Working with Envelopes and Labels

Introduction

The Working with Envelopes and Labels module provides you with the instructions and devices to develop your hands on skills in the following topics.

• Configuring Envelope and Label Printing
• Setting Up a Label Merge

Lab time: It will take approximately 60 minutes to complete this lab.

Exercise 1 - Configuring Envelope and Label Printing

Word allows you to print envelopes and shipping labels in a wide variety of standard sizes, assuming your printer's feed mechanism is compatible with them. You can manually enter addresses to print individual envelopes, single labels, or sheets of labels. You can also use a mail merge to print envelopes or labels addressed to an entire mailing list.

You will learn how to:

• Print envelopes
• Print labels
• Address envelopes or labels using a mail merge

Unlike most Word documents, there's not much point in making an envelope or sheet of labels unless you're going to print it out, and there's more to it than just making sure your printer works and has paper. First, you need to know what size your envelopes or labels are so that you can format them properly. Word supports a wide variety of envelopes in both US and international standard sizes, and popular label sizes from a variety of manufacturers. If you're not sure which you need, it should be listed on the envelope or label packaging.

The second challenge is your printer itself. Not all printers are designed to easily manage varied envelope sizes and thicknesses, and the twists and turns in paper feeding can make self-stick labels peel off and get stuck inside a printer mechanism. Most desktop printers can handle envelopes or labels if you manually feed them, but before you print them, consult the printer's documentation regarding envelopes and labels.

You can print an individual envelope from the Envelopes tab of the Envelopes and Labels window. You can also insert an envelope page into an open document for later printing.

Exercise 2- Setting Up a Label Merge

Once you know how to create a mail merge as well as individual envelopes and labels, it's easy to create envelopes or labels for an entire mailing list. You just need to choose envelopes or labels as your merge type, and use the Address Block field for generating addresses. You can filter your data source and use merge rules, as you would for any other merge, and specify formatting and printing options, as you would for individual envelopes and labels.

You can use label merges for purposes other than merely mailing. For instance, you could label inventory drawers using a mail merge and a parts list.

Creating label merges is a little different from creating other merge types, because more than one label is printed on a page. Instead of a section break between records, label merges use a Next Record field to separate records, one for each label after the first.

Additionally, every merge field must be included in every label on the page, or all records might not print. You can manually do this, but it's easier to have word automatically update the whole page.