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If you’re creating invitations for a wedding or another big event, you think it’s no big deal … it’s only a few hundred, you can knock that out in a couple of hours right? Type them up in Word, print them out and you’re done!
A couple of months later, you’ve got another job ahead of you … the thank you cards. Hopefully you saved the Word doc that you slaved over last time … formatting it and making it look just right.
But even if you did save your doc, you’ve still got plenty of work ahead of you … going through all of the names one by one, checking them off, making changes … it takes some time.
The solution? An Excel spreadsheet that allows you to very easily sort the list, make any necessary changes and have your labels ready in no time.
Working with an Excel spreadsheet makes the whole process of creating address labels — as well as other things, such as personalized letters, thank you cards, etc. — less time consuming and very easy.
Knowing how to merge Excel and Word documents can come in very handy in many situations. So today I’m going to show you a very easy but very useful time saver — how to create address labels in Word 2007 using an Excel spreadsheet.
Here’s what a simple Excel spreadsheet can look like:
Save this baby to your hard drive, call it something obvious like AddressList and all you need to do now is a quick merge between Excel and Word and your address labels are done in less than 10 minutes.
Here’s a step-by-step that shows you how easy it is to create address labels in Word 2007!
1. Before you start make sure you have your Excel spreadsheet ready. Now open up Microsoft Word 2007 and click on the Merge tab.
2. Next, click on the Start Mail Merge button and select Labels.
3. Now it’s time for you to select the Label Vendor. In my case I am going to use Avery US Letter.
4. I have the 8662 labels so I am going to scroll down and select that. You should find the label number that’s appropriate for your labels, it’s usually on the box.
When you find your label number, select it and click OK.
5. You might get the following message. What this means is that if you typed something in this document and you did not save it, it will be lost. If you do not want that, hit Cancel, save the document and then repeat the steps from 1-5.
If you have a blank screen behind this message then go ahead and click OK to continue.
6. Next, click on the Select Recipients button on the ribbon and select Use Existing List.
7. Browse to the location where your Address List file is and select it. I have mine on the Desktop. I will click on it once, and then select Open.
8. In this window, select the sheet you have your list on. Mine is on the first sheet as this is all I have there. If you didn’t do anything special in Excel, your address list should be on the first sheet as well.
Also notice the check box next to First row of data contains column headers. You should have that checked if your columns have headers such as: First name, Last name, Address, etc.
If you don’t have the column headers, I would recommend going back to the excel file and adding them in. It’s going to make your life a lot easier while going through the merge. When ready, click the OK button.
9. Once you click OK you will see the following document. It may look a bit scary but don’t worry, all is good.
10. Since you are creating address labels, you will have two choices here. The first choice is to click on the Address Block button on the ribbon.
This option will automatically select all your columns and create an address for you.
The address looks good, but notice that we are missing the state. It’s not listed here but when we check back in our Excel document, it’s there.
Well this is ok, we can fix it. Go ahead and click on the Match Fields button.
11. Now in the left column find State and in that row click on the arrow pointing down, then select your header name for the State column. Mine is called State, so I will select that and click OK.
12. Now we see that the state is showing and the address looks good. Go ahead and click the OK button.
13. You will notice that in our first address label spot we have something called << AddressBlock >>.
If you decide to print your labels now, you will only get that first address in the first label. You need to make sure that the << AddressBlock >> appears on each label following the << NextRecord >> code. To do that you need to click on Update Labels option on the ribbon.
14. Once you click on that button, all labels will update.
And you are almost done! Now you have to click on the Finish & Merge button and select Edit Individual Documents to see what your labels will look like.
15. Make sure All is selected and click OK.
16. TA DA!!! Now all you need to do is print your labels.
1. Another way to do the merge is to pick the fields manually. To do that you will need to select the Insert Merge Field option on the ribbon and select one field at a time.
2. To start out, insert First Name, hit the space bar and then insert Last Name. After that, hit the enter key and insert Address.
Hit the enter key again, insert City, hit the comma key, and the space bar, insert State, hit the space bar again, and insert Zip Code.
This way all of your spacing and punctuation will be correct and your first label should look something like this.
3. You can also format the first label any way you want it. For example, you can change the font, you can center the text, make it bold, etc.
4. Once you are done making edits to the text and formatting, don’t forget to go back to your Mailings tab on your ribbon and select the Update Labels button. This will make sure that all your formatting and changes that you made to the first label are copied over to all the other labels.
5. Now you’re ready to view and print your labels. Click on the Finish & Merge option on your ribbon and select Edit Individual Documents.
Now isn’t this much easier than typing the names and addresses on the labels, over and over, and over again? And merging works just as well with letters, invitations, thank you notes, or anything else you do in Word. Try it out!
And don’t forget, there are lots of other cool things you can do in Word and Excel. Check out the sample videos below!
Learn about all the new features and options, strategies that save you time, and how to integrate Word with other Microsoft programs including Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
Our complete Word 2007 training covers everything you need to know to become the Word expert.
Take advantage of all the new features of Excel and see how much more you can accomplish with your data.
Our complete Excel 2007 training - beginner to advanced - offers instructor led video, instructor’s notes, and plenty of Excel exercises to put your new knowledge into practice.
Zach Says:
May 28th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I hate Microsoft Office. I use WordPerfect…That’s not true. I was just trying to get back at you for throwing me under the bus in your post on my Vista article, but no one is going to believe I use WordPerfect. I’m pretty sure the guy that created WordPerfect glances from side to side to make sure no one is looking when he uses Microsoft Office. Great article; very informative!
penelope Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Thank you so much! I have to print 3,000 labels each month for my company, and had no idea how to do it. Thank you for saving my job ;)
Jennifer Says:
September 25th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
You rock! You and your screen shots helped me so much! Thank you, Jen
Brady Bragg Says:
October 6th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Thank you! Why can’t Microsoft make things as simple as this?