Multiple Envelopes in One Document

Normally, when you want to create an envelope manually (instead of having Word create it from the address in your letter), you choose Add to Document from the Envelopes and Labels dialog box if you don't want to print it immediately. But what if you want to do several envelopes (not enough to justify a merge) before you send them to the printer across the office where you have to manually feed them in the printer?

The objective is to get all your envelopes in one document and then send them to the printer. However, Word insists on changing the first envelope if you choose Envelopes from the Mailings tab of the ribbon again. Here's how to get around this problem:

1. Display the Mailings tab of the ribbon.
2. Click the Envelopes tool in the Create group. Word displays the Envelope tab of the Envelopes and Labels dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Envelope tab of the Envelopes and Labels dialog box.

3. Use the controls in the dialog box to specify how your envelope should look.
4. When finished, click on the Add to Document button.
5. Display the Page Layout (Layout in Word 2016) tab of the ribbon.
6. Click the Breaks tool (in the Page Setup group) and then choose Next Page. Word inserts a section break.
7. Press Ctrl+Home to position the insertion point above the section break.
8. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the next envelope.
9. Click on the Change Document button.
10. Repeat steps 5 through 9 for each additional envelope.

When you are finished, the file will contain all your envelopes, and you can print as necessary.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10342) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Multiple Envelopes in One Document.