formatting labels

[John]

For some reason I have never figured out how to do this w/ Word 2003 even
though I used to do it with past versions.

In a nutshell, what I want to do is have the information that is printed
onto the label moved down and to the right instead of starting in the upper
left hand corner of the label (which is where my return address is).

If I try to use Tools > Letters & Mailings > Enveolopes And Labels

I choose Labels and my label type (5163). I choose Options then Details or
New Label but the parameters that it allows me to set are all about where
the labels are on the page and have nothing to do with where the information
lands on the label. I have tried to trick it by putting ridiculous margin
sizes in, but then I get an error message saying that the labels won't fit
on the page.

It seems like there must be a way to do this. I never had this probelm with
past versions of Word.

Thanks

 

[John]

OK, I had to trick it by saying that my labels are smaller height & width
than they really are and have bigger top & left margins (whatever you take
off the H & W you add to the margins) but the same vertical & horizontal
pitch. Now I can print a whole page of labels and they line up fine.

Didn't there used to be simple top & left indent settings for this?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

The formatting needs to be applied to the text, not the label.

Or, if you click on the New Document button it will create a new document
with a page of the labels (which are only tables in Word with fixed cell
dimensions, then you can access the Properties dialog for the table and set
the top and left margins of the cell to get the text positioned where you
want.

--
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

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Select the text and right-click. Choose Paragraph. Apply a left indent and
Spacing Before as needed.

 

[John]

Thanks but it's much easier to change the label size & margins as I
described to force the text to a specific area. That way it doesn't have to
be done for every label.

In short, open the label details, subtract from the height & width of the
label and add whatever amounts you took off to the top & left margins. Save
these settings. Then you will have a new label that will work every time
instead of manually changing paragraph settings every time.

There really should be "top indent" and "left indent" in the label details
settings, but this does essentially the same thing.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I was assuming you were using New Document and saving it as a template.