Printing Labels, Mailing List & Envelopes in Mac OSX with Address Book
Have you ever wondered how hard it might be to print a mailing list, in paper form, on envelopes or as mailing labels? Well, actually it isn’t that hard, and in fact Apple’s Address Book software takes a lot of the pain out of the process, and makes it possible to sideline Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge process at the same time. In this article we find out how to:
- Print a single & multiple addressed envelopes.
- Print Avery mailing labels with a company logo.
- Print a well formed mailing list in paper form.
Getting Started With Your Addresses
In starting any of these processes we are going to assume that you already have multiple mailing addresses and contacts in your Address Book in Mac OSX, not only that, but you have set up your own contact profile in address book with an address and atleast a country associated with the address. That being said, let’s get started.
Taking The Pain Out Of Printing Envelopes in OSX
The beginning of any printing process in Address book, is to actually select a single or multiple contacts, or to in fact just select a pre-defined group of contacts, or search result set. Once this is done you are ready for the printing process.
As with any program, simply select “Print …” from the “File” drop menu at the top of your screen. This will bring the print dialog to the fore.
The print dialog window should display by default in envelope printing mode, which makes for fewer steps to completing the process, but if it does not, then from the “Style” drop menu to the top right hand side of the dialog window, select “Envelopes”. This will then force all the envelope printing options to load into the dialog window.
The process of actually printing the envelope can then become as complicated or as simple as you like. Start by selecting the correct envelope size from the “Layout” drop menu under the “Layout ” tab. Under
the 
“Label” tab you can specify the font and color for the address and other details, you can also specify whether to print your own address, and which of those (home, work, other), whether to print the country with the address and whther or not Address Book should avoid printing the country for addresses that are in the country specified under your own address. On top of thise you can also ask Address Book to print either in alphabetical order or to use the postal code for ordering. Last but not least you can specify the orientation of the envelope, as it enters your printer. Needless to say, each printer varies and no doubt you will have to experiment with getting it right, and then remember for each subsequent time you wish to print an envelope.
At the same time, the great thing about the simple print dialogue interface is that you also get to see a great preview example of the envelope, the shape, size and where the software expects to print what on the front of the envelope, making.
Printing Mailing Labels from Mac OSX in Address Book
Printing labels in Address Book is a step up from printing envelopes, but again is super simple, and the process of getting from A to B is also very fast:
As before start the process of printing labels by simply selecting a pre-defined group, or by selecting multiple contacts in any list. Once ready, select “Print …” from the “File” drop menu. After the print dialog window has come to the fore, select “Mailing Labels” from the “Style” drop menu in the top right hand corner of the dialog window.
This will force the Mailing Labels settings to load below in the right hand-side of the dialog. The settings consist of two tabs: Layout and Label.
The layout allows you to define the format of your labels. Needless to say using the standard AVERY or DYMO sizes allows you to cut to the chase and setup the print sheep in a click or two. However, if you do not have either type or an equivalent AVERY code for the non-standard sheets you have, then you can easily define a custom mailing label sheet size, with label sizes and gutter sizes.
Having selected the correct label and sheet size under “Layout” you can then head to the “Label” tab. Under the “label” tab you can pre-define a range of options, from the type of address to print, to ALL of them; whether or not to print the country, to specify the color, size and typeface of the print; as well as a logo. When adding a logo you do not need to ensure that it falls within the width restrictions of the logo, as the picture will actually be resized by Address Book. The logo will be placed to the left of the address on the label.
When you are ready to go, select the number of copies you wish to print and then just click the “Print” button, as highlighted in blue.
Printing a Paper Mailing List from Address Book
You may want to print a mailing list on paper for a number of reasons, whether you wish to make a paper backup of your 
address book, print off the details of a previously compiled group, or to print out a subset of some search result set you have just created. Anyhow, the process of printing a paper copy of your mailing list, is, as just described for envelopes and labels, exceedingly easy.
Select the desired contacts and open up the “Print …” dialog from the “File” drop menu. When the the dialog has come to the fore, select “Lists” from the “Style” drop menu. You are then ready to rock and roll!
