printing labels on 12x12

J

Jason Henry

I am trying to address post cards using mail-merge in Word 2003.

The postcards are 4" high by 6" wide and are in a 12"x12" sheet.

The cards are 2 wide and 3 high.

The method chosen to print these cards is:

Tools, Letters and Mailings, Mail Merge., Labels

Then click Next: Starting document

Then click Label options.

On the "Label Options" screen after "Label products:" select Other/Custom.

Under "Product number:" there is no 12x12" form to choose from.

Click New Label

When you complete the size and then enter that they are 2 across and 3 down,
you get the message that this will not fit on the form.

Question: How do you change the form size to make it possible to print these
forms?

Thank you,
-Jason
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

If your printer will handle them, you can set up a custom "label" definition
or you can just create a document this size and use a 2x3 table.
 
J

Jason Henry

The printer will handle them, but we need more help with the "custom label".
The last step in creating a custom label is to select the paper size. But
our size is 12x12 and not an option. Therefore we can't go forward with 2
wide 3 high 4"x6" cards. How do we add a custom "Page size" prior to trying
to set up the custom label?
Thanks,
-Jason
Suzanne, we need more help. In creating a "Custom Label" you have the same
problem as outline in the original post. The last step in creating a "Custom
Label" is to enter the paper size. The paper size we need to select (12x12)
is not an option and therefore we can't enter our 2 wide 3 high 4"x6"

postcard. We need to know how to make our paper size available in this
window.
 
J

Jason Henry

Sorry for the last post - left both drafts in the final version. Oops!
Hopefully this is easier to read...

The printer will handle them, but we need more help with the "custom label".
The last step in creating a custom label is to select the paper size. But
our size is 12x12 and not an option. Therefore we can't go forward with 2
wide 3 high 4"x6" cards. How do we add a custom "Page size" prior to trying
to set up the custom label?
Thanks,
-Jason
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

That being the case, I think you'll have to abandon the "custom label" idea
and just set the document up as a template using the defined paper size. The
only real disadvantage to this is that in the case of (some) labels Word
manages to suppress error messages about text being outside the printable
area.
 
J

Jason Henry

Suzanne,
We appreciate your help in working through this issue. We have already tried
that route, but we run into the same problem because in order to address the
cards, Word asks for the size of the paper, and 12x12 isn't a choice; is
there a way to add to the default selections in Word? Our problem isn't in
creating the document, but rather using mail-merge to print the addresses on
them.
Thanks!
-Jason
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

You say your printer can handle this size paper, but clearly the paper size
is not one that is defined in the printer driver. Some printer drivers allow
you to define custom page sizes. If yours is one (check out every tab of the
Properties dialog--accessed from Start | Settings | Printers, not from
Word's Print dialog--to see if there is such an option), this is the best
approach (you might then find that you could do this from the Labels dialog
as well).

If not, then you can try defining a custom paper size in Page Setup. That
*may* work provided Word and the printer can come to an agreement about
where the paper is to be fed. If not, your only recourse is to lay out the
12x12 table on the next largest size supported by the printer, adjusting the
margins accordingly.

You can create a mail merge using any document that you can print as a
separate document, though you may have to handcraft the mail merge main
document. An easy way to start, however, would be to select a label stock
that has 2x3 labels (such as Avery 5164). Click New Document to get a sheet
of the labels and set that up as the mail merge main document; then change
the page size and the size of the table cells as required.
 
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