College of Charleston
Biology 338 - Entomology
Instructions for Making Labels
Using Microsoft Word 2000
- Go to Page Setup under the File menu and adjust
the right and left margins from 1.25 to 0.5 in.
- Go to Columns under the Format menu and adjust
the number of columns to 11 and indicate that there should be no
(0) space between columns.
- Go to Paragraph under the Format menu and check
the box "keep lines together" under the Line and Page
Breaks tab.
- Click on the ¶ symbol on the tool bar. This will
allow you to catch any mistakes while using the next
instructions.
- Select the entire document by going to Select All under
the Edit menu. Set the font size to 9 point and the font
style to Helvetica or another simple font. Then place the cursor
at the beginning of the document.
- You can now start typing in labels. When you get to the end of
a line, instead of using just Return use Shift-Return
(press shift, hold it down and press return). This will tell the
computer that you are at the end of a line but still in the same
paragraph. It should produce a mark that looks like an arrow.
After the last line of the label use Return to tell the
computer that this is the end of a paragraph. This will make a
¶ mark at the end of the line. Hit Return once more if
you want a space between labels.
- If you don't need more copies of this label go on to the next
one. If additional copies are needed select the entire label and
the space below it by dragging the curser across the appropriate
line with the mouse button depressed. The label will be
highlighted as it is selected and will stay highlighted after
releasing the mouse button.
- Go to Copy under the Edit menu to store a copy
of the label on the clipboard.
- Place the cursor where you want the next label to be. If you
forget to do this you will be pasting the new label over top of
the one you just copied (anything that is selected will be
replaced).
- Use Paste under the Edit menu to paste the copy
from the clipboard onto the screen in the correct spot. Do this
until you have enough copies made. It will probably be easier to
use the key command instead of using the mouse to go to the
Edit menu each time. The appropriate command is
Command-V. If you have a large number of identical labels
to produce it is usually easier to copy the first one and create
several, and then copy the several labels you now have and paste
them as a group to get the desired total number of labels.
- Go on to your next label and repeat steps 6-10.
- When finished with your labels, put in a section break after
the last label by going to Break under the Insert menu and
click the Continuous button under Section Breaks.
This will tell the computer that there is another section and it
will automatically spread however many labels you have over all
the columns. Then you can cut the sheet smoothly below these
labels and use the paper again for more labels.
- You are now ready to format your labels for printing. Select
the entire document by going to Select All under the
Edit menu.
- Type in 4 for the font size in the tool bar. You will not be
able to read your labels on the screen at font size 4, but they
will print in a readable form on the laser printer.
- Select Print under the File menu or click on the
printer icon. After printing a trial copy on regular paper, place
a sheet of label paper on top of the paper in the printer and
print your final copy. If you have a large number of labels the
formatting could take several seconds, so be patient and try not
to do this while many people are waiting to use the laser printer,
especially if you value your life.
- After you have done one set of labels, it is wise to save this
file. Then the next time you come back to make labels, you simply
have to delete the labels you made previously and type in the new
ones. the formatting will already be in place. You will have to
remember to increase the font size while you type in the labels,
decrease it before printing and put back in the section break
after the last label.
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