How to Make and Print Labels in Word

  
By Tim Chesonis •  Updated: 08/04/20 •  7 min read

You may think that printing labels in Microsoft Word is complicated, something that only incredibly geeky office people can do, but is it really that hard?

Printing labels is straight forward and simplistic. Like riding a bike, once you learn how to do it, you’ll never forget. You can print labels using Microsoft Word on a PC, a Mac or even using Microsoft Office online.

Look Mom, No Hands!

As I have just mentioned, learning how to create labels in Microsoft Word is not difficult, and will literally only take minutes to learn.

Perhaps your Mom or Dad, brother or sister, taught you how to ride a bike as a kid. Even if you have not ridden a bicycle for over 40 years, it would take less than 5 minutes to ride it again. The same is true about printing labels using Microsoft Word. Once you learn how to print labels in Word, you will find yourself printing labels all the time, for years to come. I am going to serve as your a coach and show you how to print labels in Word in both Windows and on the Mac.

Printing labels in Microsoft Word on a PC or Mac or even on the Web is very similar, but for clarification purposes, I have provided screenshots to give you that extra assurance that you are doing it right.

Let’s begin.

How to Print Labels Using Microsoft Word on a PC

To begin, you will want to click on Mailings and then click Labels in the ribbon menu.

As soon as you click on the Labels icon, you will immediately see the following screen. The following listed items show you exactly what to do:

  1. Ensure that you select the Labels tab.
  2. Either enter the mailing address in the Address field, or you can select the mailing address from the Address book icon, (as indicated by way of the red #2).
  3. You can select the FULL PAGE OF THE SAME LABEL option if you wish to print one label numerous time on the same page), or . . .
  4. You can select SINGLE LABEL to print one label if you like.

Select Options (from the screenshot above), and choose a Label vendor and Product Number to use (see image below).

If you don’t see your product number, select New Label and configure a custom label. From there, you can customize the label to your specifications. Once you are done, click OK.

Now, if you want to change the font used in the address label, all you have to do is right click in the Address text box, and make changes with Font or Paragraph. Select OK.

Once you are all done, you will find yourself back to the Envelopes and Labels dialog box.

To print, select Print, or if you wish to edit the label New Document to edit, you can save it and print it later.

How to Print Labels Using Microsoft Word on a Mac

Like nearly everything on the Mac, it’s just easier and more intuitive, (let alone more visually appealing).

To begin, click on Mailings in the ribbon menu and then click Labels.

Select Options, as shown below

After clicking the Options button (as shown above), the following dialog box will display. From here, choose your Printer type, a Dot Matrix or a Laser and Ink Jet Printer.

Under Label products, select the type of label from the drop-down menu.

In the Product number section, select the product number, which is the the product number associated with whatever you chose from the Label products drop-down menu.

If you don’t see your product number, you can select New Label and create a custom label and configure it to your liking. When you are done, select OK.

You will be brought back to the Lables dialog box. From here, simply type the address you would like to print in the Delivery Address text box. If you would like to use an address from your contacts list, select the little Insert Address icon to search for the address you would like to use.

If you would prefer to change the look of the label, you can highlight the text and then click Font to make modify the text to your liking.

You can choose Full page of the same label or Single label, depending on what you want to print. When you are finished, select OK.

Now comes the fun part. Click Print to print your label(s), or click New Document to edit, save and print the label at a later time.

How to Print Labels from the Web at www.office.com

Printing Microsoft Word labels online is just . . . . convenient. You can print from any computer, from anywhere. There is, however, just one issue when printing labels from Word online: you can’t print directly by creating labels. You can, however, create tables from a template.

Let me show you how.

To begin, visit https://office.com using the Microsoft Edge browser and click the Sign in button to sign into Office Online. We are using the Microsoft Edge browser to avoid any potential conflicts, however, this process may work just fine using your favorite browser.

You will need to enter your login credentials, and once you have successfully logged in, you will be brought to the Microsoft Office Home page. This is where you will find all of your online office documents. On the left hand side you will see a ribbon menu showing you all of the Office apps listed for you to choose from.

You will want to click on the Microsoft Word icon from the left hand side. Once you click the icon to open up Microsoft Word, you will see all of your Word documents listed below, however, at the top of the screen, you will see 5 or more templates displayed.

To the far right in the top section, under New, you will want to click the link that reads, More Templates.

From there, place your cursor in the Search text box and type the word, “Label” (without quotes), and without hitting the Enter key, click Label in Templates from the drop-down menu.

Scroll down the page until you find the Label template that will meet your needs and click on it.

In this example, I chose, Return address labels (basic format, 80 per page), as shown below.

You can now click the Edit in Browser button to open up the label template.

With this particular template, complete one label, and then copy/paste for the rest.

Quick Tip: Complete one address, and then copy it, and paste it into the top table for each row. Then copy the entire first row, highlight the second row and paste over the second row. Follow this procedure for the rest of the sheet.

Closing Thoughts

Printing labels is not difficult. With Microsoft Word, you can print your own person return label to your entire contact list, or you can print a your entire contact list onto labels so that you can send a letter to each contact. Additionally, you can format the text, font, and even color of the font for each label you print. Now that you know how to print labels, you have the power to print them on a perforated template, or on individual envelopes.

Tim Chesonis

Tim has been helping people with computers needs for several years, and he loves to help people succeed. He brings a wealth of wisdom and insight from an entrepreneur's perspective and enjoys freelance writing. In fact, when he's not writing an article, you might find him binge-watching Suits or formatting his computer . . . again, just for fun. To learn more about Tim, click here.