Loaded in the settings panel below you can define the paper size, the orientation of the paper int he printer, the attributes from each of the contacts that you wish to include int he list and the font size of the text. Attributes that you can print include, but are not limited to: name; phone; e-mail address; postal address; instant messenger; dept; company; and so on and so forth.
When ready to print, simply select the number of copies to print and then click “Print”.
It’s a Wrap!
And so there you have it, proof that printing envelopes, mailing labels and mailing lists couldn’t be easier from apple’s Address Book application. No longer do you necessarily need Microsoft Word in Mac OSX to be able to do some form of Mail Merge for printing lists, labels and envelopes.
Read our review of Ambrosia Software’s Easy Envelopes for a quick and easy way to print envelopes from the Mac OSX dashboard.
March 26th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Okay, so how do I edit the format of the address labels? I figured out how to put the contact on the first line and the company on the second. But sometimes it adds in the partners and spouses and sometimes it doesn’t. How do you choose?
sigh.
I have 400 labels to print in a specific format and this is a pain so far.
I have even tried exporting as a TSV. The problem with the tech talk download is that it doesn’t bring in related name fields. I have tried to do a mail merge in pages but it wants to print a sheet of labels for each contact. I only need 1 label for each.
Child is a related name field in the address book but not supported in pages. So I have to go back and make all the children assistants? And cut and paste them into the label template?
Sorry, but this is nuts and frustrating. Maybe I’m spoiled, but I’m used to Apple products making sense.
:O)
janie
March 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
As far as I know, you cannot reformat the labels. The first and last name field will need to contain EXACTLY what you wish to be on the addressee name line. For instance:
First: Mr John
Last: Smith and Family
would give you
Mr. John Smith and Family
on your address label.
May 4th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
you talk about a sollution for printing a address book list from mac address book but give no link or directions of how to do it i have a new mac book pro and need to print a paper list of the contacts and only see an option to print each individual contact on a seperate sheet of paper . can you please tell me how i can print multiple contacts on a page in alpha order. Do i have to down load a special program to do so help
May 4th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
The sweet and short would be:
1. open apple address book.
2. select records
3. file > print
4. choose lists options
5. select data you wish to print
6. print
hope this helps
July 14th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Hi, I am printing envelopes and it keeps on cutting my return address off. It’s because the envelopes that I am using are 10 1/2 but the printer only received 10 from the address book. This same printer prints fine with a PC. How can I reformat or edit the return address so that it doesn’t cut off?
July 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am
I want to choose the position of the label I’m printing printing to, so I can re-use partially used label sheets. I am able to do this with my Palm contact list and Word, but not Mac OSX Address Book. Dont’ want to spend $40 on fancy Mail Factory software.
Wanted to switch from my Palm Treo to iPhone. Maybe not.
Any suggestions?
July 26th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Peggy =
In order to do this you would need to define a custom label size and use that to position the address on the labels accordingly.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Why can’t I print a label with a contact’s name AND company name? If I can’t then Apple Address Book is useless for business mailings.
August 6th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Hi, I am trying to print envelops that display both the name of the person and the company name. I can’t figure out how to get both on the envelop. I can either display the person’s name or the company name, but not both. Any advice?
August 20th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Hey Keymasha
Had same problem. Here is how to adjust the envelope size.
1. Click on a single contact.
2. File then Print
3. Make sure “Envelopes” is in the Style toolbar.
4. Select “Layout” right under the “Envelopes”
5. Enter your Envelope dimensions.
Hope it helps.
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Why not export from your PC using CSV format, import that directly into Mac’s Address Book and then print your labels directly from there using the simple print option built directly into Address book? You can create a seperate list for your magazine subs in Address Book and edit/add entries directly from there for future subscribers. Seems like a simple way to maintain addresses to me.
October 5th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I used to use a PC, and Word allows a Mail Merge to be created with whatever fields are required from a database. I can get Pages to do the same, except it makes one page for every entry. Word allows for the next entry to be used for the next label. Any idea how to make this happen?
