5 Minute Tips General Creating Mailing Labels in Microsoft Word
Creating Mailing Labels in Microsoft Word
The problem arises when you try and use Outlook’s Mail Merge feature. You can get an edit message that reads:
"To use this feature, you must install the version of Microsoft Word that matches the installed version of Microsoft Office Outlook."
There are two keys to working around the problem. The first is that instead of starting with Microsoft Outlook, you need to initiate the process from Microsoft Word. The second key is you need to create a temporary contacts folder containing copied contacts from your desired category if that’s your focus.
Slight disclaimer here…the first time you run through this routine, it will not take 5 minutes. It may take 15 minutes, but I’m not setting up a new category on this site called “15 minute tips’.
Creating another Outlook Contacts folder
Unfortunately, when you use Microsoft Outlook as your source for the mailing labels, it doesn’t pull over the categories. It also doesn’t show any user defined fields. This can be an issue if you’re trying to do a targeted mailing. The way to solve this problem is to copy the desired contacts to a new contacts folder. Once you’ve created your mailing labels, you can delete the temp folder.
To set up your new temporary Contacts folder,
1. Create a contact view you want by your category criteria. These should be the contacts that need a mailing label.
2. Right-click your Contacts folder and select New Folder.
3. In the Create New Folder dialog, provide a name for your folder such as tmpCategory. Keep the Folder Contains setting as Contact Items.
4. Click OK.
5. Select the contacts you want from your view in Step 1
6. From the Edit menu, select Copy.
7. Click your new contacts folder.
8. From the Edit menu select Paste.
You should now have two contacts folders. One represents your main contacts containing everyone. The second folder is a subset representing people who need a mailing label.
To create the mailing labels in Word
Most of the work for producing the labels is done within Microsoft Word. Microsoft does provide a 6-Step wizard, but the name is a bit misleading. It’s really 6 panels with a number of options you can select. While the number of steps may look intimidating, it’s easier than it looks. The tutorial at the bottom illustrates this point.
1. From the Tools menu, select Letters and Mailings
2. From the submenu, select Mail Merge Wizard… A 6-Step wizard opens on the right side
3. On Step 1, select the radio button for Labels
4. Click the link “Next: Starting document” at the bottom of the Mail Merge wizard
5. On Step 2, keep the default radio button for “Change the document layout”
6. Click the link “Label options…” The Label Options dialog will appear.
7. Select the label product number such as Avery 5162. You can click the Details button to see the layout.
8. Click OK. You should now see grid marks on your page.
9. At the bottom of the screen, select “Next: Select recipients”
10. Change the radio button to “Select from Outlook contacts”
11. Down below, click Choose Contacts Folder. The Mail Merge Recipients Dialog opens. This is where you select your temporary contacts folder.
12. Select your contacts. You can resort the list by clicking a column label.
13. Click OK. Your page will now show record placeholders.
14. Click “Next: Arrange your labels” at the bottom
15. Click Address block…
16. In the Insert address elements dialog, make your changes. Based on your label size, you may not be able to fit everything. Optionally, you may want to add an address barcode to the mailing label.
17. Click OK. Your first label will show “Address block”
18. Click Update all labels to copy the address block to other labels.
19. Click “Preview your labels”. You should now see contents in your labels.
20. Click “Next Complete the merge”
21. You can now print or edit your labels.
Related Outlook Tutorials
Last Updated (Friday, 18 June 2010 18:27)