Create and print labels
Create and print a page of identical labels
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Go to Mailings > Labels.
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Select Options and choose a label vendor and product to use. Select OK.
If you don’t see your product number, select New Label and configure a custom label.
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Type an address or other information in the Address box (text only).
To use an address from your contacts list select Insert Address .
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To change the formatting, select the text, right-click, and make changes with Font or Paragraph.
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Select OK.
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Select Full page of the same label.
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Select Print, or New Document to edit, save and print later.
If you need just one label, select Single label from the Mailings > Labels menu and the position on the label sheet where you want it to appear. Select OK, the destination, and Save.
Create and print a page of the same label
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Go to Mailings > Labels.
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In the Address box, type the text that you want.
To use an address from your contacts list select Insert Address .
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To change the formatting, select the text, right-click, and make changes with Home > Font or Paragraph.
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In the Label Options dialog box, make your choices, and then select OK.
If you don’t see your product number, select New Label and configure a custom label.
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Select OK.
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Select Full page of the same label.
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Select Print, or New Document to edit, save and print later.
Set up and print a page of the same label
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Go to Mailings > Labels.
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Select Options.
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Choose Printer type, Label products, and Product number.
If you don’t see your product number, select New Label and configure a custom label.
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Select OK.
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Type an address or other information in the Delivery Address box.
To use an address from your contacts list select Insert Address .
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To change the formatting, select the text and then select Font to make changes.
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Select Full page of the same label.
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Select OK.
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Select Print, or New Document to edit, save and print later.
For info about merging data with labels, see Create mailing labels in Word by using mail merge or Mail merge in Word for Mac.
If you want to make return address labels, see Create return address labels.
Word for the web doesn’t support directly creating labels. However you can create labels from a template.
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Open Word for the web.
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Select a label template when you create a new document. Select More templates if you don’t see what you want.
You can also go to templates.office.com, and search for label.
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For a sheet of identical labels, fill out one label, and then copy/paste for the rest.
Tip: Print your labels to a sheet of paper before loading labels into the printer to make sure the text aligns with the labels.
See also
To create a page of different labels, see Create a sheet of nametags or address labels
To create a page of labels with graphics, see Add graphics to labels
To print one label on a partially used sheet, see Print one label on a partially used sheet
To create labels with a mailing list, see Print labels for your mailing list
To create labels using a template, see Microsoft label templates
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1
Obtain the labels you need. Labels come in different sizes and for different purposes, for everything from regular, no. 10 envelopes to legal-sized mailings and CD covers. Get the labels that are best-suited for your project.
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2
Create a new Microsoft Word document. Double-click the blue app that contains or is shaped like a «W«, then double-click Blank Document» in the upper-left part of the opening window.
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Click the Mailings tab. It’s at the top of the window.
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4
Click Labels under the «Create» menu. It’s at the far-left of the toolbar.
- If prompted, click OK to grant Word access to your contacts.
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5
Add text to the label. Do so by typing a recipient’s address, name badge text, CD label, etc., in the Delivery Address field or by clicking the address book icon to the right of the field, selecting a recipient and clicking Insert.
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6
Click Font…. This dialog box allows you to customize the look of the labels by selecting a font, text size, text color, and style.
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Customize the label text and click OK.
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Click Options…. It’s a button in the Label section of the dialog box.
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Click the radio button next to your printer type.
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Click the «Label products» drop-down menu.
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Select your label manufacturer.
- If your manufacturer isn’t listed, examine the label packaging for the label dimensions and the number per sheet. With this information, you can select an equivalent product.
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Click the «Product number» drop down.
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Click the product number for your label. It should be clearly marked on the packaging.
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Click OK.
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Select the number of labels you’re printing.
- Click Full page of the same label to print a full sheet of the label
- Click Single label and then identify the row and the column on the label sheet where you’d like the label to be printed.
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Insert the blank label sheet into your printer. Make sure you have them aligned correctly for your printer.
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Click Print….
- Make sure the print preview of the labels looks the way you want it to.
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Click Print. Your label(s) will print.
- Click File in the menu bar and Save if you want to save this label template for future use.
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1
Obtain the labels you need. Labels come in different sizes and for different purposes, for everything from regular, no. 10 envelopes to legal-sized mailings. Get the labels that are best-suited for your project.
-
2
Prepare your mailing list. Word can pull names and addresses from an Excel spreadsheet, an Access database, your Outlook contacts, or on Mac, your Apple contacts or a FileMaker Pro database. You can also type a new mailing list during the merge, if you prefer.
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3
Create a new Microsoft Word document. Double-click the blue app that contains or is shaped like a «W«, then double-click Blank Document» in the upper-left part of the opening window.
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4
Click the Mailings tab. It’s at the top of the window.
