Address labels with Apple Contacts and MS Word 2011

Current versions of Pages lack a feature to print labels. Apple Contacts (previously: Address Book) can print labels, but it does not allow you to edit the labels. If this is a problem MS Word 2011 might come to your rescue.

Unlike previous versions of Word, Word 2011’s Mail Merge Manager can import data directly from Apple Contacts. Here is how it works:

1. Create a New Blank Document from Word’s File menu (let’s call it the ‘Merge Document’).

2. Open the Mail Merge Manager from Word’s Tools menu.

3. Choose the relevant label type (Select Document Type → Create New → Labels…)

4. Connect the Merge Document to Contacts by choosing ‘Get list → Apple Address Book’

5. Click under ‘Select Recipients List’ on the symbol for ‘Add or remove place holders for labels’ to create the label template (not under ‘Insert Placeholders’!)

6. Optionally, select a suitable Contacts group (Filter Recipients → Options)

7. If needed, preview the labels (Preview Results → ABC)

8. At this stage you might want to save the Merge Document for future use

9. Finally, create a document with labels by clicking on the symbol for ‘Merge Document’ under ‘Complete Merge’.

10. Don’t forget to save the resulting document!