Create Mailing Labels In Word 97

[K]

I'm trying for the first time to create mailing labels in our Word 97. Each
label will be different. Following the Help instructions has proved to be
beyond my capabilities. Any chance there instructions for this task for the
computerly challenged? Thanks, K.

 

[Anne Troy]

Open an Excel file OR create a Word table with 5 columns and at least 2
rows.
Across the first row, put Name, Address, City, State, Zip
Across the second row, put your first address.
Across the third row, put your 2nd address, and so on....NO SPACES.
Then, do a mail merge:
http://www.theofficeexperts.com/word.htm#MailMerge
By having your data in a table or in an Excel file (separately), you can
sort and add and subtract MUCH more easily than typing up a set of labels
will provide.
************
Anne Troy
www.OfficeArticles.com

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

If you just use the Mailmerge Helper (Tools>Mailmerge) and follow the steps
it is pretty straight forward.

But in addition you might look at the following articles:

"Creating a Mail Merge Data Source" at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/CreateADataSource.htm

"How to convert addresses into a Mail Merge Data Source" at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/ConvertAdrsToDatafile.htm

"How to create a Mail Merge" at:

http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/CreateAMailMerge.htm


--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[K]

Anne and Doug: Appreciate your taking time to consider and answer my
question. You've provided a great deal of helpful info. Even I should be able
to mail merge with all this help. Thanks, K.

 

[K]

Well, I've finally stumbled thru my first mail merge document. After
converting my list of addresses, all 200 listings were successfully merged.
On screen it showed 4-3/4 addresses on a page of 4-1/4" x 5". When printed,
it printed only 4 addresses per page - in the proper place for that size of
label. Have I not done enough, or done something wrong, to keep from getting
a page full of addresses, like the page full of labels? All ideas and
suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, K.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

What type of label have you selected for the mail merge main document?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[K]

Yes, I finally found it and have successfully completed my first mailmerge
mailing labels. Could not have done it without yours and Annes help. Really
appreciate it. Thanks, K.

 

[K]

During my stumble thru Mail Mergre the other day, at some point in the
process a screen came up during datasource conversion that allowed me to
define what determined the end of a line and what determined the end of a
record. Now I am trying to bulid a list of labels with a different but
similar datasource and I cant seem to find that screen again. Consequently I
cant get my datasource converted like before. I think Im following the same
process as before but of course thats always questionable. Any ideas about
how to get to that conversion screen will be greatly apprciated. Thanks, K.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

It would most likely come up if you were using a .txt file as the data
source. In what format do you have the new datasource?

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[K]

The data source Im trying to use is a MS Word document, .doc, the same format
as I used before when the window in question came up before. Thanks, K.

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

You should set up your data source as a table in a Word document with
nothing before or after the table. The first row of the table must contain
valid mergefield names (i.e. no spaces).

Then there is no conversion required so you will not have to find the screen
that you are talking about.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[K]

Everything I read suggested that the datasource should be reformatted into a
table of some sort - Word, Excel, etc, so I suspect there is a reasonable
reason for that insistance. However, simply changing my datasource from
verticle to horizontal was fast, efficient and I didn't have to spend the
hours learning a whole new process that I'm only going to use on occasion. If
I could find that window again and try one of my horizontal lists in it - and
it works, then one datasource could be used for every facet of each marketing
project. As it stands now, a completly unique datasource must be developed
strictly for mail merge. Everytime a human hand massages data, the chance for
error increases. If the same datasource can be use for every application, the
chance for error is decreased and the efficiency level increases. However, in
light of all this, mail merge is now a part of our operations and we wouldn't
be this far along without your help. For that I am grateful. Thanks, K.