How to Create & Use Mailing Label Formats

How to Create & Use Mailing Label Formats

Creating a Mailing Label Format:

CiviCRM has created a number of standard mailing label formats. Check to see if the format you want already exists. If it does not, you can create a new format:

  1. Navigate Administer > Configure > Mailing Label Formats.
  2. Click the Add Label Format button.
  3. Enter a Name for the Mailing Label Format.
  4. Enter a Description (if desired).
  5. Configure your mailing labels using the available fields from Sheet Size to Padding. NOTE: All the fields from Labels Per Row & Labels Per Column through Weight (the order that the label format is displayed in the Mailing Label Formats list) are REQUIRED. You must configured each of these fields.
  6. Click the Save button.

Printing Mailing Labels:

  1. Perform a Search (i.e., Search -> Find Contacts).
  2. On the Search Results screen, select the contacts you want for the labels.
  3. Select Mailing Labels from the Actions drop-down.
  4. Click the Go button.
  5. Select the appropriate label from the Select Label drop-down.
  6. Select the appropriate Location Type from the Select Location drop-down.
  7. DO NOT deselect Do not print labels for contacts with "Do Not Mail" privacy option checked.
  8. Check Merge labels for contacts with the same address or Merge labels for contacts belonging to the same household to insure you do not print duplicate labels.
  9. Click the Make Mailing Labels button.
  10. When the Open dialog box appears, Select either Open with to open the pdf in Adobe Acrobat or Save File to save the file to a location on your hard drive.

BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC NOTE: If you have NOT selected an Addressee option in the Communication Preferences of your contact's record(s), NO NAME WILL APPEAR ON THE LABELS. You will have to set the Addressee field for all your contacts in order for mailing labels to work properly. You can edit this field (or any field in the database) for multiple contacts (i.e., in BATCH) using Batch Update via Profile. Please see this forum post for batch updates via a profile [this post is on updating Contributions and the Contribution Type field, but the process is essentially the same]. http://forum.gingerfeet.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=90&p=246&hilit=batch#p246