1. Open a new document, choose tools, letters and mailings, labels and envelopes.
2. Under the label tab, go to the bottom right corner and click on the current label selected to change it. A box titled "label options" will pop up. Along the bottom, choose "new label".
3. Name the label and using the ruler enclosed, input in decimal form the measurements needed to create your label template.
4. Once completed, hit okay, okay again and new document - you should now see gray rectangle gridlines, this is your template. If you do not see gray gridlines, choose the TABLE tab and then click on SHOW GRIDLINES. Even if you are designing an oval or a round label, Microsoft Word will only show you a gray rectangle as your template marking.
5. Design your label within the gray area set for each label. Be sure to allow for rounding if your label is oval or round. The gray lines are template markings only and will not print. Once you have one label set, you can copy and paste into the remaining label cells.

                NOTE: We suggest using the Microsoft DRAWING TOOLBAR to design your labels. This toolbar will allow you to make text boxes, curved text, place an image or logo, draw shapes, etc…..and by using the drawing toolbar, you have the ability to move your label elements around freely when it comes time to adjust for printing. If you are not familiar with the drawing toolbar, you can do a google or yahoo search on “how to use the drawing toolbar in Microsoft Word” and you should get plenty of tips.

              When using a text box, you can right click and then click on properties – you can turn the border off and the fill off – this way there is no box around the object and the background of  the textbox is transparent – therefore not interfering with the design of you label. When you get one text box / label cell aligned just right, you can select the contents of  the cell by running your cursor over the left side of the cell until you see a black arrow, when you see the black arrow, hit CTRL + C. Then move to the label cell where you want to paste it. Click your  cursor in the box and hit CRTL +V to paste. It should paste right in the cell where you need it to.

6. BEFORE YOU PRINT ON YOUR LABEL SHEETS, print on white paper – hold the paper up to your label sheet against a bright light and see how it is aligning. Make proper adjustments and try again.

PLEASE NOTE: Creating templates in Microsoft Word for labels that have a clean size, margin or gutter, such as the labels that have measurements ending in 1.5 or .25 is normally quite easy and the template works very well. However, some labels are more detailed, having gutters or margins that end in numbers such as .875  or .0625. When this happens, Microsoft Word rounds the gutter to .88 or .63 respectively. This fraction of an inch may not seem like much, but it can throw your label template off by the time you get to the last half of the page.  It can also affect your labels   from left to right – lining up on the left and being slightly off by the time they get to the right.

7. Microsoft Word Troubleshooting:

   You’ve designed your label using simple text typed straight into the label cell – and you need to adjust one cell, one row, one column or all of the labels up, down, right or left.	You can adjust the content of the label cell up or down by inserting a spacing line with a font size of 2 or 4. -          To adjust the contents of you cell upward, put your cursor after the very last letter or punctuation mark on your label, go to the font size box and manually type in 2 or 4. You will see your cursor shrink. Now hit enter. You will see a small adjust upward. -          To adjust the contents of your label cell downward, put your cursor in front of the first letter or symbol. Go to your font size box and manually enter a 2 or 4. Now hit enter. You will see a slight adjustment downward. You can also use this to move your text slightly to the right. Place your cursor in front of what you want to move over, manually change your font size to 2 or 4 and hit the space bar. You will see a slight adjustment to the right.
   You’ve designed your label using text boxes and elements – and you need to adjust one cell, one row, one column or all of the labels up, down, right or left.	Each element can be moved individually or you can group all elements of the label together and moved them at one time. -          To group elements together, select the elements you’d like to group, then right click while they are all selected and choose GROUPING, GROUP. Using your CRTL and arrow keys, nudge the element or group of elements up, down, right or left as needed for better alignment.
   You’ve designed your label using text boxes and elements but you can’t seem to move anything around as needed for alignment purposes.	Make sure that each element is set to layout IN FRONT OF TEXT. -          To do this, right click on the element, got to FORMAT and then click on the LAYOUT tab, choose IN FRONT ON TEXT (or BEHIND TEXT if necessary for design purposes).
   You are working with very small labels and notice a bit of a page creep from top to bottom, the labels on the top half line up fine, but tend to be unaligned by the last half of the page… (page creep is a common printer issue, not a template or program issue)	If your top margin and bottom margin are INDENTICAL and your left margin and your right margin are INDENTICAL – then here is a quick fix: -          design your label and insert it in only the template cells in the top half of the page. Then send your label sheet through your printer, printing on only the top half. Turn the label sheet around and send it back through to print on the other half of the label sheet. -          This will also work if you are having left to right alignment issues…design your labels on the left side only, send through the printer, turn the label sheet around and send through printer again to print on the other half.
   You are trying to nudge elements up, down, right or left and when you do, you elements jump half way out of the cell.	I do not completely understand why this happens, but have found a way to deal with it. If you try to nudge an element and it jumps, simply hit undo (to move it back to where you started) and then right click on the element and choose FORMAT, then LAYOUT, then ADVANCED – at this point you can change the number for absolute positioning. Make very small changes at a time until you get the desired result.

    

General Label Tips:

TIP #1– many label sheets have different top and bottom margins and different left and right margins. Choose the cleanest measurement (for example, choose .5 over .4375) for the top and side entered and remember which you choose, so that your label sheet can be properly inserted into the printer.

TIP #2 – many printers have different product type settings, you should choose glossy if your label surface is glossy, transparent if your label surface is clear, etc. If you are not getting the result you want on a normal paper setting, you can experiment with this feature. For example, our laser printer must be set on transparency to print correctly on our pastel line. (We are not sure why this is, but if you are having a problem with a certain product you might try this – when you hit print, choose properties and find in your printer dialog box where you can choose PAPER TYPE or MEDIA TYPE and do so to match your paper finish.

TIP#3 – every printer is different, every printer’s feed is different. Templates are guidelines only, you should expect to have to make minor adjustments prior to printing.