.KEYWORD labels
.FLYINGHEAD ADDRESS BOOK TUTORIAL
.TITLE Printing labels from your Address Book
.FEATURE
.SPOTLIGHT FIGALT labels-cover.gif
.SUMMARY The leaves have turned and fallen, the bonfires have turned to ash, and we’ve all had our fill of Thanksgiving turkey. Our thoughts now turn to football, Christmas, and getting the holiday cards out on time. In this helpful article, contributing editor Clair Pieterek shows how you can speed up the latter task by printing labels based on the names in your Palm Address Book.
.AUTHOR Claire Pieterek
The leaves have turned and fallen, the bonfires have turned to ash, and we’ve all had our fill of Thanksgiving turkey. Our thoughts now turn to football, Christmas, and getting the holiday cards out on time. Here’s how you can speed up the latter task by printing labels based on the names in your Palm organizer’s Address Book.
These instructions assume you’re using Palm Desktop 3, Microsoft Word, and Avery labels. Other word processors may also have templates for Avery labels. Avery includes a "Formatting and Printing Tips" pamphlet in their label packages with instructions for various word processors, including multiple versions of Word Pro, older versions of Word for Windows and Macintosh, and WordPerfect for DOS and Windows. Many boxes of Avery labels contain a diskette with macros and templates. You can also download these templates from Avery’s web site.
Start Palm Desktop, and select the Address application. Select the category you’d like to use by clicking the category drop-down list.
Select the names you’d like to make labels for by holding the Control key down as you left-click each name with your mouse. When you have selected all of the names and addresses you want to use for labels, as shown in Figure A, drag them to the Word icon at the bottom right of the Palm Desktop screen.
.FIGPAIR A Select the names, then drag them to the Word icon at the bottom right of the Palm Desktop screen.
A table containing the addresses you selected will be created in Word, as shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B Dragging the names you have selected to the Word icon automatically creates a table in Word.
Delete the columns you don’t need, such as Phone 1 through Phone 5. Highlight the columns you don’t want. Then, from the Table menu, choose Delete Cells, then Delete Entire Column, as shown in Figure C. Click OK to complete the deletion. Repeat this process for other columns you wish to discard, such as Country, Custom 1 through Custom 4, Note, and Category.
.FIGPAIR C This is the Delete Cells dialog. Choose "Delete entire column" to delete the adjacent columns you have selected.
Now, convert the table to text. First, you’ll need to highlight the table by choosing Select Table from the Table menu. Once the entire table is selected, choose Convert Table to Text from the Table menu. Choose from the characters to separate text — I usually use tabs — then click OK to complete converting the table to text, as shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D Convert the table you created in Figure A to text, using the Convert Table To Text command from the Table menu.
Figure E shows what your table will look like after you have converted it to text.
.FIGPAIR E This is what your table will look like after you have converted it to text.
Edit your text to suit your needs, then set up your labels. Choose Envelopes and Labels from the Tools menu, then choose Options. Select the type of Avery label you are using, as shown in Figure F. I prefer Avery 2660 labels, which are sheets of eight 1" x 2 5/8" clear address labels. The Avery label number can be found in the upper right corner of the package.
.FIGPAIR F Choose the type of label you are using.
You’ll get a screen, shown in Figure G, that looks much like half a sheet of Avery 2660 labels.
.FIGPAIR G Here is your label template, ready for your addresses.
Cut and paste your formatted addresses into the virtual labels. I usually cut and paste each address into the label template one by one. Once your addresses have been pasted into the label template, as shown in Figure H, all you need to do is print them.
.FIGPAIR H Here are the finished labels, ready to print!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Download the Avery Wizard for Microsoft Word at http://www.avery.com/prod_catalog/software/wizard.html.
Software templates for Avery labels can be found at http://www.avery.com/prod_catalog/software/templates.html.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6c4e4
