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Mailing labels

I'd like to make mailing labels in Pages '09 (4.0.5), but can't find out how. Was it an oversight to not stick this ability into such a great program, or is it that I just can't find it? I've made the mailing list in Numbers, tried to import it, but there is no 'labels' function in Pages that I can find. Is there a stand-alone or plugin that anyone knows of? Thanks

iWeb '08, Mac OS X (10.5.8), iMac 24" 2.8 g Intel processor

Posted on Nov 26, 2011 11:24 AM

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16 replies

Nov 26, 2011 6:57 PM in response to Jerrold Green1

hi Gary,

Well sometimes I want to create mailing labels to people that are not in the Address Book. Or perhaps I want to be more creative with my labels. Or I want to create personalized gift cards. I have come up with LOTS of reasons why I need to create mailing labels in Pages. And, I've found ways /or apps to do it. DesignPro by Avery works fairly well for basic labels, but it's not a great app, has some definite quirks.


I totally agree with KOENIG Yvan,

who says, "To be the AW6 successor, iWork MUST integrate a TRUE DB, not a list organizer !"


Which it would then be able to create mailing labels easlily!

Nov 27, 2011 7:27 AM in response to linda2009

Linda,


I'm Jerry; the OP is Gary.


You could do the job in Numbers if you took the time to create a table layout matching the label sheet format. There you could have the data plus the design elements roughly equivalent to what you could have in Pages. Why do you need Word Processing features to print labels? I guess it would depend on what features you want in the label fields, but I'd bet that most routine needs could be met.


Jerry

Nov 27, 2011 7:54 AM in response to Jerrold Green1

Oh wow, my goof, so sorry Jerry!


Well, if Pages did the mailing labels automatically, like Word does or like Open Office does, then it makes the process run quickly and smoothly. You can edit your variables, like addresses you've tagged as family or friend, etc. There would be templates that are set automatically to Avery's (most popular) labels. That could be a pain to set up in Numbers - I could do it, but most users would not and would probably give up. I have created templates in Pages, and I have manually typed frequent addresses in the spaces, but it doesn't work with queries.


Anyway, like I said, most mailing label tasks can be done with little tricks or you just use an alternate app, like DesignPro or Open Office for Mac.


Address Book is okay, but I find the process difficult if you want to insert clipart or change the font. Also, I have a Numbers spreadsheet that has a lot more information than Address Book. Address Book is not a good place to store some of that.


Anyway, if Pages had it's own data base and allowed the "Next Record" field, like AppleWorks used to from what I hear, than it would make creating mailing labels so much easier. That's all.


Also, an excellent post about mailing labels is here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2576228?start=0&tstart=0

You also posted there, Jerry!


Thanks to you and all the great forum users that come up with great answers and assistance!

Nov 27, 2011 2:18 PM in response to linda2009

Linda


Address Book lets you change font and insert clipart, what specifically is difficult about it?


Peter


Jerrold


I replied previously but the response seems to have vanished.


Pages could have an associated spreadsheet for the labels, just as it has for the graphs.


I agree with Linda the process is clumsy, unreliable, filled with gotchas and quite unintuitive in Pages.


Peter

Nov 27, 2011 2:42 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Well Peter, every time you go to print labels in AB, you have to change the font and add an image. If you set up a Pages template, all that would be set to what your default choice is not Apple's Lucida default. As far as I can tell, you can't make a template in Address Book.


I have Pages templates for different sized Avery labels and if I have a short list, I just type in the addresses or I save a file with the most used addresses. That saves a lot of time. In Address Book, if you decide to change the label or you accidentally change the label (like from 5160 to 5163), Address Book forgets the font and any image you chose.


If you highlighted the wrong list in your Address Book, went in and started your labels then realized it, you click Cancel and have to start all over again. You can't set the default fonts yourself or create a template of some kind, or save a mailing sheet you use a lot -- except as a pdf which can't be edited, like if one person changed their info. Those are just some of the lttle things about doing mailing labels with Address Book that I don't care for.


With a few programming quirks, Pages could merge mailing labels so well!! It does a great job with form letters, and in that post (link above) there's a workaround to get Pages to do mailing labels without too much trouble.

Nov 27, 2011 9:49 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

PeterBreis0807 wrote:


Linda


Address Book lets you change font and insert clipart, what specifically is difficult about it?


Peter


Jerrold


I replied previously but the response seems to have vanished.


Pages could have an associated spreadsheet for the labels, just as it has for the graphs.


I agree with Linda the process is clumsy, unreliable, filled with gotchas and quite unintuitive in Pages.


Peter

Peter,


I don't spend much time worrying over the lack of that feature, as you can tell. Nice as it might be, I would put it in the category of heated seats and side mirrors that flash with the turn signals.


Jerry

Nov 27, 2011 11:07 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Peter,

I hadn't tried the Preset in Address Book - I do have them for other apps. So I tried it. It does not save the font style or the clipart.


Pre-printing the labels is an idea, but the laser printer does heat the labels slightly and I'm wondering about putting the labels through a second time. I shall try that sometime.


I use Pages for creating a little printed address book. I do the merge and remove the section breaks and use Create Booklet to print it. I've been doing that for quite some time now and it works really well. It's basically the same idea as the other post work-around to get labels printed. I just didn't figure a way to do it for labels. I'm going to try that the next time I need to merge mailing labels.


Most of my work-arounds work for me though. It might also be that after using MS Word and how user-friendly labels is in Word, it kind of spoils you just a bit. Not enough to miss Word and buy it though! I far prefer Pages. I have sent feedback to the developers about data bases and mailing labels, etc. I hope it's something they add! I think a lot of users would use it and it would definitely be a handy and welcomed feature!

Nov 28, 2011 4:21 PM in response to linda2009

Linda,


Since you have experience with the Mail Merge and delete Section Breaks method, I wonder if you have thought about merging to a Table Cell (1X1 table) and using Image Fill to apply the background from an existing PDF or other file. You can control the spacing of the records with the cell size and the Columns control in the Text Layer.


Jerry

Aug 18, 2012 4:16 PM in response to Jerrold Green1

Jerry,


Here's why:


1. Address Book, and now contacts, allow zero crontrol over fields and formatting. If you want what it wants to give you in the formats it offers (Avery templates), almost great, but otherwise, it's lame.


2. The "almost" above is because Address Book doesn't always get it right. With three contacts who each have a spouse, it includes the spoues in two labels and refuses to do so in the third. Since I have NO control over what goes into the label, I'm left high and dry.


JB

Aug 18, 2012 4:21 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Peter,


If a household has two people with separate records, you must type a lot of duplicative info to get Address Book or Contacts to recognize it as a houshold and include both people.


If, instead, you have one record for a "primary" person, and a spouse record for a second, Address Book is unriable about whether it includes the spouse or not.


I love Macs and Apple, but the company's "Don't worry your little head about it, we've got you covered" approach to Address Book and Contacts is sort of insulting, and definitely not helpful.


JB

Aug 18, 2012 5:39 PM in response to jeffanon

jeffanon wrote:


Jerry,


Here's why:


1. Address Book, and now contacts, allow zero crontrol over fields and formatting. If you want what it wants to give you in the formats it offers (Avery templates), almost great, but otherwise, it's lame.


2. The "almost" above is because Address Book doesn't always get it right. With three contacts who each have a spouse, it includes the spoues in two labels and refuses to do so in the third. Since I have NO control over what goes into the label, I'm left high and dry.


JB


Jeff,


I have no idea what you are referring to. Further I have no interest in complaining about Apple or their apps. Use what you like, don't use what you don't like.


Jerry

Mailing labels

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