using three fields from a personnel database. After selecting Directory as the main document type and identifying the data source, enter the Last Name, First Name, and Emergency Phone fields in the main document. (Be sure to pressEnter after the last field.) When you click the Merge to New Document button on the Mail Merge toolbar, Word creates one document containing the specified information for all the employees in the data source.

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    The Mail Merge Wizard displays the Insert Address Block dialog box.

    Information about: Insert Address Block dialog box, page 202

  11. Click Joshua Randall Jr. as the name format, and click OK . Then copy this format to the remaining labels by clicking Update all labels in the Replicate labels area of the Mail Merge task pane.

  12. Click Next: Preview your labels .

    This graphic shows the results:

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    If you don t see the lines around the labels, click the Show Gridlines command on the Table menu.

  13. Click Next: Complete the merge , click Print , and then click OK to print the labels.

    You should test-print the labels on plain paper to check their alignment, and then you can replace the paper with label sheets and print away.

  14. Save the merged document with the name Form Labels so that you can print it again at any time, and then close the document.

    That s all there is to it. After you have been through the process once or twice, you will probably find that it takes you less time to merge a batch of labels than it did to read these instructions.

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    Creating a sheet of the same label

    Sometimes you might need to print an entire sheet of the same label ”for example, for your return address. On the Tools menu, clickLetters and Mailings, and then click Envelopes and Labels. Click the Labels tab, and type the desired information on the label in the Address box. In the Print area, select the Full page of the same label option, click Options, select the label style you are using, and click OK. Finally, click Print to send the sheet of labels directly to your printer, or click New Document to merge the label information to a document that you can format, edit, and save just like any other Word document.

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Merging a Set of Envelopes

Printing a batch of envelopes is even easier than printing labels. To print envelopes using the same data source you used with the labels, follow these steps:

  1. Open a new, blank document to use as the main document.

    Before setting up the main document, you need to create a default return address for your envelopes.

  2. On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings and then Envelopes and Labels . Then click the Envelopes tab.

    Word displays this dialog box:

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  3. In the Return address box, enter 1200 Yukon Avenue , press Enter , and type Anchorage, AK 99502 . Then click Add to Document .

  4. When Word asks if you want to save the return address as the default, click Yes .

    Now you re ready to create the envelopes.

  5. On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings and then Mail Merge Wizard .

  6. Select the Envelopes option, and click Next: Starting document .

  7. Click Envelope options .

    The wizard displays the dialog box shown in this graphic, in which you can specify the size of the envelope, the font used, and other options:

  8. Change any options as necessary, and then click OK .

    The first time you create envelopes after specifying the return address, Word warns you that it will overwrite the return address displayed in the active document with the mail merge information you set up. (This does not mean that Word will delete your default return address information.)

  9. Click OK in the message box, and then click Next: Select recipients .

  10. With the Use an existing list option selected, click Browse , double-click Data Document 1 , and click OK in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box. Then click Next: Arrange your envelope .

  11. Click an insertion point in front of the blank paragraph mark that sits in the middle of the sample envelope, click Address block , click the Joshua Randall Jr. option, and then click OK .

  12. Click Next: Preview your envelopes , and then use the chevron buttons in the task pane to preview the envelopes.

    The graphic at the top of the next page shows the envelope for Tim Buhr.

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  13. Click Next: Complete the merge , and print the envelopes.

  14. Save the document as Form Envelopes , and then close it.

Congratulations! You have now completed your Quick Course in Word 2002. By now you should feel comfortable with most aspects of the program. With the basics you have learned here, together with the Help feature and the sample documents that come with Word, you should be able to tackle the creation of some fairly sophisticated documents.




Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Word 2002
Online Traning Solutions - Quick Course in Microsoft Word 2002
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 74

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