How to print your own labels in Microsoft Word

Install the Label Sheets & Rolls Add-in

This add-in can be installed either from its Microsoft Marketplace listing page or directly from within the Microsoft Word editor.

• Install from Microsoft Marketplace listing page
  • Go to Microsoft Marketplace listing page
  • Click on the blue button named “Get it now”
    
• Install from Microsoft Word editor
  • Start Microsoft Word
  • Make sure the Home tab is already selected
    
  • At the far right of the Home tab click on Add-ins
    
  • In the search box that appears, type the keyword ‘labels’
  • In the list of search results, you will see the Label Sheets & Rolls add-in. Click the ‘Add’ button.
    

Start the Label Sheets & Rolls add-in

After installation, the Label Sheets & Rolls add-in appears on the ribbon, allowing you to start it easily from there.

• From the Home tab, click the Label Sheets & Rolls add-in.
  
• First-time users can immediately watch a video tutorial explaining how to use the add-in.
• Click the blue ‘Get Started’ button
  

Set the right Page size

Based on your regional settings, Microsoft Word uses either Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) or A4 (210 × 297 mm) as the default page size. While this may seem correct—since standard label sheets and printer paper also use Letter or A4 sizes—it is not the right setting when using the Label Sheets & Rolls add-in.

This is because:

• You design individual labels, not the entire label sheet. This saves you from repetitive copy-paste work and alignment issues. You no longer have to deal with the complexity of the full label sheet—the add-in takes care of the layout for you, so you can focus entirely on designing your label.
• The add-in then places your labels onto a correctly formatted Letter or A4 print layout, so they fit perfectly with the selected brand and template code.
• The final layout is ready to be sent directly to your printer.

For this reason you need to set your document’s page size to match the exact size of a single label. For example, when printing on Avery 5260 label sheets, each label measures 2.625 inches wide by 1 inch high.

Follow these steps:

• Go to the Layout tab on the Word ribbon and expand the Page Setup section.

• Set the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right margins. Remember that these apply to the label itself—not the full label sheet. Set them to zero or to a value that defines the empty space around your label content.

• Set the paper size to the exact dimensions of a single label.

Print on Standard Label Sheets

Standard label sheets are pre-manufactured sheets of adhesive labels designed for use with common desktop printers. They come in standard sizes such as A4 or Letter and are produced by well-known manufacturers like Avery® and many other label brands worldwide. Each sheet contains multiple labels in a predefined layout, with perforated or die-cut labels that can be easily peeled off after printing.

Select Brand and Template code

Each label sheet product is identified by its brand and template code. To let the add-in know that you are printing on Avery 5260, make the following selections in the add-in’s user interface:

1. Select the Standard tab
2. Select the Letter Page format (since Avery 5260 uses Letter size)
3. Select the Avery Brand
4. Select Avery 5260 as the Template code. Since the list of template codes can be long, you can type to search for it.

Once you have selected the template code, the add-in will automatically display the option to manage the alignment and positioning of the label sheet printout. This document includes a dedicated section for this, so you can skip it for now.

Select the number of different labels to create

A label sheet contains multiple labels, and the way you distribute different labels across the sheet falls into three main categories. Let’s take Avery 5260 as an example, which contains 30 labels:

1. You create one label design and print it across the entire sheet. This results in 30 identical labels.
   
2. You create a few different label designs and distribute them across the sheet. For example, if you create three different labels, you can print 10 of each on one sheet, or use any other combination.
   
3. You create one label design, but the content on each label (or part of it) is different and comes from data in an Excel file. In this case, the add-in automatically reads the data from the file and generates hundreds or thousands of labels.
   

Create and Print one label design only

Once you select the ‘Only one’ label design option, you can begin designing your label. The document you see represents a single label.

Follow these steps:

1. Design the label
   Add text, images, and formatting until it is complete.
   
2. Generate printout
   Once you have finished designing your label, click the blue ‘Continue’ button. The add-in will take this label, repeat it across the selected template, and generate a print-ready layout.
   