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5
Click Start Mail Merge and Labels…. It’s at the far-left of the toolbar.
- If prompted, click OK to grant Word access to your contacts.
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6
Click the radio button next to your printer type.
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Click the «Label products» drop-down menu.
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8
Select your label manufacturer.
- If your manufacturer isn’t listed, examine the label packaging for the label dimensions and the number per sheet. With this information, you can select an equivalent product.
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Click the «Product number» drop down.
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Click the product number for your label. It should be clearly marked on the packaging.
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Click OK.
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Click Select Recipients…. It’s at the left of the toolbar.
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Select your mailing list. Click on the source of the addresses you want to put on the labels.
- If you want to create a new list at this point, click Create a new List….
- If you don’t want to create labels for your entire mailing list, click Edit Recipient List and select the recipients you want to include.
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Click Address Block.
- On Mac, click a line near the top of the first label, and click Insert Merge Field, then select a field you want to include, such as «First_Name.» Repeat this process for each field you want to include, adding the appropriate spacing and address formatting.
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Select the elements you want to include on the labels. These include name format, business, name, etc.
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Click OK.
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Click Update Labels. It’s an icon in the toolbar with a green «refresh» symbol.
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Click Preview Results in the toolbar. Make sure the labels look the way you want them to.
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Insert the blank label sheets into your printer. Make sure you have them aligned correctly for your printer.
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Click Finish & Merge and Print Documents…. It’s at the far right of the toolbar.
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Click Print. Your label(s) will print.
- Click File in the menu bar and Save if you want to save this label template for future use.
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Question
When I type a sheet of labels, sometimes a second blank page appears. How do I remove the second page?
Go to the bottom of the first page, and hit the ‘delete’ key — it should go away.
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Question
How do I print labels that are all different addresses?
Use a mail merge. Add all of the different addresses, then print each one.
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Question
How do I make a full page of address labels?
There should be an option called «mail merge.» You need a mailing list and your document; the list can be a spreadsheet, an Outlook directory etc.
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About This Article
Article SummaryX
1. Create a new Word document.
2. Click Mailings.
3. Click Labels.
4. Add the label text.
5. Customize the printing layout.
6. Choose your label manufacturer.
7. Click OK.
8. Click Print.
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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 702,273 times.
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We are going to explain how to create labels in Word. Microsoft’s text editor is a very versatile tool, a blank page on which you can do many things that go beyond writing texts. And one of them is, precisely, being able to design these labels.
The first thing you need to do is open a blank document in Word. Once you are inside, you have to click on the Mailings section at the top of the program’s toolbar. It is possible that in other versions, the name of the section may be different.
Then, you have to click on the Create option. When you do so, a menu will appear where you can click on the Labels option. It is possible that in other versions of Word, the labels option is separate or in another place, but in the latest versions, this should be the way.
The Labels page will open. Here, you should know that the labels are designed for printing and pasting on envelopes for addressing, although it is a flexible system to be used for other things.
If you click on the Options button, you will go to the page where you can configure the labels. Here, for example, under Product number, you can set how many labels per page you want to have. Also, under the Label brand, you can set the label page model that you are going to put in the printer, so Word will adapt to the specific sizes of those pages.
Once the label is written, click on the New Document button to open a Word page with the contents of your label. It may seem odd that the page opens separately instead of using the same page you start the process on. However, this is useful if you are writing a letter in Word and want to set up the labels separately, which is what the function is designed for, although you can use it for other things.
Finally, you should know that once you have generated the page of labels, you will be able to edit the text in them. This way you’ve learned how to create labels in Word, why don’t you try it out?
Create and Print Labels in Microsoft Word Using Mail Merge and an Excel List (Generate Bulk Address or Mailing Labels)
by Avantix Learning Team | Updated January 9, 2021
Applies to: Microsoft® Word® 2013, 2016, 2019 and 365 (Windows)
You can create labels in Microsoft Word by running a mail merge and using data in Excel. This is typically used to generate and print bulk mailing labels for names and addresses of clients or other contacts. You’ll need to create a main document for the labels in Word and then connect to a data set or list in an Excel worksheet (although you can use other data sources). When you run the mail merge, you can create a new merged file with a label for each contact or merge directly to a printer.
Typically, labels are purchased in sheets that you place in the tray or document feeder of your printer and a product code is printed on the label packaging. Address labels are often called mailing labels or shipping labels.
Recommended article: How to Use Mail Merge in Word for Form Letters
Do you want to learn more about Word? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom Word courses >
Understanding the label mail merge process in Word
There are 8 steps in the Word mail merge process for mailing or address labels:
- In Word, start the merge and specify the main document for labels. You’ll be prompted to specify the type and / or size of labels you want to generate.
