How To Make Return Address Labels in PagePlus

Computers are here to make our lives easier, and even though they bring much more to our lives than easing the occasional task, they do have the power to save us both time and money if we put them to work for us.

Today, I want to share a simple lesson in making either return address labels, or a full page of labels with addresses that we send mail to on a regular basis. Every year, I use this method to make Christmas return address labels with a nice decoration.

You can make return address labels in a number of programs, but it is easiest to do in a desktop publishing program, so we are going to do this lesson in my favorite desktop publishing program, PagePlus. If you don’t have PagePlus, you can follow along in your favorite desktop publishing program, or you can get your own copy of PagePlus here. 

To get started, lets open PagePlus I like to keep an icon for the program in my Quick Launch toolbar at the top of my desktop, so I can quickly click on the link to open the program.

When PagePlus opens, it displays a wizard asking you what you want to do. We are going to start a new document (this program calls them publications) so lets click on “Start New Publication”

Once you have chosen to start a new publication, the next window in the wizard appears allowing you to select the type of document you want to create. We want to create address labels, so in the left hand section of the window, we will click on “Small Publications” and then click on “Avery Labels”.

The main part of the wizard window will now display an assortment of label layouts. Even if the labels you are printing on are not from Avery, they will probably have an equivalent Avery label number on them, or you can simply look at the layout of your labels, and select a similar layout on the screen. My labels have three columns of 10 labels for a total of 30, so I am going to select the Address 5160 layout, and then click on the “Open” button.

Your PagePlus window will now open with a single address label displayed in the middle of the screen. Since all the labels are going to be the same, you only have to worry about creating this one label.

Lets get started by adding a text box to the label. A text box is simply a shape that you draw that will contain text. Click on the Text Frame button,  and then with your mouse, draw a rectangle on your label.

Once the text box is in your label, you will be able to see the sides of the text box, and you can adjust it by dragging any of the little boxes.

Click once inside the text box and start typing your address. When you have finished, you can adjust the size of your text box to accommodate the address, and you can drag the entire text box around to adjust where it will be located on the label. I have moved my text box to the right of the label to make room for a small graphic on the left.

If you want to decorate your label, you can add a small image. It can be any picture that you have stored on your hard drive, on CDs or the images that came with PagePlus. To add an image to your label, click on the “Picture Fly out” button on the left hand toolbar.

The “Import Picture” dialog box will open allowing you to find and insert your image. Use the links on the left to quickly move to the folder containing your images, or if you don’t have any pictures of your own, you can navigate to the “Images” folder under PagePlus. The PagePlus images are usually located in the following path:

C:\Program Files\Serif\PagePlus\X3\Images

I have selected a nice picture of a rose to put on my address labels. I have clicked once on the picture to select it, then I will click on the “Open” button at the bottom of the dialog box to return to my label.

You will see that your mouse cursor has turned into a small cross with a square beneath it. You will use the cursor to draw a box where you want your image to go, or you can simply click and the image will be placed in your document. Drawing a box will allow you to control the size of the image as you place it. Clicking will place the image full-size and you will probably need to make it smaller so that it will fit in your label. As you can see below, I have placed my rose on the label, but the stem is blocking some of the address. 

You can easily rotate an image that you have placed in a PagePlus document, just point your cursor to the outside of any corner and it will turn into a curved arrow. Once you see the curved arrow, hold down the mouse button and move the mouse to rotate the image. I have rotated my rose so that the stem extends right between two rows of my address.

Want to see how a page of your labels will look, click on the “Print Preview” icon in the toolbar, or click on “File” and then click on “Print Preview” in the menu bar. You should see a full page of labels.

 If everything looks good in the print preview page, you are ready to print your address labels. Put the labels in your printer, and click on the “Print” icon in the toolbar, or click on “File” and then “Print…” in the menu bar.

 The print dialog box will appear allowing you to change the number of copies, and select your desired printer. Make sure everything is set the way you want it, and click the “Print” button at the bottom of the dialog box.

Wasn’t that easy? It is my favorite way to make address labels.

Elizabeth