How can the answer be improved?
One gripe you’ll hear about Pages ’09, Apple’s otherwise excellent word processing and page layout application, is that it provides little in the way of support for printing labels. But, while it’s true that Pages doesn’t ship with any built-in label templates, it’s actually easy to create and use standard labels using Pages.
Step 1: Check to see if there’s a pre-made template
You might already know that you can download tons of Microsoft Word templates for the most common labels directly from the Avery Label Website. You can open a Word template in Pages, but you’ll often need to adjust the measurements slightly to make the templates work. (If you choose to go this route, skip to Step 6.)
Avery now offers downloads for a limited selection of templates in a Pages format too. But often you’ll find that there are no downloadable templates available for the label that you want to use. That’s when you need to create a label from scratch.
Step 2: Get the measurements
Labels with no templates typically have measurement information that you can use to create the label manually. For the purposes of this exercise we’re going to use the information that ships with Staples brand Big Tabs 8 tab folder dividers, but you can substitute whatever numbers you need for the labels you want to use. Search the package for measurement information or use a ruler to take measurements from the label itself. You’ll use this information to create the template.
Step 3: Create a new document
To create your own template, launch Pages (in /Applications) and create a new, blank word processing document. After the blank document appears, open two Inspectors by first choosing Show -> Inspector, and then choosing View -> New Inspector. Set one to display document settings and the other to display table settings. When you’re done, your workspace should look like the image above.
Step 4: Set up the margins
Use the document inspector to make changes to the layout of the document using information from the measurements you found. Make sure to remove the checks from the Headers and Footers checkboxes as headers and footers limit the amount of printable space available to you on the page.
Step 5: Create a table
Next add a new table to the document using the Table button on the Toolbar. (Alternatively, you can add a table using the Insert -> Table menu.) By default, Pages inserts a three-by-three table with a single header row. You’ll need to change that using the Table Inspector.
Select the table and then, in the Inspector, change the body rows and columns to reflect the labels we’re using—20 body rows and 2 body columns. (We’re getting the information we need for the table from the Number Across and Number Down fields of the 8 Tab label template.)
Next, click on each of the buttons under the Header & Footer section and choose zero. Now, change the column width to 1.5 inches and the row height to .5 inch. You should note that the column width field will only allow you to change the number to 1.49 inches. We’ll fix that in a minute.
You don’t want each table to automatically resize if you add too much text, so uncheck the the checkbox that says Automatically Resize To Fit Content. Select the Cell Background section and choose None.
Step 6: Make necessary tweaks
You’ll notice that, even though we’ve entered the information exactly as it appears in the measurements on the labels package, our labels don’t all fit on a single page. To fix this you’ll need to adjust the bottom margin, changing it to .4 inch using the Document Inspector (not the Table Inspector). When you’re done, print the template, with the table lines still visible, and hold it up to the light behind one of your labels so that you can compare the lines on your template to the actual lines on the label.
For this template, after looking at the label in the light, you’re going to have to make some other minor adjustments. In this case, I changed the left margin to 2.75 inches; right margin to 2.73 inches; top Margin to .49 inch; and the bottom Margin to .4 inch. Once I made these changes I could change the column width to 1.5 inches.
Making adjustments is less a matter of science than it is a matter of judgement. I suggest that you make smaller changes, .1 inch here .05 inch there, and remember that the Edit -> Undo menu is your friend.
Step 7: Clean up your template and print
Once you’re satisfied with your template, use the Table Inspector to remove the cell borders from your table. First, select the table. (One way to do this is to control-click on the table and choose Select All.) Then select None from the Table Inspector’s cell borders menu.
When you’re satisfied with your work, save your new label as a Pages template so you can use it again in the future (File -> Save as Template). Now you're ready to print out your labels.
Jeffery Battersby is an Apple Certified Trainer, (very) smalltime actor, and regular contributor to Macworld
. He writes about Macs and more at his blog.
To comment on this article and other Macworld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.
ScreenshotsDescription
Create professional results with incredible ease. Easy to use software is perfect for any of your labeling projects from return addresses to simple to create, eye popping business cards. (NOTE that there is no import data or mail merge support).
With easy to use image support you can make incredible name tags, CD/DVD labels Post Cards, Tent Cards and even T-Shirts! Need images to use as backgrounds? We give you access to our own original background images at no additional cost, and to keep the download as fast as possible we host all of the images on our web site. Download just what you need, when you need it. Are you a business with complicated serial numbering needs? We have you covered. Need Printable Tags with Strings? It is in there. Permanent ID Labels? In there too. • Add images and formatted text to your favorite Avery or Compatible templates. • Access to hundreds of background images. • Curved text for CD/DVD labels. • Contextual Menus make it easy to align Images. • Make the first label the way you want and fill in all of the others with one click. • Plain paper layouts for jewel cases. • A4 and US Letter sizes supported. • Up to date Avery specifications as of December 2012. • Full support for OS X features such as FontBook, Spell Checking and others. • Comprehensive Serial Number Routines PLEASE NOTE: Since Apple's Contacts (AddressBook) has built in label support we do not offer mail merge support. While settle for bloatware? If you need to print out mailing lists, do it for Free from AddressBook. Need to create incredible return address labels, or CD/DVD labels, business cards, binders, t-shirts or any of the hundreds of other Avery projects? Then this is the software for you. What’s New
Support for legacy LPP6 files removed to enable full Mojave support. This may cause a problem for some of our most loyal users, so please, if you have any problems opening your files, contact us at [email protected] and we will help as quickly as we can.
6 Ratings
None
Used this product for years. Only problem was when Apple, in its INFINITE WISDOM, upgraded their oS which made many of our peripherals unusable. Contacted the team at Label Printer Pro 7 support. Within a couple of hours, I had an upgrade that works great. Great product. Great support. Thanks!
Very bad alignment!
Alignment is way off! This was a problem in previous versions that was fixed with version 7.33 The manual alignment adjustments do not help. While the alignment template prints correctly, labels never do.
Unfortinitally the problem is back and worse than before. I sent an email asking if I could roll back to a previous version. I will post a reply if so. As of now I can not reccomend this app! Developer Response,
We have not received an email from you, that we know of. For those that have written us about alignment issues, we were able to walk them through the correct procedure to correct it, and as far as we know that are no issues in the software itself. We are always happy to send older versions to anyone that may feel it is indicated.
Doesn't Work
I have had this software mainly so I could print labels for my catalogs and for christmas card addresses. It worked great the first year I got it. Ever since, I can't seem to get any of the files i created to open. And apparently there is no App support. Wish I would have saved my money.
Developer Response,
Our update to make LPP7 compatible with Mojave broke support for some older files. Please contact us by email at [email protected] and we will take care you and anyone else having this issue.
Information
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |