Creating an address book on your computer is a great way to keep all of your contacts in one place. And, Microsoft Excel is the best software to use to make an address book on a computer. Excel is widely available and accessible to most everyone, and it is very easy to use. Creating an address book in Excel simply involves setting up and formatting a few columns, and then entering information. Once the address book is set up, it can be easily used for mail merging or as a reference list. The instructions below will help you set up an address book in either Excel 2003 or Excel 2007.
Step 1
Open up Microsoft Excel on your computer. You will see that a spreadsheet opens up with predetermined rows and columns. You will use these rows and columns to set up your address book.
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Step 2
Add a title to the top of the spreadsheet. This will help you remember what information is in a particular address book. You may need to set up different address books for various purposes–for example, one for members of a book club and one for family members. Having a clear title will help you keep everything organized. Make the title bold and increase the size of the font, using the tools on the top toolbar.
Step 3
Skip a couple of lines after the title and enter headings for the columns in the address book. The following column headings will be very helpful: Name, Address, City, State, ZIP Code, Phone Number, Fax Number and E-mail Address. Type in these headings into columns A to H, respectively. It is very important that each item is entered into a separate column.
Step 4
Center and bold the column headings. To do this, click on the row number to the left of the row of headings. This will highlight, or select, the entire row. And, then, use the bold and center tools on the top toolbar.
Step 5
Enter the contact information in each column. Information for each contact should be entered on a separate row. Depending on how many contacts you have, this could take some time. But, remember, you will only need to do this one time. In the future, you will just have to add new contacts and update information. If you do not have certain items of information for certain contacts, leave the cell blank. Remember to use the two-letter state abbreviations that the post office requires.
Step 6
Format the text in the ZIP Code column to make all of the ZIP codes look the same. Highlight all of the text in the column, except for the column heading. Right-click on the highlighted cells and select "Format Cells." Click on the "Number" tab, and then click on "Special" in the "Category" box. Click on "Zip Code" or "Zip Code+4" in the "Type" box. Click "OK." This will make all of the ZIP codes look the same.
Step 7
Format the text in the Phone Number column so that all of the phone numbers in the column look the same. Highlight the text in the Phone Number column, except for the column heading. Right-click on it and select "Format Cells." In the "Number" tab, select "Special" from the "Category" box. Click on "Phone Number" in the "Type" box. Click "OK."
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