How to print address labels from a spreadsheet

If your addresses are already in a spreadsheet, most of the work is done. Problems usually come from the details: a ZIP code that lost its leading zero, an apartment number in its own column, or labels that print a quarter inch off. Here's how to get from rows to printed labels.

1. Tidy the columns

Labels are easiest to make when each piece of the address has its own column. A good layout looks like this:

A few things to check while you're there:

• The name column is exactly what goes on the label. If your sheet has separate first and last name columns, make a new column that joins them. In Excel or Google Sheets, =A2&" "&B2 puts a space between the two. For couples and families, write the name the way you want it on the envelope: "Sam and Elena Brooks" or "The Hendersons".
• One household per row. If two people at the same address each have a row, you'll get two labels. Decide whether that's what you want, or combine them into one name.
• Fill in what's missing. A blank apartment number or ZIP code is easier to fix now than after the card comes back.

2. Watch the ZIP codes

Spreadsheets love to treat ZIP codes as numbers, which turns 02134 in Massachusetts into 2134. If you see four-digit ZIP codes in your sheet, the zeros are already gone.

To keep them:

• In Excel, select the ZIP column, choose Format Cells, then Text, and retype any ZIP codes that lost their zero. Or use a custom number format of 00000.
• In Google Sheets, select the column and choose Format → Number → Plain text.

ZIP+4 codes (27606-1904) are always safe, because the dash keeps them from being read as a number.

3. Choose your label sheet

Look at the box your labels came in for the product number.

• Avery 5160 (laser) and Avery 8160 (inkjet): the standard address label, 30 per sheet.
• Avery 5163: large 2″ × 4″ labels, 10 per sheet, good for packages.
• A7 envelopes: print straight onto 5¼″ × 7¼″ envelopes and skip the labels.

Match laser labels to a laser printer and inkjet labels to an inkjet printer. Each is made for that printer's ink or toner.

4. Make the labels

There are two common ways to turn a sheet into labels.

Mail merge in Word. Word's Mailings tab can pull rows from an Excel file into a label layout. It works, but it takes a few rounds of setup: choosing the label product, connecting the spreadsheet, inserting each field and updating every label. It's worth learning if you do it often.

Paste or upload into Labeltime. On the Labeltime home page, choose CSV / Excel and pick your file, or copy the rows straight out of your spreadsheet and paste them in. A header row is fine; it's skipped. Labeltime tidies the formatting and puts any question (a missing apartment, a missing ZIP) at the top of the Review screen with a one-tap answer. Names print exactly as they appear in your sheet, never rewritten.

5. Print a test page first

Before you use real labels, print one page on plain paper. Hold it over a label sheet against a window, or a bright screen, and check that each address sits inside its label.

If everything is shifted the same way, the cause is almost always scaling in the print dialog:

• Choose Actual size or 100%.
• Turn off Fit to page, Shrink oversized pages and Scale to fit.
• Make sure the paper size is Letter.

Then print on the label sheets. If you have a partly used sheet, start there: on Labeltime's Print screen, click the first empty spot on the preview and printing begins at that label.

6. Keep the list for next time

Once the addresses are clean, keep that version. In a spreadsheet, save it as a new file named for the year. In Labeltime, enter your email after you print. You'll get a link, no password, and next year you start from this year's list instead of starting over.