Printing Labels from Excel Made Easy

[nerdslife_team]

Got a bunch of contacts in Excel and need to print labels? It’s a common task and totally doable by merging your Excel data into Word. Let me show you how to get it done!

Prepare Your Excel Contact List

First things first, let’s make sure your Excel data is ready. Each piece of info (name, address, etc.) should be in its own column with clear headers. For labels, this usually includes:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Street Address
• City
• State
• ZIP Code
  Your spreadsheet should look something like this:

Make sure there are no blank rows or columns, or it could mess up the merge. Save your work after you’ve got it organized.

Name Your Data Range in Excel

It’s a good idea to give your data a name to make things easier. Here’s how you do it:

1. Select all your data, headers included.
2. Go to the Formulas tab and click Define Name in the Defined Names group.

3. In the box, type a name (like Mailing_List – no spaces or hyphens), and hit OK.

Configure Word for Excel Connection

Before we dive into Word, a quick setting check is sometimes needed:

1. Open Word, click on File, and go to Options at the bottom.

2. Select Advanced, scroll to the General section, and tick the box for Confirm file format conversion on open. Click OK.

Setting up your Label Document in Word

Now let’s get Word ready for your labels:

1. Open a new Word doc. Click on the Mailings tab, then Start Mail Merge, and choose Labels.

2. In the Label Options box, pick your label vendor and product number.

3. If you need to, click on Details to adjust the label size and margins. Then, hit OK.

Your Word doc should now have a label grid.

Connect Excel to Word Labels

Time to link up your Excel data:

1. In Word, go to Mailings and click Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List.

2. Find and pick your Excel file, then hit Open.

3. If you see the Confirm Data Source dialog, choose OLE DB Database Files and click OK.

4. Choose your named range (like Mailing_List) or the sheet with your data, and press OK.

You will see “«Next Record»” in the labels indicating the data connection is ready.

Modify the Recipient List (Optional)

Need to filter out some contacts? Here’s how:

1. Click Edit Recipient List under the Mailings tab.

2. In the Mail Merge Recipients window, uncheck anyone you want to skip. Click OK.

Add Data Placeholders to Labels

Now, let’s get those labels populated:

1. Click into the first label. Go to Mailings and select Address Block in the Write & Insert Fields group.

2. Pick how you want the names and addresses to appear in the Insert Address Block dialog. Preview it, then click OK.

If something looks off, you might need to match fields:
3. Click Match Fields in the same window. Make sure each field matches the right column from your Excel file using the dropdowns. Press OK when you’re done.

4. You’ll see “«AddressBlock»” appear in your first label.

5. Click Update Labels in the Mailings tab. This will add the placeholder to all labels.

Note: Be sure that “«Next Record»” is before “«AddressBlock»” in all labels except the first one.

Preview and Merge

Before you print, preview your labels:

1. Click on Preview Results in the Mailings tab. Use the arrows to flip through the records.

2. Adjust the font style and size in the Home tab. Click Update Labels again to apply any changes to all labels.
3. When everything looks good, click Finish & Merge in the Mailings tab and pick Edit Individual Documents.

4. In the Merge to New Document dialog, choose All, then click OK.

Word creates a new document with all your labels. You can make any last minute edits.

Add Borders (Optional)

Adding borders can help with cutting:

1. Click on the plus sign (+) in the upper-left of the label grid to select all labels.

2. Go to the Home tab, click on the Borders icon in the Paragraph group and choose All Borders.

Your labels now have borders for easy cutting.

Now your labels are all set for printing!