How to print a partial sheet of address labels in Word

June 3rd, 2008, 3:57 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Gadgetress

The North Orange County Computer Club helps me tackle the multitude of cries for help from readers. NOCCC group has experts in Windows, Word and all sorts of computer topics. The club, which meets monthly, has been in existence since 1976. Visit the club’s Web site at noccc.org.

QUESTION: I greatly enjoyed and appreciated the article you wrote on creating mailing labels with Word 2003. I want to use this for a few customers I constantly write to. However, I cannot figure out how to pick up on a partially used sheet of labels. Is there a way to have the labels start printing in another spot besides top left corner?

NOCCC: Yes, there is a way to have the labels start printing in another spot besides the top left corner using Microsoft Word 2003. Using this procedure, you can print one or more labels anywhere on a page of labels.

1. In Word, go to the top Menu Bar. Click on “Tools,” then “Letters and Mailings,” then “Envelopes and Labels” and then the “Labels” tab.

2. Do not type any text when the window opens, just click on the “Options” button to open the “Label Options” window.

How to print a partial sheet of address labels in Word

3. Pick the Avery product number for the labels you are using (or find the equivalent dimensions if using a different brand, the “Details” button gives additional information on dimensions) and click OK.

4. Back on the “Envelopes and Labels” window, click on the “New Document” button, which will open a new page of blank labels.

5. Pick the label you want to start with, and type in your information for that label. If you need more than one label, use the mouse to highlight the information and copy and paste to additional labels.

6. Print the entire page of labels. Only the label cells that contain information will print on the page.

The Avery Label Company offers a nice, multifunction label printing program for Microsoft Office that you can download for free. The “Type many different entries on a sheet” option in that program provides a similar partial sheet label function.

You can view a demo or download the program HERE. Now that we have told you how you can do it, let’s talk about why you might not want to do it.

Avery Dennison guarantees the performance for one sheet of labels fed through a printer a single time. If your printer has a straight-through, paper-path option, be sure and use it. Otherwise, a printer that forces a sheet of labels to make a turn around a roller has a much higher chance of causing a label to come off the sheet and gum up the inside of the printer.

Personally, I would recommend printing a full sheet of labels for each of the “few customers I constantly write” and keep them in a folder. The cost of having to disassemble a printer to get at a label stuck somewhere in its innards is far more than the cost of a few labels.

~ Jim Sanders, Vice President, NOCCC

Reader comments: We want this to be a place where people discuss and debate ideas that foster stronger communities. We expect people to differ -- judgment and opinion are subjective -- and we encourage free speech and the exchange of ideas. But you are participating in a community that is intended for all of our users and we prohibit profanity, vulgarity, racial, sexual and homophobic remarks, threats, harassment and personal attacks. Here's the full User Agreement. Thank you for making this a safe place worth preserving and sharing. Share this: The icons below make it easy to share this post with others. First icon e-mails a link.