Creating labels using a mail merge in Microsoft Word
What is mail-merge?
Mail merge is a tool in Microsoft Word that allows you to send out
batches of personalised letters or email messages. It can also be
used to create labels. Instead of creating generic identical labels,
personalised data is pulled from another file, eg an Excel spreadsheet
or another Word table, to create personalised labels.
Steps for creating the merge
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Specify that you require an labels mail-merge
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In the Mail Merge wizard pane, click to select Labels.
At the bottom of the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Next:
Starting document.
Choose your starting document
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Set up the Excel spreadsheet or Word table.
In the Mail Merge wizard pane choose whether you
want to:
o Change document layout – i.e. build the
labels from scratch in this blank Word document
o Start from existing document – i.e. You
will browse to find an existing Word document to
pre-populate the content of the labels.
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For flexibility, each piece of information must be held in its own
column in the table (e.g. if you were creating address labels,
the address would be split into Address 1, Address 2, City,
County and Postcode columns)
Each column must have a unique, easily identifiable column
header.
Start the mail merge in Word
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Open Microsoft Word.
Click on the Mailings tab.
Click on the Start Mail Merge icon.
Click on Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.
The Mail Merge pane will appear at the right of the screen.
Choose your label size
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In the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Label Options
Choose a label vendor from the list*
Choose your label’s product number*
Click OK.
On the Table Tools Layout tab on
the ribbon, click on View Gridlines.
At the bottom of the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Next:
Select recipients.
*If you don’t know your label’s specification, or you can’t find your
labels, you will need to build your own label layout (see end of this
document)
For a video on how to use Word to create labels using a mail-merge, visit https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/is/training and click on the Word icon.
Link to the Excel spreadsheet or Word table
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In the Mail Merge wizard, choose Use an existing list.
Click on Browse.
Locate the Excel list or Word file containing your mail merge data
and Click OK.
If using an Excel list, confirm which sheet in your Excel sheet
contains the mail merge data.
Click OK.
Build your first label
Now you will build the content of your labels.
The golden rule here is to only type in the first label on your sheet.
After you build the first label, the next step will be to copy that layout
to the other labels, pulling in the content from your Excel or Word
table at the same time.
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Deselect the tick boxes
to exclude certain
recipients from the mail
merge
Click on the drop-down
arrow on a column name
to filter to only include
recipients that match certain criteria
on your keyboard each time you want a new line.
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Use the formatting icons on the Home tab on the ribbon to
format your text, eg if you want the text of your label to be
centred, click on the
icon.
To pull in text from your Excel file or Word table:
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In the Mail Merge wizard pane on the right, click on More
Items.
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Click OK.
At the bottom of the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Next:
Arrange your labels
If you want a new line, DO NOT PRESS ENTER first time.
Rather, press the down arrow key once on your keyboard. This
will move you to the next line. From then, you can press ENTER
Choose your recipients
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Click in the first label on your sheet.
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The pop-up window will give
you a menu of the columns
in your table to choose
from.
Click on the column you
want to pull in and then click
on Insert and then Close.
The field will appear in your
label surrounded by <<>>
In the Mail Merge wizard pane on the right, click on Update all
labels
to copy the label structure to the other labels.
Preview the individual labels
Print your labels
When you are happy with the layout of your labels on the page:
When building your labels,
the mail merge fields will
appear as <<fieldname>>
The preview allows you to
show how this will look with
the real data pulled in from the Excel file or Word table.
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At the bottom of the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Next:
Preview your labels
If you need to edit the labels, at the bottom of the Mail Merge
wizard pane, click on Previous: Arrange your labels to
return to the previous step.
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When you are happy with the preview of your labels, at the
bottom of the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Next:
Complete the merge
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Put your sheets of labels in the printer
In the Mail Merge wizard pane on the right, click on Print.
Click to select All and click OK.
Check the printer settings and click OK.
Printers often do not like labels.
If you have a large number of labels, you may want to send the labels
to the printer in smaller batches by specifying the range of labels to
print using the From/to option used for the test print.
Opening an existing mail-merge Word document
If you open an exisiting Word document containing a mail-merge
linked to an Excel file or Word table, you will see the following
message:
Do a test print of your labels
It is good to print a test page on normal paper before you print onto
the labels, this is to check that you have selected the correct labels
layout for sheet of labels.
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Count how many labels you have on one sheet of paper.
In the Mail Merge wizard pane on the right, click on Print.
In the From field, type 1
This is asking if you still want to link to the same Excel file or Word
table for your mail-merge.
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If your Excel or Word list has changed, these changes will be
pulled into your mail merge.
This means that you can set up a frequently used mail-merge in
Word and simply update the supporting Excel sheet or Word table
for new mail-merges using the same label layout.
In the To field, type the number of labels
you have on one sheet
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Click OK.
Check the printer settings and click OK.
Hold your print out over a sheet of labels to check that they align.
Repeat the steps above but with a sheet of labels in your printer.
If you do want to use the same list, click Yes.
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If you do not want to use the same list, click on No.
You will need to specify a new list on the Select recipients
step of the Mail Merge wizard.
How to show the Mail Merge wizard on an existing mail
merge document
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Click on the Mailings tab.
Click on the Start Mail Merge icon.
Click on Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.
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During the Select starting document step of the Mail Merge
wizard, in the Mail Merge wizard pane, click on Label Options.
Click on New Label.
Build your own label layout
If you don’t know your label’s specification, or you can’t find your
labels vendor or product number in the labels list, you will need to
build your own label layout.
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Note down the following dimensions for your sheet of labels:
Top Margin
Side margin
Label height
Label width
Vertical pitch
Horizontal
pitch
Number
across
Number down
Page size
Measurement from top edge of the page to
the top edge of the first label
Measurement from left-hand edge of the
page to the left-hand edge of the first label
Measurement of the height of one label
Measurement of the width of one label
Measurement of the distance from the top
edge of the first label to the top edge of the
label below the first label (ie the height of
one label + the vertical distance between
two labels)
Measurement of the distance from the lefthand edge of the first label to the left-hand
edge of the label to the right of the first label
(ie the width of one label + the horizontal
distance between two labels)
The number of labels that can fit horizontally
onto one page
The number of labels that can fit vertically
onto one page
The size of the page (eg A4 or A3)
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Type a description of the label in the Label Name box.
Set the dimensions of the labels as per the table opposite.
Click OK.
On the Table Tools Layout tab on the ribbon, click on View
Gridlines.
To use this label in future, in the Label Vendors drop-down
choose Other/Custom and then choose your layout from the list.