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Formatting Mailing Labels in Word 2007

Follow up to: Practice: Making Labels in Word 2007

Once you have a sheet of mailing labels created, here are a few things you can do to improve their appearance.

Remember that labels are laid out in a table. You will be using table formatting to change the labels.

Be sure to click the Plus sign to the upper left of the labels to select the table and text on the labels before making any of the changes below. The labels must be selected for any of the changes you make to affect them.

Remove any Paragraph Spacing

1. Select the labels by clicking on the plus sign to the upper left of the table.
2. In the Home tab, Paragraph group, click the dialog box button, and in the Spacing section set both Before and After to 0 pt.

Center Vertically

1. Select the labels by clicking the select plus sign to the upper left of the table. (If the labels aren’t selected or your cursor isn’t inside the table, the Table Tools button won’t show at the top edge of the Word window.)
2. Directly under Table Tools are Design and Layout tabs. Click the Layout tab, and look for the Alignment group.



3. If you want the text centered top to bottom, but lined up on the left, use the Align Center Left button (left side, center button). If you want the text centered both top to bottom and left to right, click the center button, Align Center.

Change Font or Font Size

1. Select the labels plus sign to the upper left of the table.
2. In the Home tab, Font group, choose the font and font size for your labels. In the font size box, you can use any number not in the list by clicking on the current font size, typing in the size you want and pushing enter.

If the Text Is Too Close to the Side of the Labels

If you want the text to be left aligned, but moved in from the label edge try adjusting the indent. You will have to do this individually to each column of labels, it can’t be done to the entire table. Watch to be sure that the text still all appears on the labels when you are done – if you pull the indents in too much, the text may not fit on the labels anymore. Readjust the indents, or make the font size smaller to fix.

1. Start by selecting the column to change. To select a column go directly above the top line until your mouse changes to a little black arrow pointing down. With that mouse shape single-click to select the column of labels.



2. On the ruler, use the little square under the left indent marker to click and drag the left indent a couple marks to the right – the text in the column will immediately move. (If the ruler isn’t showing, click the View Ruler button which is just below the ribbon on the very right side of the Word window.)
3. If the right side of the labels are too close to the label edge, drag the right-indent in.



4. Repeat the steps for every column of labels.

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