Your Christmas card list in three steps
- Get the list in. Paste it from the spreadsheet you used last year, or export your contacts: on iCloud.com or a Mac, select the contacts and export a vCard; in Google Contacts, choose Export. Contacts without a postal address are skipped.
- Make it festive. Pick a picture (Christmas tree, snowflake, gift, candy cane, bell or star), a color and a font. Elegant and Classic stay easy to read; Script is lovely for return labels.
- Print a test, then the labels. Print the first page on plain paper at 100%, check it against a label sheet, and print. Most card lists fit on two or three sheets of 5160 labels.
Matching return address labels
Switch to One address, full sheet and type your own address to print a full sheet of return labels with the same look. Small 5195 or 5167 labels suit return addresses best; see return address labels.
Tips for holiday mail
- Keep the address readable. The post office's machines read dark text on a light background best, so keep red and green dark, and use the Script font for your return label rather than the recipient's address.
- Check addresses before printing. People move: the Addresses box shows the whole list as text, so you can update it right there.
- Mail early. The US Postal Service publishes recommended mailing dates for the holidays each year; check them on usps.com before you send cards abroad or to military addresses.
- Printing straight on the envelopes instead? Use the envelope printer, which handles A7 and A2 card envelopes.
Labels that line up
- Print at 100%. In the print dialog choose Actual size, 100% or Custom 100, and turn off Fit to page or Fit to printable area. Scaling is the most common reason labels drift.
- Test on plain paper first. Hold the test page against a label sheet in front of a window. If everything is off by the same amount, enter it under Printer adjustment.
- Drift that grows down the page means the page was scaled or the paper fed at an angle. Check the 100% setting, and square the stack against the paper guide.
- Load the sheet the right way up. Most printers print on the side facing down in the tray, but many rear and manual feeds print on the side facing up. Mark a plain sheet with an X to find out.
- Use the right labels for your printer: labels for laser printers can smudge in an inkjet printer and the other way round. The pack says which printers it is made for.