October 13th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
I think address book for Mac is really good. The only problem I have is when I print labels. I print maybe 10 or 15 at one time. Then next time I want to print some I have to start the labels at top left corner. Which means I can’t use the rest of the labels on the last page. I use avery 8660 labels 30 per page. Please Help.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:44 am
I want to change the layout of the addresslist, now it takes a lot of room to print one address
do i need a pluginn ??
November 9th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I have same problems as a lot of other folk with mailing labels – I just want to be able to define the fields in each label and their layout – e.g. use Nameline not First and Last as the first line, put Postcode (= Zip code) on the same line as State, and so on. No chance. Means for me Address book will be useless unless the freeware app Address Book Exporter from glenhiver.net will export a csv file for me under (Snow) Leopard. Can’t believe Address Book falls down so badly on this one.
November 19th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I purchased Avery 8195 blank labels because they are the size I want. They are supposed to print four columns of 15 labels each.
But 8195 isn’t on the list of Address Book templates. What to do?
November 21st, 2009 at 10:34 am
I think I’ve found an answer to our problems.
The free OpenOffice suite of programs enables you to use Address Book as the data source for mail merges. It does this by copying the Address Book, or a selected Group from it, to an OpenOffice database, which OpenOffice Writer then uses in its normal Mail Merge. Details of how to do the copying are on this web page:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/MacOSX:_Address_book_integration
The page also describes how to do a mail merge, but I think it may be out of date as I found it didn’t exactly tie up with my experience.
The only drawback of this method appears to be that I don’t think the extracted database will keep track of any subsequent changes in Addrss Book, so that you will have to recreate the database before each mail merge.
November 21st, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Is it not possible to create your own custom label format?
December 8th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I spent hours creating an up to date contact list in numbers. I do not want to spend countless additional hours inputing contacts one at a time into address book. Can I merge my numbers spreadsheet contact list directly to the envelope document in pages? Or can I import all of my contacts into address book at once? I really appreciate the help. I am a new Mac user. I have the Mac Book Pro OS X. Thanks.
December 8th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
From what I can tell pages will only import form address book. I could be wrong, requires further investigation, as I do not have pages on this computer. If it doesn’t I would suggest export to a CSV (comma separated values) file from ‘SAVE AS’ in the ‘File’ menu and then trying to import that into address book, and then doing a mail merge from there. Best, Vincent -
December 8th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I am right now trying to print Christmas envelopes and can’t get it right. I ended up using the following: 1) Printed my Christmas group onto Avery 5267 labels via address book 2) Created a custom template in Pages to print my return address onto the same Avery 5267 label page.
This was the only way I could get this to work. I was unable to print my return address using the above described process, it would only print a single label at a time. I was also unable to get the Christmas card template to work via address book with the card stock. For some reason, the return address kept getting cut off and the address was placed oddly on the card. Yes, I tried fiddling with the settings but after a while it was just easier to print labels.
There has to be a better way to get all of this to work. I fail to believe that anyone could run a business with such gapping holes in seemingly simple and essential tasks.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Vincent, Thanks so much for the tip. I successfully exported my numbers spreadsheet into a cvs format into address book! Yay! However, when I merged it into the envelope template in pages it only showed the name line. Guess I have a merging problem. Any advice? Also, is there a way to add Mr & Mrs to the name line? Thanks so much for your help!!!
December 9th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Melissa -
You might like to view the following video how-to which I just found:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-use-mail-merge-with-a-numbers-document-in-pages-09-278676/
Best, Vincent -
December 15th, 2009 at 9:24 am
To print “return address” labels using Apples Address Book 1) create a ‘new group’ with you as the only person in the group. 2) Copy and paste your address over and over until you have 20 or 30 (depending on the kind of label sheet you’re using) copies of your address. Then print that group the usual way. You’ll have a sheet full of return address labels ready to be placed on cards an packages.
December 16th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Vincent,
THANK YOU SO MUCH! That video was awesome! It really, really helped me figure out how to use mail merge on the mac. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help and how many hours of frustration you saved me from! I was even able to print an envelope with a picture of my son over the return address.