   Alignment and positioning of the layout are set automatically, but you can adjust them when needed—see the section below for details.
3. View and print
   Jump to the section below for more information on how to view and print the generated label sheet.

Create and Print multiple label designs

Once you select the ‘Several’ label design option, you can begin designing your labels. The document you see represents a single label.

Follow these steps:

1. Design the label
   Add text, images, and formatting until it is complete.
2. Add and design more labels
   To create additional labels, simply add a new document page for each one. You can add as many pages (labels) as needed. Once you have finished designing your labels, click the blue ‘Continue’ button.
   
3. Confirm labels to include
   Next, the add-in prompts you to confirm which labels to include in the final printout. Click the blue ‘Generate labels’ button to continue.
   
4. Adjust label quantities per sheet
   The add-in shows a preview of how each label design is distributed across the sheet and allows you to adjust the quantities.
   
5. Generate printout
   Click the blue ‘Generate printout’ button. The add-in will generate the print-ready layout and display a preview. If the printout spans multiple label sheet pages, only the first two pages are shown in the preview. The remaining pages are indicated below as a number.
   
   Alignment and positioning are set automatically, but you can adjust them if needed—see the section below for details.
6. View and print
   Jump to the section below for more information on how to view and print the generated label sheets.

Create and Print Labels using data from an Excel file (Mail Merge)

When you need to print a large number of labels where each one contains different information, designing them manually becomes time-consuming and error-prone. This is common in cases like address labels, product labels with unique SKUs or barcodes, name badges, or shipping labels—where the design remains the same (including layout, images, formatting, and background), but some of the text content changes for each label.

This add-in’s mail merge process solves this by combining a single label design with data from an Excel file and automatically generating a different label for each row of data. Instead of creating each label one by one, you design once, specify where each piece of data should appear, and the add-in automatically populates the dynamic content across all labels while simultaneously generating the final label sheet printout.

Start by adding the static content—the elements that will be the same across all labels (you will work on a single document page).

When done, click the blue ‘Upload Excel file’ button.

Follow these steps:

1. Make sure the Excel sheet is structured correctly:
   1. The first row must contain descriptive column headers that represent the type of data in each column.
   2. Each row below must contain the values that will be inserted into a single label. The sheet may also include additional columns, even if they are not used on the labels.
   
2. Click the blue ‘Upload Excel file’ button, as explained in the section above, and select and open the Excel file from your computer.
3. The add-in reads the Excel file and displays the column headers from the first sheet.
   Each column name appears as a button. If the file contains multiple sheets, you can switch between them.
   
4. Assign where each column’s values should appear in the label.
   To do this, follow these two simple steps:
   1. Click the button with the name of the column whose data you want to place in the label. This will copy the column name to the clipboard so you can paste it into the label.
      Note: When the label contains static text (text that is the same through all the labels), make sure that no word from the fixed text is the same as the column name. If that is the case, please modify that column name in the Excel file.
      
   2. Immediately after clicking the button, place the cursor where you want that piece of data to appear and paste it (e.g., Ctrl+V).
      
   Repeat these steps for each column you want to include in the label.
5. Select row range
   The add-in allows you to generate up to 200 labels at a time. You can select any range of rows to define which data is used—the first row marks where extraction begins, and the last row marks where it ends.
   
6. Generate labels
   

   Click the ‘Generate labels’ button. The add-in will read each row, generate the corresponding labels, and arrange them into a print-ready label sheet layout.

   If the printout spans multiple label sheet pages, only the first two pages are shown in the preview. The remaining pages are indicated below as a number.

   
   Alignment and positioning are set automatically, but you can adjust them if needed—see the section below for details.
7. View and print
   Jump to the section below for more information on how to view and print the generated label sheets.

View and print

Once the printout has been generated and a preview is displayed, click the blue ‘View and print’ button to continue.