- Select the Excel source workbook containing the data set with names and addresses. Microsoft refers to a data set or database as a list. You would create the Excel source file before you begin the mail merge process.
- In Word, insert fields into the first cell of the table (which would be the first label). This table is created automatically by Word.
- Update or propagate the other labels on the sheet.
- Format the main label document (such as changing font and size).
- Select specific recipients or filter the recipient list (optional).
- Preview the merged labels (optional).
- Run the mail merge.
During the mail merge process, fields are inserted into the main document and appear in carets (such as <<Firstname>>). By default, when you click in a field, it is displayed with grey shading. When you run the merge, the fields are replaced by data from the source Excel file.
In this article, we’ll be using the Mailings tab in the Ribbon to set up and run a mail merge (not the Mail Merge Wizard).
Step 1: Start the merge and specify the main document as labels
The first step is to start the merge using Start Mail Merge on the Mailings tab in the Ribbon:
To start the merge and specify the main document for labels:
- Create a new blank Word document.
- Click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Start Mail Merge in the Start Mail Merge group.
- From the drop-down menu, select Labels. A dialog box appears.
- Select the product type and then the label code (which is printed on the label packaging). You may also select New Label and then enter a custom name and size.
- Click OK. Word creates a table in the main document. Next Record appears in each label cell to prompt Word to move to the next record in the data source.
- If table gridlines are not displayed, click in the table and click the Table Tools Layout tab or Table Layout tab (on the right side of the Ribbon) and click View Gridlines in the Table Group.
In the following example, Avery US letter was selected as the Label vendor with Avery 5163 address or shipping labels:
Step 2: Select the source Excel file containing the data set
The next step is to connect to an Excel source file containing a list of names and addresses using Select Recipients. In the Excel worksheet, the first row must contain field names such as FirstName, LastName, Company, Address and so on. There should be no blank rows in the data set.
Select Recipients appears on the Mailings tab in the Ribbon in the Start Mail Merge group as follows:
In the following Excel worksheet, note that the field names are in the first row of the sheet being used a source:
To select a Microsoft Excel source file containing a worksheet with names and addresses for the labels:
- In the main Word document, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Select Recipients in the Start Mail Merge group. A dialog box appears.
- Click Use an Existing List from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
- Navigate to the Excel file containing the names and addresses you want to use as the source.
- Double-click the Excel file. A dialog box appears.
- Ensure First row of data contains column headers is checked.
- Click the Excel worksheet containing the data you wish to use.
- Click OK.
The following dialog box appears when you select an Excel file as the source for a merge:
Step 3: Insert fields from the source file in the main document in Word
Once you have connected to a source file, you can insert fields into the main document (which contains a table for the labels). You have the option of using a special Word field called Address Block or inserting individual fields.
Address Block appears as follows in the Ribbon:
To insert the Address Block field:
- Click in the first cell of the table in the main document where you want to insert the recipient name and address.
- Click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and select Address Block in the Write & Insert Fields group. A dialog box appears. Word will display an address based on the source data.
- In the samples on the left, select the address sample you prefer.
- Check or uncheck other options if necessary.
- Click OK. Word inserts an Address Block field into the main document.
In the Address Block dialog box, select a sample address in the area on the left:
To insert fields individually:
- Click in the first cell of the table in the main document where you want to insert the recipient name and address.
- Click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and select Insert Merge Field in the Write & Insert Fields group.
- From the drop-down menu, select the field you want to insert.
- Press the spacebar, type text or press Enter if necessary.
- Repeat for other fields you want to insert.
Step 4: Update the labels
To populate all of the labels in the table:
- Click in the table in the main document.
- Click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then select Update Labels or Propogate Labels in the Write & Insert group. Word will insert the fields in all label cells and include <<Next Record>> to go to the next record in the source data.
Step 5: Format the labels
You may need to apply formatting to the labels such as changing the font and size, changing alignment, and adjusting paragraph spacing.
Below is a sample main document for address labels (Avery US Letter 5163 shipping labels):
Step 6: Select specific recipients or filter the recipient list (optional)
You have the option of choosing specific recipients or filtering the recipient list if you don’t want to create labels for all contacts in the data source.
To choose specific contacts:
- In the the main document in Word, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Edit Recipient List in the Start Mail Merge group. A dialog box appears.
- Uncheck the check boxes beside the recipients you do not wish to include in the mail merge.
- Click OK.
To filter the source list:
- In the the main document in Word, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Edit Recipient List in the Start Mail Merge group. A dialog box appears.
- Click Filter. A dialog box appears.
- Select / enter the desired filtering options.
- Click OK.
For example, below is a filter to display records from Toronto:
To remove the filter, repeat the process, but click Clear All in the Filter and Sort dialog box.
