How to Format & Print Address Labels Using Microsoft Word

Even if your office does the majority of its communication by email, blog post, tweet and blast, you still may find that hard-copy correspondence can be of benefit. To speed up handling mail, use Microsoft Word to design and print address labels. Choose from one of Word’s included templates to get yourself started, and then customize everything from the text to the colors. Once you’ve crafted labels in Word, you can reuse them again and again, even after you’ve moved offices or changed names.

Launch Word, click the “File” tab and then click “New.” Click “Labels” from the “Suggested search” section.

Scroll through the types of labels in the “Category” column and double-click one that fits your needs, such as “Address.” Double-click a template and, after a few moments, Word opens the template in a new window.

Click on any label on the sheet. Highlight the placeholder lines, which may show “Recipient Name” and “Recipient City” for example, and type your own, such as your business return address.

Highlight the new label text and right-click the highlight. Use the pop-up menu to format the label data, such as changing the font and color and resizing the text to be large and clearly readable.

Click the “Same Address” button on the ribbon to extend the text you just changed on one label to all of labels in the template, which can save time and data entry error. This is optional. For a sheet with different addresses, simply type over the placeholder lines with your own label data.

Click the “Design” tab, then the “Page Color” button. If you will be printing in color, you can choose a background color for the labels, such as your company’s main logo color. This step works well if you are printing on plain white label sticker paper – skip it, however, if you have colored sticker paper.

Position the cursor to the left or right of the first line on the label. Click the “Insert” tab, then “Pictures.” Browse to a copy of your logo and double-click to add it to the label. Press and hold down the “Shift” key, click a corner of the logo and drag in toward the middle to shrink it. Drag the logo graphic into place on the label. Right-click the logo, select “Copy,” click into the next label on the template and select “Paste.” Repeat until the logo is on each label.

Click the “File” tab and click “Print.” You’ll see a preview of the label sheet. Click the “Print” button, or adjust the printer settings to choose your printer, number of copies, color or grayscale and other settings.