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About this lesson

Auto-populate a sheet of labels with text pulled from a list.

Lesson versions

Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:

2013, 2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ Word documents from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Mail Merge to Labels
120.9 KB Mail Merge to Labels - Solution
14.1 KB

Quick reference

Mail Merge to Labels

Auto-populate a sheet of labels with text pulled from a list.

When to use

Typing a page of labels can become tedious and inefficient. If you have a mailing list already established, then you can easily merge the addresses to an MS Word document of any type.

Instructions

  • Begin with a blank document
  • Click Mailings, ,
    Start mail Merge
  • Click

The Mail Merge Wizard pane appears on the right side of the screen. Notice the bottom of the pane where it identifies which step you are currently on.

  1. STEP 1: Select Document Type and choose “Labels”, then click Next at the bottom
  2. STEP 2: Select Starting Document and choose “Change document layout”, and click Label options
    1. Select the label information to match your purchased box of labels, click OK
    2. You should see a label template on your screen, then click Next at the bottom
  3. STEP 3: Select Recipients asks you where your list is. Choose one option: Use existing, Select from Outlook, Type a new list
    1. If you Type a new list, click Create , enter the data and click OK.
    2. You will be prompted to SAVE the file. Make sure to write down the file location because you will need that info if you re-use the same list again.
    3. Click Next at the bottom

After the list is saved, your template contains FIELDS that look like:

It is VITAL that you do not erase or delete the chevron marks on the field. They are “codes”.

