Print Labels From Google Contacts or Outlook

Your contacts already hold the addresses you need for labels. The fastest route is to export them as a file, tidy the columns in a spreadsheet, and paste the rows into LabelPeel. Each row becomes one label. The steps below cover Google Contacts, Outlook and iPhone contacts, and they use the menu names from each company's help pages.

Before you start

You need three things:

• Access to the contacts app where your addresses are saved, with your sign-in details.
• A spreadsheet app to tidy the file. Excel, Google Sheets and Numbers all work.
• The label sheet you plan to use. Check its product number on the box before you export, so you know which layout to choose.

Decide who should get a label before you start. A short list is easier to check. If you are printing for a holiday card or a party, a clean list of current addresses saves time later.

Step 1: Export from your contacts app

Google Contacts

Google's help page gives these steps for a computer:

1. Open Google Contacts.
2. Select the contacts. Check one box, check several boxes, or click Selection Actions and then All to select everyone.
3. At the top right, click More actions, then choose Export.
4. To make a file you can use for labels, select Google CSV.
5. Click Export to save the file.

Google's help names Google CSV for the backup export, and it also mentions vCard. For labels, use the CSV.

Outlook

Microsoft's steps depend on which version of Outlook you use.

New Outlook for Windows. Select the People icon in the side panel. On the ribbon, select Export contacts. Open the menu under Contacts from this folder, choose the option you want, and click Export. The CSV file saves to your Downloads folder.

Classic Outlook on a PC. Choose File, then Open & Export, then Import/Export. Select Export to a file, then Next. Select Comma Separated Values, then Next. Choose the Contacts folder under your account, then Next. Click Browse, enter a file name, and click OK. Confirm the save location, click Next, then Finish.

Outlook.com or Outlook on the web. Microsoft's help describes a route through People, then Manage contacts, then Export contacts. Choose All contacts or one folder, then export.

Open the file in Excel to check that your contacts are there. Close it without saving changes, so the file stays in the same format for the next step.

iPhone and iCloud

iPhone contacts sync to iCloud. Apple's help for iCloud.com describes exporting contacts as a vCard, which is a .vcf file. It is not a CSV. To export, sign in at iCloud.com, open Contacts, select the contacts, and use the Share button to choose Export vCard. If you select several contacts, you get one vCard file with all of them.

LabelPeel reads .csv, .tsv, .txt, .xlsx, .xls, .ods and .numbers files. It does not read .vcf files. So you have two choices:

• If you have a Mac, print straight from the Contacts app. Our guide to printing labels on a Mac shows the steps.
• If your iPhone contacts also sync to a Google or Outlook account, export from that account instead, using the steps above.

Step 2: Tidy the list

Open the file in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. You will see one row for each contact and one column for each field. Keep the columns you need for the label, usually the name and the address parts. Delete the others.

1. Check the heading row. Keep it. LabelPeel uses the heading row to find the columns, such as name and address.
2. Remove people with no address. Only the people with an address print a label. Filter the address column and delete the rows where it is empty. Otherwise, you get blank labels.
3. Check the names. Look for missing first names or extra spaces. A quick search for double spaces helps.
4. Check the ZIP codes. In a spreadsheet, ZIP codes can lose their leading zeros. Set the column to text before you paste.
5. Delete empty rows at the bottom. A blank row makes an extra blank label.

If your export has many columns with company names, phone numbers or notes, you do not need them on a label. Remove them from the list, or leave them out when you pick the fields in LabelPeel.

Step 3: Make the labels in LabelPeel

You have two ways to bring the list in.

Paste the rows. Select the tidy rows, including the heading row, copy them, and paste them into LabelPeel. Each row becomes one label. LabelPeel guesses which columns to use, and you can change them with the tick list.

Upload the file. LabelPeel accepts .csv files, so you can upload the export instead of pasting it. Check the heading row first, and remove people without an address.

Then choose your sheet. For US Letter, the Avery® 5160 has 30 labels per sheet. For A4, the L7160 has 21. You can type your own wording with column names in curly brackets, such as {First Name} {Last Name}.

Print the labels

Before you print, check the print settings. Use the paper size that matches your sheet, set the scale to 100%, and turn off any fit-to-page option. Print a test page on plain paper, then hold it over a label sheet against a window to check the alignment.

If the labels are a little off, nudge them by millimetres in LabelPeel and print another test. You can also start at a label number to finish a half-used sheet.

Common problems

Blank labels appear. The list has people with no address, or empty rows. Remove them and print again.

The names are in the wrong order. Sort the list in your spreadsheet by the field you want, then paste it again.

The labels do not line up. The page was scaled. Print at 100% or Actual size, and turn off fit-to-page.

Some ZIP codes lost their leading zero. Set the ZIP column to text in your spreadsheet, then paste the list again. A ZIP such as 02134 can turn into 2134 if Excel changes the format.

There is an extra blank page. Delete the empty row at the end of the list.

Where to go next

For more on the layouts that mail well, read how to print address labels. If your list is already in a spreadsheet, read how to print labels from Excel. For a Mac, read how to print labels on Mac.

A small test sheet first is always the safest start. It takes a few minutes and saves a full box of labels.