Mail merge labels without Word

What a mail merge actually does

A mail merge takes one layout and repeats it once per row of a data source, substituting values as it goes. For letters that is genuinely useful, because the layout is a page of prose with a few variable pieces. For labels the layout is a small box containing nothing but variable pieces, which is a much smaller problem wearing a much larger machine.

The Word route asks you to create a document, run the labels wizard, select a product number, attach the spreadsheet as a data source, insert each merge field individually, propagate the layout to every cell with "update all labels", preview, and merge to a new document. Seven steps to express one idea: put this column on that line.

Where it goes wrong

The data source connection is the fragile part. It stores a path to your spreadsheet, so moving or renaming the file breaks it. It reads the first row as field names, so a merged title row or a blank first row produces fields called F1 and F2. Reopening the document prompts you to re-run a SQL command, which is alarming if you were only trying to print some labels.

Formatting is the other reliable problem. Merge fields inherit the paragraph style of the cell they sit in, so a stray indent or an inherited space-after multiplies across thirty cells at once. And "update all labels" has to be clicked at the right moment or only the first label gets the layout.

None of this is a criticism of Word, which is doing a general-purpose job. It is an argument that labels do not need a general-purpose job.

Doing it in one step

Mapping a column to a label line is the same idea as inserting a merge field, minus the document. Load the spreadsheet, choose which column feeds line one, line two and so on, pick a sheet format such as 5160, download the PDF. Changing the list later means loading the new file and clicking generate again — there is no saved connection to break, because there is no document to save.

If you already have a working Word merge and it suits you, keep it. This is for the much larger group of people whose merge broke, who are on a Mac without a working wizard, who have no desktop Word at all, or who only need labels twice a year and would rather not relearn the wizard each time.