How to Create Mailing Labels From Excel 97

Direct mail marketing campaigns are used to promote products and services business to business (B2B) and directly to individual residences. According to Nation Master, nearly four million pieces of direct mail are sent each year within the United States alone. Microsoft Excel allows people to create mailing labels using contact databases housed in Excel spreadsheets and print the labels quickly using a mail merge.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Labels

Instructions

Create Data Labels

1. Open your Excel program and create a new worksheet.

2. Set up the data labels in list format. Type "Surname" in column A and row 1 (A1). Type "Name" in cell B1. Type "Street" in cell C1. Type "City" in cell D1. Type "State" in cell E1. Type "Zip" in cell F1.

3. Populate all of the data labels for each person you are mailing correspondence to. For example, under "Name" type the names of all people you are sending material to. Insert a space between the person's first and last names.

4. Save the file (go to "File" menu and select "Save") after you finish populating all of the fields.

Open Mail Merge Wizard

1. Open Microsoft Word.

2. Click "Tools," "Letters and Mailings" and then "Mail Merge Wizard."

3. Click "Labels" under "Select document type."

Choose Label Type

1. Click "Next: Starting document" in the bottom right corner of the screen.

2. Click "Label Options" and select the type of label you will print. For example, you could select Avery address labels, type 5162.

3. Click "OK" after you select the label type.

Select Recipients

1. Click "Next: Select recipients" in the bottom right corner of the screen. At the top of the screen under "Use an existing list" click "Browse."

2. Find your Excel spreadsheet that includes the mailing data label fields on your computer. Click on the file.

3. Select "Next: Arrange your labels" in the bottom right corner of the screen.

4. Click "Address block" in the top right of your screen.

5. Click "OK" to insert recipients' names onto the labels.

Set for Printing

1. Preview your labels then click "Next: Complete the merge."

2. Click "Print" to send the labels to the printer.

3. To edit labels, click "Edit individual labels" below the "Merge" section in the pop-up box on your computer screen.