How to Print Labels From Excel: Step-by-Step (2024)

Mail Merge is one awesome feature that will help you create mass letters and email messages. But you can also use it to create and print mailing labels for your mailing list 😀

All you need to do is to prepare your label data in Microsoft Excel, use the mail merge feature, and print them in Microsoft Word 🖨️

In this article, we’ll provide you with an easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial on how to print labels from Excel. We got you covered from creating and formatting to printing mailing labels from Excel to Word 😊

Download this free practice workbook for you to work on and let’s get started!

Prepare label data for printing

First things first: Prepare your label data file properly.

Though you already have the made-up data file in your practice workbook, it’s important to know how to correctly prepare your data when working on your own Excel spreadsheet.

For this tutorial, we’ll create and print Address Labels from Excel.

Remember that the data file in Excel will get connected to a Word document. It’s where Microsoft Word pulls the details for your labels.

So, you need to make sure that you have all the information you want to include in your Excel spreadsheet.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

Here’s how to properly prepare your address list in Excel ✍

  1. Make sure to write the column headers (First name, Last name, etc…) on the first row of your Excel spreadsheet to avoid any problems. The practice workbook already contains the following information:
    • First Name
    • Last Name
    • Street Address
    • City
    • State
    • Zip Code
first, label the column headers
  1. Each row should only have one recipient information.
recipient information
  1. Make sure the data follows the proper format. Specifically, the Zip Code should be in the Number format.

To do that, click on the Zip Code column header (F) and format it to Number format.

follow the same format

Before you proceed, check the information again 👀 Do not leave any blank cells or empty rows as this might mislead Microsoft Word later when doing the mail merge.

Once it’s ready, save your Excel file 💾

How to print labels from Excel

Once your Excel workbook file is ready, it’s now time to use the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word. It’s also in MS Word where you will print your labels from Excel.

It may sound a little challenging but we will be with you every step of the way. Let’s take things one at a time 😊

Start Mail Merge

To create labels, you first have to merge the data from Excel to Word.

  1. Open Microsoft Word, and create a blank Word document.
open word document
  1. Click the Mailings Tab in the ribbon.
  2. Select Start Mail Merge.
  3. Select Labels.
start mail merge

The Label Options dialog box will appear.

  1. Select the Page Printers option for the Printer information. This is by default.
  2. For the Label vendors, select Avery US Letters.
  3. For the Product number, browse through the options and select 5160 Address Labels.
  4. Click OK.
custom label options

We chose these settings since they are pretty standard and universal. But if you’re using a specific vendor and product number, feel free to use them instead.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist

We are not yet done. Let’s continue 💪

  1. Click Select Recipients.
  2. Select Use an Existing List.
select recepients
  1. Select the Excel source file you saved earlier. Then, click Open.
select excel workbook file
  1. In the Select Table window, select the Excel worksheet that contains your data. For our example, click the Mail List.
  2. Finally, click OK.
select excel worksheet

Now, your document will look like this👀

mail merge fields

This means you’ve successfully done the mail merge 🥳

Phew! Wasn’t that quite a process? 😌 Now that was done, let’s proceed to the next.

Add Address Block

Since we are going to create address labels, let’s insert an Address Block merge field.

Make sure your cursor is on this area of the document.

  1. Click the Address Block button in the Write and Insert Fields Group of the Mailings Tab.
insert merge field - address block
  1. In the Insert Address Block dialog box, click the Match Fields button.
match mail merge fields
  1. Check if the fields match together, and click OK if it’s good to go 👍
match mail merge fields

What “Match Fields…” does is that it links up with the Excel file you made. It reads the first row of entries and matches them up with the fields required for the Address Block.

Kasper Langmann, Microsoft Office Specialist
  1. You will be directed to the Insert Address Block window again. Now, click OK.

This is what your Word document should look like now 😊

mail merge fields
  1. Click the Update Labels button. This updates all the labels in the document to use the information from the recipient list.
update labels

Now that you’ve updated the labels, this is what it would look now 😀

mail merge labels from excel

Finish & Merge

It’s time to Finish and Merge! Two more clicks and we are almost done.

  1. Click the Finish & Merge button.
  2. Select the Edit Individual Documents option.
mail merge labels

It will ask you to Merge to New Document. Select “All” to merge all records. Then click OK.

mail merge document

And there you have it. You’ve created Address labels 👏

merged labels

You can go ahead and print address labels like this👀

Or you can scroll a bit more and we’ll help you print address labels better 😉

Add all borders

It will be hard to cut the mailing labels when you print them without borders, don’t you think? 😅

As a bonus, we’ll show you how to add the borders quickly so your printed labels will be easier to cut and prettier when pasted.

All you have to do is click the plus (+) icon on the upper-left side of the table. This will select the whole table where all the address labels are.

Now that the whole table is selected, click the Border icon on the floating menu and click All Borders from the options.

print labels from excel

And now it’s ready. Your mailing labels are ready to print 🖨️

how to print labels from excel

With the borders in place, you will find it easy to cut the printed labels 😀

That’s it – Now what?

Printing labels have never been this easy! Using the combined features of Excel and Word, you can now create, format, and print labels faster. You may need to put in some work in the beginning but you’ll certainly save a lot of time and work in the future 😉

That’s what Excel is for–to help you complete work while helping you save time doing the work. But this feature isn’t the full potential of Excel.

Excel can help you automate your workflow using Excel Macros. With macros, you can do tons of work with just a single click 🤯

Join my free online course to learn the basics of Mighty Macros where I teach you how to record and edit a macro, how to write your first macro from scratch, and the basics of the VBA editor.

Get started with Macros–it’s free and beginner-friendly! After learning about Macros, you’ll see Excel at a whole mighty level 🚀

Other resources

Now that you learned how to print labels from Excel, learn also how you can properly print your other Excel spreadsheets. Click here to save more time (and paper) when printing your worksheets.

We also have another tutorial about the Mail Merge feature. Check this article to learn how to Mail Merge from Excel to Word to create mass letters and email messages.