Issues with automatic setting with portrait vs. landscape with in a mail merge for labels

Question

I start a mail merge and set it for 30 labels, however it automatically sets it to landscape with 3 down 10 across. I already have my default setting as portrait and I went into details and tried to change the page size from "Letter landscape" to letter or  custom and I receive an error that says my margins are not correct.

How do I know what my margins need to be? Can I set my "Word" program to pick up the portrait version with the basic 3 across 10 down?

Thanks

Answer 1

The important step in configuring a mail merge to labels is to choose the correct product number in the Label Options dialog that appears when you click the Start Mail Merge button and choose Labels from the menu. It must match the product number of the package of labels that you plan to print on, or at least have the same dimensions as the physical labels.

If you select the product and then click the Details button, the next dialog will show you the information that Word knows about that specific product. You'll see, for example, that Avery #5160 labels are listed as 3 across and 10 down, and that the paper width and height are 8.5" and 11" respectively. The width and height entries are disabled, so the labels will be created on a portrait sheet -- even if the merge document's orientation has previously been set to landscape.

Because this choice is made at the very first step of mail merge setup, you have to go back to the beginning to change it. You can start with a new blank document, or you can click Start Mail Merge and choose Normal Word Document before starting over in the same document.