The add-in will open a large popup window showing the label sheet printout. If there is more than one page, only the first page will be displayed. You will also see two buttons: ‘Save’ and ‘Print’.

Save for later printing
Click the ‘Save’ button to download the printout as a PDF file to your computer. You can print it at any time using any PDF reader.

Print right away
Click the ‘Print’ button to send the printout directly to your inkjet or laser printer. In the dialog that appears, make sure to click the ‘More settings’ link and review the following settings:

• Layout - set to Portrait
• Paper size - set to either Letter or A4
• Scale - set to Actual size

If you encounter print alignment issues,this document will help you identify the cause and apply a fix. Small misalignments caused by the printer can be compensated through the Alignment & Positioning settings. You can also contact us for assistance.

Print on Custom Label Sheets

Custom label sheets allow you to define your own label layout when standard templates are not suitable or not available. Instead of using predefined sizes, spacing, and margins, you can set the exact label dimensions, gaps, and page margins to match your specific needs.

Use custom label sheets when:

• You are printing on plain adhesive sheets and plan to cut the labels yourself
• You want a more cost-effective alternative to pre-cut (die-cut) label sheets
• You cannot find a matching brand or template code for your label product
• You have measured your labels and want to recreate the layout manually

By defining your own layout, you can print labels on virtually any sheet format, even if it is not currently supported by predefined templates.

To define a custom label sheet layout and print on it, select the Custom tab at the top of the add-in panel, then click the Sheets button.

Enter the following information:

• Page format
  The add-in supports the two standard paper sizes used worldwide: Letter (8.5 × 11 inches) and A4 (210 × 297 mm). Select the one you use.
• Orientation
  If you want your label images to be inserted vertically (i.e., rotated -90 degrees) into each label just set this field to "Landscape", and the add-in will automatically rotate them and generate the label sheet printout accordingly.
• Label width
  This is the width of a single label.
  
• Label height
  This is the height of a single label.
  Ensure the label’s width-to-height ratio matches the document page size defined in the ‘Set the right page size’ section, otherwise, unwanted empty space may appear around the printed labels.
  For this reason, based on the label width (which you should enter first), the add-in automatically suggests a label height value for you.
  
• Horizontal space
  This setting controls the horizontal space between labels.
  If you’re cutting labels yourself, leave this value as zero. Otherwise, if you’re using an existing label sheet layout and have the sheets on hand, measure and enter this distance as accurately as possible. Even small inaccuracies can add up across the sheet and cause noticeable misalignment in the printout.
  For your convenience, changes to this value are instantly reflected in the layout preview at the top of the add-in panel.
  
• Vertical space
  This setting controls the vertical space between labels. If you’re cutting labels yourself, leave this value as zero. Otherwise, if you’re using an existing label sheet layout and have the sheets on hand, measure and enter this distance as accurately as possible. Even small inaccuracies can add up across the sheet and cause noticeable misalignment in the printout.
  For your convenience, changes to this value are instantly reflected in the layout preview at the top of the add-in panel.
  

Once all values are set and you have visually confirmed the layout in the preview, click the blue ‘Continue’ button. The next dialog in the add-in provides several settings that affect how labels are placed, aligned, and displayed on the sheet:

• Horizontal offset
  When the paper sheet sits a little to the left or right in the printer tray, labels can print off-center. This setting lets you apply a horizontal offset of 1 to 3 mm to correct the alignment.
  
• Vertical offset
  Inkjet and laser printers are not always 100% precise when feeding paper vertically, which can result in labels being printed slightly higher or lower than their intended position on the sheet. This setting allows you to apply a vertical offset of 1 to 3 mm to compensate for misalignment caused by imperfect vertical feed.
  
• Bleed area
  When your label background isn't white, slight misalignments during printing can cause a thin white edge to appear along one or more sides. A simple and effective way to avoid this is to print the label slightly larger than the label area, so the background extends beyond the label's actual edge. This method is called applying a bleed. If you notice white edges, select a bleed area between 1% and 5%, depending on how much coverage you need.
  
