Word has a great tool for printing a sheet of labels. You can create just about any type with Word's built-in database of label sheet layouts or even go beyond that to design your own. If you have some information that you regularly need on a label, follow these articles to learn how to format labels with ease.

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Labels' topic. Click the article''s title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

   Adding Addresses To a Set of Address Labels
Got a bunch of pages labels and you need to insert a label into the middle of the bunch? This isn't easy to do in Word, but it is made easier if you use the mail merge capabilities of the program.

   Backing Up Label Layouts
Once you create a custom label layout it is a good idea to backup the layout on a different hard drive in the event of a computer crash. The process is a bit technical, but worth your time. Here's how.

   Changing Label Printing Order
If you want to change the order in which labels are printed when doing a mail merge, Word doesn't provide many options. This tip examines some ideas on how you can change the printing order to match your needs.

   Changing Label Sizes
Information formatted for one type of label may someday need to be printed on a different type of label. Here's some techniques you can use to make the format change you need.

   Creating Custom Labels
There is a whole passel of labels pre-defined in Word. You are not limited to this passel, however; Word allows you to define the layout of almost any label you can think of.

   Creating Labels
Using Word to create and print labels is a snap. All you need to do is provide the text you want on the labels, pick a type of label, and then format the text to best fit the label you chose. This tip shows how to do it all, step by step.

   Creating One-time Labels
Need to create a set of labels for a specific purpose? The easiest way is to let Word create a set of blank labels and then you can type onto the labels exactly the information you want.

   Doubling Your Money
Make your money last longer by using your head when printing labels. Here's a great example of how you can double the usage you get from your labels.

   Finding Long Lines
Word is very dynamic in how it "flows" text from one line to another and one page to another. In most cases we are willing to allow Word to do its job in this area. In some situations, however, you may need to know if a paragraph has flowed to a new line so that you can "force" it to fit all on one line. Making this determination is not as easy as you might like.

   Formatting Labels
Need your labels to look a certain way? You can save time by formatting them before Word actually creates the sheet of labels. Here's how.

   Getting Rid of Blank Labels in a Filtered Merge
If you are filtering a mail merge in Excel, and you get blank labels in the printout in Word, chances are good that something is going wrong. (Filtering should suppress those blank labels.) This tip provides some guidance on what you should look for in your merge document to get the desired results.

   Left and Right Aligned on One Line in a Label
If you need to put information on a label that has both left- and right-aligned information on the same line, it can be frustrating to get the formatting just right. Here's the steps you need to follow to get just what you need.

   Making Use of Extra Labels
Got extra labels left over after printing a mail merge? Here's what you can do to put those labels to good use.

   Picking a Starting Label
If you use the Labels feature in Word, you may want to specify which label to use as the starting point when printing. Here are a few options to try.

   Printing Multiple Label Copies when Merging
Need to print more than one copy of mail-merge labels? There are a number of different approaches you can take to getting the number of labels you need.

   Printing Return Address Labels
Want an easy way to create your own return address labels? Word provides the tool as a feature of the program.

   Saving Money on Printing Labels
Labels can be expensive, and a little common sense will help you waste less money as you try to get your labels to appear "just right." This tip provides a few ideas you can put to work right away.

   Sequentially Numbered Labels
A common task in Word is to create labels. This tip presents two approaches you can use when you need to create labels that include a sequential series of numbers.

   Setting Default Label Formats
Setting default formats for envelopes is easy; setting them for labels is not so easy. Here are some ideas on things you can try to get your labels closer to how you want them.

   Specifying a Label Stock for Saved Documents
When you create a document designed to be printed on a particular type of label stock, it might be helpful if Word remembered which label stock the document was designed for. Unfortunately, that information is not maintained with the document. You can, however, note the information so it is always available using one of the techniques in this tip.

   Using the Address Book
Ways to use the address book when printing envelopes and labels.

   Vertically Centering Labels
Want the text printed on your labels to be centered vertically? It's not that hard, and this tip shows the easiest method.