1. Open a blank worksheet in Microsoft Excel.
2. Begin by entering column headers for each field of data in your list of addresses. Click in cell A1 and type 'First Name.' Press 'Tab' to go to the next column. Enter 'Last Name.' Continue tabbing over and entering the column headers for street address 1, street address 2, city, state and ZIP code.
3. Click cell A2. Enter the first name of the first person in your address list. Tab over to add the rest of their address information in the corresponding column. Each row will be one individual address record.
4. Press 'Enter' to move to the next row down. Continue adding address information in each cell until you have completed the address list.
5. Save the document. Give it a file name and location you will remember, as you'll need to use the document later.
6. Open a blank document in Microsoft Word.
7. Click the 'Mailings' tab. Click 'Start Mail Merge,' then 'Labels.'
8. Choose the type of printer you'll be using to print the labels. Select the vendor for the label sheets you're going to use. Select the product number listed on the packaging of the label sheets. Click 'OK.' The labels will be set up as a table in your Word document.
9. Click 'Select Recipients' on the 'Mailings' tab. Click 'Use Existing List.' Select the Excel file you just saved to connect to it.
10. Click 'Edit Recipient List' on the 'Mailings' tab if you only want to create labels for some of the addresses in your list. In the dialog box, choose individual records by checking the ones you want to include. Uncheck the ones you don't want to include.
11. Set up the mail merge fields, which serve as placeholders on the labels. Each label will connect to an address record in your address list, including all of the address elements you need. Click 'Match Fields' in the 'Write Insert Fields' group on the 'Mailings' tab. This will bring up a new dialog box, showing elements of an address on the left and the column headers from your address list on the right side.
12. Click a drop-down menu on the right to properly match the correct address field you want to use for each element. Only select the elements you want to include on your labels. For instance, don't match 'Courtesy Title' if you don't have a column for title in your address list.
13. Click the first label on the Word document. If you want to include any content that you want to display on each label, insert it now. For example, you could add a company logo to each label. To do so, click the 'Insert' tab and choose 'Picture' to insert the image file.
14. Click the same label where you want to insert the placeholder mail merge field. Click 'Address Block' in the 'Write Insert Fields' group. Select the address elements you want to include and click 'OK.'
15. Click 'Update Labels' in the 'Write Insert Fields' group. This will apply the content of the first label to all the labels on the page.
16. Preview the mail merge after you've finished setting up the first label. This will allow to see the results of the mail merge before completing it. Click 'Preview Results' in the 'Preview Results' group.
17. Connect your printer to the computer and feed it with the sheets of labels before finishing the merge.
18. Click 'Finish Merge' in the 'Finish' group on the 'Mailings' tab. Click 'Print Documents' to print the labels.
Read more ►