About creating and printing labels for a single item or address

Using the Envelopes and Labels dialog box is the simplest way to create labels for a single item or address.

You can also use the Mail Merge task pane to create labels, but that method is recommended when you are preparing a mass mailing to many different recipients or preparing labels for a large number of items, such as a library of video cassettes you have recorded.

In addition to basic address information, you can add different types of custom information to your labels:

Add electronic postage that you have purchased from an electronic postage service, such as those found on the World Wide Web.
If you're sending mail to U.S. addresses, you can include POSTNET (Postal Numeric Encoding Technique) bar codes on mailing labels. POSTNET bar codes contain U.S. ZIP Code information from the delivery address. These bar codes can be read by the U.S. Postal Service's automated mail-handling equipment, which can ensure faster mail processing.

You can also use this feature to create other types of labels and cards, such as file folder labels, name badges, business cards, rotary cards, and postcards.

You can change the look of labels in a number of ways:

Specify the formatting of text.
Select a wide variety of label sizes, or specify a custom size.
Add graphics.

Labels with decorative graphic

After you create the labels, you can print them right away. Or you can save the labels in a new document for later editing and printing.