The Microsoft Office word processor offers us a lot of useful tools for all kinds of tasks. In this post we are going to focus on how to create labels in word For example, how to create a label page with our name and address to print.
Basically, There are two ways to do it: manually or through the «Create labels» tool of the program itself. Each of these two options has its pros and cons. Next we are going to analyze both so that you can decide which is the best for you:
Word "Create Tags" Tool
Microsoft's own software offers us the possibility of creating our own labels through the "Create labels" tool of Become. A simple process that will cover our needs in the vast majority of cases.
start the tool
These are the steps to follow to create labels in Word with the native tool:
- First of all, we open a blank document in Word and go to the tab "Correspondence".
- Then we select «Tags», which will open a new box titled «Envelopes and labels».
- We click on the button "Options" to create a new label template.
- Within the menu "Label Options", we click on "new label" where we can configure the details.
Label Measurements
The next phase of the process of creating labels in Word involves establishing their measurements, filling in the following mandatory fields:
- Upper and lateral margins.
- Width and height of the label.
- Number of labels.
- Top and bottom margin.
- Vertical step and horizontal step.*
It is recommended to establish an A4 page size (210 mm wide by 297 mm high), vertically or horizontally, according to our needs.
Once the information is entered, we must Give the template a name and click “OK”. Then we go back to “Label Options” and also click on “OK”.
(*) The vertical step refers to the height of each label plus any space between each row of labels, while the horizontal step refers to the width of each label plus any space between each column of labels.
New label template
For the last phase of the process, we return to the "Envelopes and Labels" box and there we click on «New document». Doing this opens a new document containing our label template. It is advisable to save a copy of it before starting to add our label design.
Manual method
The «Create Labels» tool imposes a series of limitations that we cannot avoid. For example, it does not let us create spaces of less than 4,2 mm. The best thing we can do to get around this and other restrictions is to design the tag page manually ourselves. These are the steps to follow:
- As in the previous example, first we are going to "Correspondence" and there we select the option «Tags».
- Then we will "Options" and there we choose a label supplier and a product to use. Or we press "new label" to configure custom labels*. Then we click on "To accept".
- Now, we write the content of the label (only text). With the right mouse button we can access the paragraph and font type options. When everything is configured as we want, press "To accept".
- Then we select the option "Full page of the same label".
- Finally, we select "To print" to save or print the document with the newly created labels.
(*) By choosing this option, we will be able to specify even the smallest detail of the label page, from the dimensions of the blank spaces between labels to their size or shape. Making all these adjustments will take us a little more time, but the final result will be much more precise and personalized according to our objectives.
Conclusion: Which method is better?
There are two compelling reasons to use Word's "Create Labels" tool. First of all, it gives us a quick and easy way to perform this task if we are not especially good at handling Word and using tables. The truth is that the tool does most of the work for us. In addition to this, the label templates that are created through this tool are perfectly compatible with the Word mail merge tool.
But, on the other hand, we must mention the disadvantages of this tool, as there are also. The main drawback is that, by working automatically and independently, Doesn't offer a lot of customization possibilities to the users. It is limited to working with templates and default options that, let's face it, are not always the best, nor the ones we need.
In short, we can say that the automatic tool makes our work much easier, but if we want to design unique labels in Word, there is no other choice but to use the manual mode.