• Cutting marker
  If the labels have no spaces between them and you intend to print them on plain paper and cut them out yourself, cross-shaped guides will appear at the corners of each label to help make cutting easier and more precise.
  
• Labels to skip
  This setting is useful if you are reusing a label sheet where you have already printed and peeled off a number of labels, and now want to print on the remaining ones. Set this field to the number of labels that have already been used and need to be skipped in this printout.
  
• Labels to print
  The number of labels that will be printed depends on the value you set in this field, as well as the number of label versions(designs) you have created. If the value you set here is smaller than the number of versions, it will be ignored, and the printout will include at least one label version. If the first label sheet runs out of available labels, the remaining versions will be printed on additional sheets (second, third, and so on).
  

For your convenience, changes to any of these settings are instantly reflected in the layout preview at the top of the add-in panel.
Once all values are set and you have visually confirmed the layout in the preview, click the blue ‘Continue’ button.

The remaining steps are the same as for Standard Label Sheets. See the Select the number of different labels to create section and follow the instructions there.

Print on Custom Label Rolls

Custom label rolls allow you to print on any roll format, even though predefined roll templates are not currently included in the system. Unlike label sheets, rolls are simpler to define because they require fewer measurements, typically just the label size, gap, and roll width, making setup quick and straightforward.

This means you can easily configure a custom roll to match standard roll products from any manufacturer, without needing a predefined template.

In practice, using custom label rolls is nearly as simple as selecting a standard template, while giving you the flexibility to work with virtually any roll label format.

To define a custom roll layout and print on it, select the Custom tab at the top of the add-in panel, then click the Rolls button.

At the moment, you will see a ‘Coming soon’ message because this feature has not been released yet. This document will be updated once it goes live.

Manage Alignment & Positioning

As noted in the Print on Custom Label Sheets section, the add-in provides several settings that affect how labels are placed, aligned, and displayed on the sheet.

When printing on Standard Label Sheets, these settings are grouped in a dedicated dialog, which you can access by clicking the Manage button.

The Alignment & Positioning dialog contain the following fields:

1. Horizontal offset
   When the paper sheet sits a little to the left or right in the printer tray, labels can print off-center. This setting lets you apply a horizontal offset of 1 to 3 mm to correct the alignment.
   
2. Vertical offset
   Inkjet and laser printers are not always 100% precise when feeding paper vertically, which can result in labels being printed slightly higher or lower than their intended position on the sheet. This setting allows you to apply a vertical offset of 1 to 3 mm to compensate for misalignment caused by imperfect vertical feed.
   
3. Bleed area
   When your label background isn't white, slight misalignments during printing can cause a thin white edge to appear along one or more sides. A simple and effective way to avoid this is to print the label slightly larger than the label area, so the background extends beyond the label's actual edge. This method is called applying a bleed. If you notice white edges, select a bleed area between 1% and 5%, depending on how much coverage you need.
   
4. Orientation
   If you want your label images to be inserted vertically (i.e., rotated -90 degrees) into each label just set this field to "Landscape", and the add-in will automatically rotate them and generate the label sheet printout accordingly.
5. Labels to skip
   This setting is useful if you are reusing a label sheet where you have already printed and peeled off a number of labels, and now want to print on the remaining ones. Set this field to the number of labels that have already been used and need to be skipped in this printout.
   
6. Labels to print
   The number of labels that will be printed depends on the value you set in this field, as well as the number of label versions(designs) you have created. If the value you set here is smaller than the number of versions, it will be ignored, and the printout will include at least one label version. If the first label sheet runs out of available labels, the remaining versions will be printed on additional sheets (second, third, and so on).
   

When you print on a Standard Label Sheet and adjust any of these settings, the add-in remembers them and pre-fills their values the next time you use the same label sheet product.

Watch this video

Still have questions?

If you didn’t find what you were looking for, or something isn’t clear, feel free to reach out. We’re happy to help.

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