Mail merge labels not working? Seven fixes, and a way around

1. Set up the first label, top left, the way every label should look.
2. Choose Update Labels: Word copies it to every other label, each one starting with «Next Record». In Word's step-by-step wizard on Windows, the button is Update all labels.
3. Choose Preview Results to see the names fill in.

Microsoft: print labels for your mailing list · Microsoft: Update Labels on Windows

1. Delete everything but the first label.
2. Insert its fields with Insert Merge Field: fields typed by hand between « and » don't work.
3. Choose Update Labels, and «Next Record» goes in front of every other label.
4. To add one by hand, click at the start of a label and choose Rules > Next Record.

Microsoft: the Next Record rule · Microsoft: merge fields can't be typed

1. Start a new document and choose Mailings > Start Mail Merge > Labels.
2. In Label Options, pick the vendor (Label products on a Mac) and the product number on your box.
3. Select Recipients, insert the fields in the first label, then choose Update Labels.

Microsoft: letters print one to a sheet · Microsoft: print labels for your mailing list

1. On Windows, tick every row you want in Edit Recipient List, and clear any filter.
2. On a Mac, clear the filter in Filter Recipients.
3. Finish with Finish & Merge > Edit Individual Documents. On Windows, choose All, not Current record.

Microsoft: edit recipients · Microsoft: All or Current record

1. Format the ZIP column as Text before you type or import ZIP codes. A zero already gone stays gone: retype those ZIPs.
2. Or, when every ZIP code in the list has five digits, fix it in Word: show the field codes (Alt+F9 on Windows, Option+F9 on a Mac), change { MERGEFIELD ZIP } to { MERGEFIELD ZIP \# 00000 }, show the results again and choose Update Labels.
3. The \# 00000 switch fills a number out to five digits with zeros. Microsoft doesn't say what it does to a ZIP+4, so for a list with any ZIP+4, fix the ZIP column in Excel, as in the first step.
4. Put your own column's name where this says ZIP, in a ZIP field you inserted, not inside Address Block.

Microsoft: ZIP codes as text · Microsoft: formatting won't bring a zero back · Microsoft: the \# switch · Microsoft: MERGEFIELD · Microsoft: Alt+F9 and Option+F9

1. Check that the product number is the one on your box.
2. Print at 100% (Actual size), not Fit to page.
3. Every label off by the same amount? That's the printer: which way labels drift, and why.

Microsoft: Label Options

1. Put the column names in row 1 and the whole list on the first sheet.
2. Save the workbook on your computer, not at a web address.
3. Finish your changes before you connect the list.
4. When Word asks, pick the sheet with your list. On a Mac, leave Cell Range blank.

Microsoft: preparing the spreadsheet · Microsoft: data sources