How to Create and Print Mailing Labels in Microsoft Word

Whether you are sending out hundreds of corporate holiday cards, distributing wedding invitations, or shipping products to customers, handwriting addresses is incredibly inefficient. Microsoft Word includes a powerful built-in tool specifically designed to merge a list of addresses with standard sticker label templates, allowing you to print hundreds of perfectly aligned mailing labels in minutes.

To use this feature, you need two things: a blank Word document, and a list of addresses (usually stored in an Excel spreadsheet).

Step 1: Prepare Your Address List

The Mail Merge process relies on a clean database. Open Microsoft Excel and create a simple spreadsheet. Use the very first row for your headers (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Street Address, City, State, Zip Code). Fill out the rows below with your contacts. Save the Excel file to your Desktop and close it.

Step 2: Start the Mail Merge Wizard

1. Open a blank Microsoft Word document.
2. Click on the Mailings tab in the top ribbon.
3. Click the Start Mail Merge button.
4. From the drop-down menu, select Labels.

Step 3: Select Your Label Vendor

A “Label Options” dialogue box will appear. You must tell Word exactly what type of sticker paper is currently loaded in your printer, otherwise, the text will print across the physical gaps between the stickers.

1. Look at the physical box of labels you purchased. Identify the Vendor (e.g., Avery US Letter, Dymo, Uline).
2. Select that vendor from the Label vendors drop-down list.
3. Find the Product number on your physical box (e.g., Avery 5160 Address Labels).
4. Scroll through the Product number list in Word, select the matching number, and click OK.

Your blank Word document will now show faint grid lines representing the borders of the stickers.

Step 4: Connect Your Excel Database

Now, you must link Word to the Excel file you created earlier.

1. On the Mailings tab, click Select Recipients.
2. Choose Use an Existing List.
3. Navigate to your Desktop, select your Excel spreadsheet, and click Open.
4. If a pop-up appears asking you to select a specific sheet (e.g., Sheet1$), ensure “First row of data contains column headers” is checked, and click OK.

You will now see the phrase <<Next Record>> appear in every label box on the page, except for the very first one in the top-left corner.

Step 5: Design the First Label

You only need to design the layout for the top-left label. Word will copy your design to the rest.

1. Click inside the very first, blank label box.
2. On the Mailings tab, click Insert Merge Field. You will see a list of the headers from your Excel file.
3. Click First Name, press the Spacebar, then click Insert Merge Field again and choose Last Name.
4. Press Enter to start a new line.
5. Insert the Street Address field. Press Enter.
6. Insert the City field, type a comma and a space, insert the State field, type a space, and insert the Zip Code field.

The first label should now look like a generic formula:
<<First Name>> <<Last Name>>
<<Street Address>>
<<City>>, <<State>> <<Zip Code>>

Step 6: Update and Print

Now, you must tell Word to push that layout to every single sticker on the page.

1. On the Mailings tab, click the Update Labels button. (Do not skip this step).
2. The formula you built will instantly copy into all the other boxes containing <<Next Record>>.
3. To see what the labels will actually look like, click the Preview Results button. Word will pull the real names and addresses from Excel and display them.
4. When you are satisfied, click Finish & Merge on the far right of the ribbon.
5. Select Print Documents to send the final labels directly to your printer.