Merry Mail Merge!

WHOA.

I am a tad behind. I have really been procrastinating on this post.

I’m, also a bit of a liar. Mail Merge isn’t very merry… However, with wine it is!

For most snail mail, I take pride in my pretty address labels. They are a bit time consuming, but worth it – seeing how my hand writing has gone down the tubes. Mail merged labels aren’t just for Christmas cards, they can be used for invitations and thank you cards etc.

A lot of people have asked me how I do them – it’s pretty easy (if you have time, and start early), the most difficult task is ensuring you have all of the correct mailing information for your friends and family.

*note: I am working on a PC, mac versions of mail merge may vary*

To begin, open Microsoft Excel.

File> new > Blank Workbook

To create your “data source” you’ll need seven columns. Your columns will consist of:

A.      First Name
B.      Last Name
C.      House number and Street
D. City
E. Province
F. Postal Code
G.     Country

Once all of your information is placed into the correct cells, SAVE your work!
You should be saving any work at any time at least every 5 minutes.

Name each Column – using the above corresponding letters. Column “A” will be “first name” (this can be changed in the top left hand corner.

Once your entire list is complete, name the “sheet” – I have named mine “Christmas 2014”

Save!

Now for the fun part, creating your labels!

Open Microsoft Word

File > New > Mailings

Click “Start Mail Merge” and choose “step by step Mail Merge Wizard”

From the right hand menu, choose “Labels” from the Document type listing. Click next.

From the right hand menu, choose the type of labels you have purchased.

I’ve used Avery Easy Peel clear mailing labels – template # 5160 (found at the top right hand corner of the package. NOTE: this number is not the first large number you’ll see… trust me, this is a major confusion for people new to label world)

Click Label options and choose from the options.

Click next “Select Recipients”

Click “Use and Existing List”

Browse for you excel document which you have saved, a new window will appear and you will scroll through to find your newest sheet name “Christmas 2014”.

Click “ok”, and again “ok”.

Your new sheet with your labels should display “next record” across each field.

From the right hand menu, click “next, arrange your labels”.

From the right hand menu, click address block.

A new pop-up window will appear, navigate to the bottom right corner, and click “Match fields”

Another pop-up box will appear; from here you’ll need to match each filed to your own fields from the Excel document (FUN! Right!?). Click “ok”.

*SIP WINE* – you deserve it!

Next, yet another pop-up window will appear and you’ll have a nice preview of what your labels will look like.

Click “update all fields” from the right hand menu, your document should look like this:

Click “Preview your labels”

OK – Grab more wine. They kinda look crappy right now… am I right!?

Now, here is where this can become a bit more time consuming. I have been researching how to mass edit all address labels, but everything I have tried hasn’t worked. I have hand bombed each label – which kind of stinks, but it looks great at the end of the day. Essentially from here, you’d format each label by hand – choosing your font, your spacing and sizing.