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.

For my labels, I have used the fonts: Batter Up (names) and The Serif Hand for the address.

Merry Mail Merging, Friends!