The free Avery Label Merge add-on for Google Docs will allow you to create custom mailing labels and nametags based on data that you have in a Google Sheet. While it's not a perfect solution to all of your merging needs, Avery Label Merge does a pretty solid job of creating address labels and nametags. This article will walk you through the basics of installing this add-on and using it to create a batch of mailing labels.
Installing the Avery Label Merge Add-On
1. Go to http://docs.google.com
2. Once you are logged in, click on 'Add-ons' in the menu bar, then select 'Get add-ons...".
3. In the next dialog box, do a search for "Avery Label Merge." Click on the button in the upper-right corner labeled "+ FREE". You'll need to gve Avery Label Merge permission to access your documents and files, which you should accept.
4. And you're done! Now, it's time to make some mailing labels.
Creating Mailing Labels
Prerequisites: You'll want to grab the box of blank labels that you'll be printing to.You'll also need to have at least view-access to a Google Sheet that has the address information you're printing. Make sure that the data is well-formatted into defied columns like "Name", "Address Line", "City", etc:
1. Visit docs.google.com and create a new document:
2. Select "Add-Ons" from the menu bar, then Avery Label Merge, then New Merge.
3. After some work, Avery Label Merge will ask you to provide some information about your project. You'll need to provide the exact product number for the labels you're going to print:
If you're not using Avery-branded labels, don't despair! Most non-Avery labels prominently display their equivalent Avery product number/
4. Next you'll be asked to choose the spreadsheet where your address data is located. Avery LabelMerge will show your spreadsheets in the order of most recently-opened, so a good tactic is to open your spreadsheet right before you start this merge process. You can also use the search box to find your spreadsheet.
5. Follow the instructions in the new document that Avery Label Merge will show you. If your spreadsheet data is nice and tidy, Avery Label Merge will be able to easily match column titles to the kind of data they contain, like "Address Line". If your data's not so tidy, you'll need to tell Avery Label Merge what data can be found in which column. You'll see the merge fields on your left. Click inside the label box to get a blinking cursor, then start adding the fields you want by clicking on the Merge Fields. Make sure you put in spaces and commas. Also, don't worry about typface size and format; you can fix those later. Once you've got your label set up, click the blue button in the bottom-right hand corner of the screen labeled "Merge".
6. You'll see a dialog box like this. Click "Open".