  1.  STEP 4: Arrange your labels; make sure to click into the top left label box or “cell”.
    On the Mail Merge pane, click Address block ; make your choices in the dialogue box and click OK
    1. Notice the new field that appeared only in the first label cell:
    2. To populate all the cells with an Address Block, you MUST CLICK
    3. Notice all the labels cells now show:
  2. STEP 5: Preview your labels; If you don’t like the line spacing or fonts, now is the time to change them.
    1. Select all (Ctrl + A), click the HOME ribbon, Paragraph group, Line Spacing button, and choose:
  3. STEP 6: Complete the merge allows you to either Print or Edit the individual labels.
         It is recommended to Edit the labels because that is one last chance to preview and/or change individual labels.
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  • 00:04 Microsoft Word is an excellent tool to use when you need to take long list of
  • 00:09 addresses and merge them into envelopes, documents or labels.
  • 00:13 And that's why it's called mail merge,
  • 00:15 cuz you're going to eventually mail these items.
  • 00:18 So what I want to do is show you how easy the process is
  • 00:21 if you just know a couple of things.
  • 00:23 Go ahead and take a look at the mailings ribbon at the top of the document,
  • 00:26 at the top of your screen.
  • 00:29 And we have a bunch of buttons in here where most of them are grayed out though,
  • 00:32 because we haven't started the mail merge process.
  • 00:34 But right over here we have a button that says start merge, start mail merge.
  • 00:38 When I click that button, I can chose any of the items on the list.
  • 00:42 But that's expecting you to know what to do in the next few steps.
  • 00:45 But there is a little trick in here called the mail merge wizard.
  • 00:48 When you click the step by step mail merge wizard,
  • 00:51 you'll see a task pane show up on the right hand side of your screen.
  • 00:55 Now this will guide you through a step at a time.
  • 00:57 But I do want to caution you, you need to read it from the top, to the bottom.
  • 01:00 Because on the bottom, that's where it guides you to go to the next step.
  • 01:05 Now, I'm going to go ahead and choose labels on this screen.
  • 01:08 But our ultimate goal is to set up your document.
  • 01:11 Your document mailing addresses, and
  • 01:14 then on this exercise file are some established addresses that you can use to
  • 01:19 practice with, or maybe you have some you want to use on your own.
  • 01:22 I will warn you,
  • 01:23 when I hit create the document, all of this is going to vanish off my screen.
  • 01:28 So it's a good idea to use a blank document if you're going to practice
  • 01:31 with the video.
  • 01:32 All right, I'm gonna go ahead and start my document.
  • 01:35 When I click this, it says use the current document, which is gonna wipe this out.
  • 01:39 Change the document layout, or start from the existing document.
  • 01:42 Well, I'm gonna change my document layout.
  • 01:45 And that's because I did choose labels.
  • 01:47 So I'll click the labels options and I'll go ahead and
  • 01:49 look at my box of labels that I purchased at the office supply store.
  • 01:52 And it'll tell me it's Avery and what number on the box and
  • 01:55 I'll choose those matching ones, and I'll click OK.
  • 01:57 Now its going to wipe out everything on my screen.
  • 02:00 All right, now this is the label template.
  • 02:04 And over here I'm ready to go to my next option that says select recipients.
  • 02:08 Now when I select recipients on the bottom,
  • 02:11 it immediately now tells me I'm headed for step three of six.
  • 02:14 But right now I'm still just selecting my document Recipients.
  • 02:19 I can use an existing box.
  • 02:21 I can select from my outlook contacts.
  • 02:23 Microsoft products will talk to each other.
  • 02:26 So if you're using Microsoft Word,
  • 02:27 it will take a look into your Microsoft Outlook contacts and use those to merge.
  • 02:32 Or I can type a brand new list.
  • 02:34 I'm going to go ahead and
  • 02:35 offer that option, and then click create right below that.
  • 02:39 Now all I have to do is begin typing in the list that I had
  • 02:43 previously on the screen.
  • 02:46 And I'm going to ask you to pause your video, and type in your list.
  • 02:49 And then hit ok when you're finished.
  • 02:51 Go ahead and pause right now.
  • 02:54 All right when you're done type them in or finish typing them in and hit okay.
  • 03:01 Here's what your list will look like.
  • 03:02 It will be all nice and little columns, it's very nice.
  • 03:06 And so now that I've got this list on my screen I can go ahead and click.
  • 03:12 Click OK here, and now I want to look at the screen and
  • 03:17 notice we have these little items in here, these are called fields.
  • 03:22 And it says next record with these little arrows on the side,
  • 03:26 those arrows are called chevrons, it is code.
  • 03:30 Now the word next record is not going to print on your labels.
  • 03:33 But it's going to contain some information, and
  • 03:37 it's going to tell each label that the next record in this one,
  • 03:40 the next record in this one, it'll jump around.
  • 03:42 But if you start deleting those little arrows on the end, again, called chevrons
  • 03:47 you will break the mail merge, so make sure you don't delete those.
  • 03:50 Okay, I'm going to stay clicked into this very first cell.
  • 03:53 This is called a label cell, and I'm gonna come over here to the next step,
  • 03:58 next arrange your labels, and I'm gonna click that.
  • 04:01 And now it's going to ask me how do you want this set up?
  • 04:04 Well I'm gonna cheat and use this nice handy Address Block.
  • 04:07 So when I click Address Block, it's gonna ask me how do you want it to look?
  • 04:12 That looks fine to me, so I'll go ahead and hit okay.
  • 04:15 Now, I've got Address Block here, and Next Record, Next Record.
  • 04:18 Well, if I were to mail merge right now, I'd get one address right there.
  • 04:22 And on the second page, one address on the second page.
  • 04:25 Because, notice, on our mail merge right over here.
  • 04:28 We chose address block, but don't stop, keep reading down the list.
  • 04:32 Update all labels.
  • 04:34 You must click this or your Mail Merge will not work.
  • 04:37 And it will make you crazy if you forget to click that.
  • 04:40 So I'm gonna click update all labels and notice.
  • 04:43 Says AddressBlock,
  • 04:44 Next Record, AddressBlock, Next Record, AddressBlock, that is a mail merge.
  • 04:49 Now, I'm gonna click this next one that says Preview your labels, and
  • 04:53 this is how they look.
  • 04:54 I don't like that layout, but it's easy enough to change.
  • 04:57 All I have to do is CTRL+A, go to my Home ribbon.
  • 05:00 Go to my lines and remove the space before the paragraph.
  • 05:04 So it looks a little more normal on that sheet.
  • 05:08 And now, I'm going to go ahead and complete the merge.
  • 05:11 And I can either print or I can edit the individual labels.
  • 05:15 Now print will send this directly to my printer.
  • 05:18 Here's hoping you've got your sheet of labels loaded right?
  • 05:21 But how about we just take a look at our individual labels, hit Ok and
  • 05:25 now we'll have a brand new document with our labels on there.
  • 05:29 And that is basically just a few clicks away from a Mail Merge.
  • 05:33 Having your list established first is most important, and
  • 05:37 using that mail merge wizard is the second most important.
  • 05:40 And this will be a breeze.
  • 05:42 You'll use it all the time.
  • 05:44 Okay I'll see you in the next lesson, and we will mail merge to an envelope.

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