Thanks again, and Happy Holidays!
Melissa
December 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am
I got a problem to print the return address on envelope, under the “Label” the “print my address” checkbox is grayed out.
December 19th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
I am having a problem with mailing labels. When I go to print mailing labels, some of the labels have additional information added to the first and last name line. When it happens, this information is always the last person listed in the child, sister, brother, etc. information on the card. I am not sure why most of the labels are correct and just some are doing this. Since I see no way to edit what is printing on the label, I don’t know how to fix this problem. Thanks for any help you can give.
December 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Is there any way to print on Avery labels (or other brand) without using address book? I use the labels for other purposes … on the backs of some of my photos, labeling items in my house etc. I can’t seem to find any way to do this on Pages or using address book.
January 11th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Though I’ve been an Apple devoté for decades, Address Book’s printing functions are not up to Apple’s standards. There is NO way to position labels on a partially used sheet. There’s just no excuse for this.
Here’s the best Apple software I’ve found for handling labels. It’s called pearlLabelizer, it’s freeware, and well-integrated with Address Book. Very straight-forward, but worth the 5 minutes or so to read the Help Manual:
http://www.pearworks.com/pages/software.html
January 18th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Is there a way to print spouse and children’s names when printing a list out of address book?
February 10th, 2010 at 4:25 pm
You might go one step farther and tell readers how to set this up as a default/preset so they don’t have to go through all the steps each time they want to print a single envelop.
I selected all the settings, then I clicked on “Advanced.” That took me to a regular print dialog box for my printer. Where it says “Presets” I scrolled down to “Save As” and I named my special setting “Envelopes from Address Book” and then clicked ok.
Now when I try to print an envelope from the Address book, one of the presets will be the one I just saved.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
Well, dangit. I spoke too soon. That did NOT save my presets!
Anyone know how to save presets? I’m going to be a very unhappy camper if everytime I want to type an envelope I have to go in there and change the orientation (so the envelope will fit through my printer) and change the font to match my marketing.
Surely Apple didn’t give us a printing pane without a way to save default settings?
February 10th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Finally found how to save a custom envelope preset. And it’s NOT under the Presets Tab where it should logically be.
You do it in the Layout tab.
After you’ve selected your orientation, and after you make all your selections under the lable tab, click on Layout and make any changes you want in that pane. Then, underneath the Layout Tab there is another menu also named Layout. Here is the option to save your settings as a custom setting.
Too bad Apple didn’t issue help notes on how to save a custom setting. I must have wasted two hours trying to figure this thing out. Argh.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
How do I print a mailing label that doesn’t have a postal code. I just want it in the mailing label size but all I want on the actual label is name, e-mail, phone number and website. It just shows up blank if there’s no postal code. ahhh!
April 5th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Looking for a good sheet fed printer for printing bar code labels. Currently use Avery peel and stick tyoe labels, but the thicker label stock eventually goofs up the sheet feeding mechanism and we end up hand feeding one at a time.
May 12th, 2010 at 12:32 am
For those who want to print mailing labels with both spouse names, like this:
John and Jane Doe
123 main st. etc.
Here is the way to enable this on Mac OS 10.6 snow leopard. It involves taking an old plist file from the leopard version of Address book, and inserting it into the snow leopard version of address book package. Easy step-by step instructions at this guy’s blog:
http://johnmichl.com/2010/01/enabling-related-names-in-snow-leopard/
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:15 pm
trying to print 350 address labels 5160, and program is frozen on “sorting”. several attempts. any help appreciated.
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Gian … How many labels? Perhaps there is a way for you to sort the data before importing it into MS Word? How much RAM does your computer have? When you computer freezes does the mouse still move or is it completely locked up?
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm
350 addresses/labels. OS X 15.5.8 2.8GHZ Intel Core Duo processor. 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory. Not really “frozen”, but does not “sort” 350 labels. I was able to print 27 labels in a different group as a test, and there was no issue. is Address book simply not able to do 350-3000 labels, such as Filemaker Pro?