Step 7: Preview the results (optional)
Before you run the mail merge, to preview the results:
- In the the main document in Word, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Preview Results in the Preview Results group.
- Click the arrows in the Preview Results group to go to the next or previous page.
- Click Preview Results to view the fields again.
Step 8: Run the mail merge to create a new file or print the labels
The final step is to run the merge. You can either create a new merged document or merge directly to a printer.
To run the mail merge and create a new merged label document:
- In the the main document in Word, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Finish & Merge in the Finish group. A drop-down menu appears.
- Click Edit Individual Documents. A dialog box appears.
- Click Current Record or enter a selected range if necessary.
- Click OK. Word creates a new merged document that you can edit, print and save.
The following dialog box appears when you select Edit individual documents:
To run the mail merge and print the merged file:
- In the the main document in Word, click the Mailings tab in the Ribbon and then click Finish & Merge in the Finish group. A drop-down menu appears.
- Select Print Documents. A dialog box appears.
- Click Current Record or enter a selected range if necessary.
- Click OK. A dialog box appears.
- Select the desired printer and other printer options.
- Click OK.
The following dialog box appears when you select Print Documents:
You will typically want to save the main document and the source file. If you save the merged file, you will have a record of the labels that were created.
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How to Print Labels from Word
Print a page of labels or design custom labels
Updated on February 12, 2021
What to Know
- In Word, go to the Mailings tab. Select Labels > Options. Choose your label brand and product number.
- Type the information for the address in the Address section.
- In the Print section, select Full Page of Same Label or Single Label (with row and column specified). Choose Print.
This article explains how to print labels from Word. It includes information for printing a single label or a page of the same labels, for printing a page of different labels, and for printing custom labels. These instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007, and Word for Mac 2019 and 2016.
Print a Single Label or a Page of the Same Labels
Microsoft Word isn’t just for documents, resumes, or letters. It’s also a powerful and versatile application for most of your mailing and labeling needs. There are multiple options for creating labels in Word, so choose the one that best fits your needs.
Here’s how to fill a sheet with return address labels or create a single, professional-looking mailing label in Word.
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Go to the Mailings tab.
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In the Create group, select Labels. The Envelopes and Labels dialog box opens with the Labels tab selected.
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Select Options to open Label Options.
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Choose the label brand in the Label Vendors or Label Products list, then select the product number matching the labels you want to print on.
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Select OK.
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Type an address or other information in the Address box.
In Word for Mac 2019 and 2016, this box is called Delivery Address. In Word 2010, the Address box step comes before the Label Options selections.
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In the Print section, select Full Page of the Same Label to print a page of the same address labels.
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In the Print section, select Single Label to print one label. Choose the row and column corresponding with where you want the address printed on the sheet of labels.
The Single Label option is helpful if you have a partially used sheet of printer labels.
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Make sure the label sheet is waiting in the printer and select Print, or save to print later.
Create a Page of Different Labels
To make a sheet of labels in Word with different addresses or other information, such as nametags, create a document in which you will type the information for each label.
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Go to the Mailings tab.
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In the Create group, select Labels. The Envelopes and Labels dialog box opens with the Labels tab selected.
In Word 2010, leave the Address box blank.
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Select Options to open Label Options.
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Choose the label brand in the Label Vendors or Label Products list, then select the product number matching the labels you want to print on.
Word for Mac 2019 and 2016 also ask for the type of printer.
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Select OK.
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Select New Document. Word creates a new document displaying a page of blank labels matching the dimensions of the brand and label size you selected.
In Word for Mac 2019 and 2016, you don’t have to select New Document. After selecting OK in the previous step, Word opens a new document that contains a table with dimensions that match that label product.
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Go to the Layout tab under Table Tools and choose View Gridlines if the outlines of the labels do not appear.
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Type the information you want into each label.
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Go to the File tab, select Print, then select the Print button when you’re ready to print the labels. Save the document for future use.
Make Custom Labels
If you need to print labels that don’t match the dimensions of the label brands and products listed in the Label Options dialog box, create custom labels to match your specifications.
Before you begin, make sure you have the precise measurements of the labels you need, including the height and width of each label, the paper size, the number of labels down and across, and the margins.
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Go to the Mailings tab.
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In the Create group, select Labels. The Envelopes and Labels dialog box opens with the Labels tab selected.
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Select Options to open Label Options.
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Select New Label. The Label Details dialog box opens.
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Enter a name for the labels.
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Change the measurements to match the exact dimensions of the labels you need. An example of the label appears in the Preview box.
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Select OK to create the custom labels. You can then use these for making labels in Word.
There is no Mailings tab in Word for Mac 2011. In this version, access label features from the Tools menu.
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