Multiple Envelopes in One Document

Normally, when you want to create an envelope manually (instead of having Word create it from the address in your letter), you choose Add to Document from the Envelopes and Labels dialog box if you don't want to print it immediately. But what if you want to do several envelopes (not enough to justify a merge) before you send them to the printer across the office where you have to manually feed them in the printer?

The objective is to get all your envelopes in one document and then send them to the printer. However, Word insists on changing the first envelope if you choose Envelopes and Labels from the Tools menu again. Here's how to get around this problem:

1. Choose Envelopes and Labels from the Tools menu. (In some versions of Word you may need to select Letters and Mailings from the Tools menu and then choose Envelopes and Labels.) Word displays the Envelopes and Labels dialog box.
2. Make sure the Envelope tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Envelope tab of the Envelopes and Labels dialog box.

3. Use the controls in the dialog box to specify how your envelope should look.
4. When finished, click on the Add to Document button.
5. Choose Break from the Insert menu and insert a Next Page section break.
6. Press Ctrl+Home to position the insertion point above the section break.
7. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the next envelope.
8. When finished, click on the Change Document button.
9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 for each additional envelope.

When you are finished, the file will contain all your envelopes, and you can print as necessary.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10331) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Multiple Envelopes in One Document.