ACT 6 Family of Products:  Printing Continuous-Feed Mailing Labels Using the ACT! Word Processor

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Support Question:  Printing Continuous-Feed Mailing Labels Using the ACT! Word Processor

Support for ACT! 6 Family of Products  ACT! 6.0 - PC   Documents/Templates/Word Processor   Envelopes/Labels/Reports   Printing*

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You want an alternate method of printing one-across continuous-feed (tractor-feed) labels.

Disclaimer:
This article was written about products for which Sage Software, Inc. no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered “as is” and will no longer be updated. If you need assistance with issues pertaining to an unsupported product, please refer your questions to the ACT! Online Community or to an ACT! Certified Consultant. For more information regarding currently supported versions of ACT!, please see our Obsolescence PolicyThis document describes an alternate method of printing one-across continuous-feed mailing labels on a dot matrix printer with ACT!. The steps in the following sections show you how to use the form letter capability of ACT!, along with a user-defined page size, rather than the ACT! report compiler. In addition to printing labels for a group or a lookup, this allows you to print single labels or multiple copies of the same label.

NOTE:
You cannot use this method with single-sheet-type printers. It is limited to continuous-feed printers.

Setting Up the Custom Label (Page) Size for Your Printer
Before the mailing labels can print, the printer driver must have the correct user-defined page size. Do so by following the steps in the section appropriate for your operating system:

If you are using Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups

Go to Program Manager in Windows.
Choose File, Run.
Type control printers and click OK.
Select your printer from the list in the Printers dialog box.
Choose Setup. The Printer Setup dialog box appears.
Select User Defined as the Paper Size option. The User Defined Size dialog box appears.
Choose 0.01 inch as the Unit.
Specify the width and length of the label in hundredths of an inch. The following figure shows an example of a 3-inch by 15/16-inch label. Do not use the actual (inch) length of the label. Instead, specify the length as the distance from the top of one label to the top of the next label. This ensures that the printing starts at the same location on each label.

Click OK to accept the size specification and return to the Printer Setup dialog box.
Set the default paper size to Letter 8 by 11 inches, and click OK.
Click Close in the Printers dialog box, to return to Program Manager.
Continue on to Creating the Label Template.

If you are using Windows 95 or Above

Click the Windows Start button and choose Run. The Run dialog box appears.
Type control printers and click OK.
Right-click your dot matrix printer and choose Properties from the shortcut menu.
In the printer Properties dialog box, click the Paper tab.
In the Paper Size box, double-click Custom (or User-Defined Size).
In the User-Defined Size dialog box, under Unit, select 0.01 Inches.
Specify the width and length of the label in hundredths of an inch. The following figure shows an example of a 3-inch by 15/16-inch label. Do not use the actual (inch) length of the label. Instead, specify the length as the distance from the top of one label to the top of the next label (in this case one inch). This ensures that the printing starts at the same location on each label.

Click OK to accept the size specification and return to the printer Properties dialog box.
Under Paper Size, click Letter (8 by 11), Portrait orientation, and click OK.
Close the Printers window and continue on to Creating the Label Template.

Creating the Label Template

Choose File, New from within ACT!.
Choose ACT! Word Processor Template in ACT! . A blank letter template appears.
Choose File, Page Setup. The Page Setup dialog box appears.
Click on the Printer button and then select the printer for your label printing in the Printer Name field and click the OK button.
In the Paper Size field, select User Defined Size from the list.
Click OK to accept the printer setup.
Choose Format, Page.
Set the top and bottom page margins to 0.0 inches.
Set the left and right page margins to 0.25 inches.
Click OK to accept the new margins.
Insert the database fields required to set up your mailing label. Consider the following:

ACT! does not provide any means for limiting the field data printed, this can result in field data printing off the edge of the label
The white area of the template shows the limits of the label. All field information must fit in the white area. Adjust the font, line spacing, and type size to make the field data fit on one label. The following figure shows a typical mailing label:

Choose File, Save As.
Save the new template.
Continue on to Generating The Labels.

Generating the Labels

Look up the contacts for whom you want to print labels. For a single label, look up a specific contact.
Choose Write, Mail Merge.
Follow the steps for your version of ACT!:

ACT! 3.0

Select your label template from the Open dialog box, and click OK. The Mail Merge dialog box appears.
Under Merge With, click Active Contact, Active Lookup, or All Contacts.

ACT! 4.0 or 2000

Under Template, select your label template by clicking it once.
Under Merge With, click All, Current Contact, Lookup, or Group.

Uncheck Create History When Sent, if it is selected.
Click OK. ACT! compiles the labels and a Print dialog box appears.
Choose All to print all labels or Pages and Enter the range of pages to print.

NOTE:
Each label is a separate page. When you choose the range of pages, you are choosing (to print) a range of labels.

Enter the number of copies to print. Each copy is a duplicate of a label. For example, when you choose to print two copies, you are choosing to print two labels for each contact.
Click OK. The labels are printed.

TROUBLESHOOTING TIP:
If your printer prints one label and then skips down approximately an entire page, you will need to disable the 11-inch form feed either in the printer driver, or in the printer configuration settings. If you need further help with this, please consult the documentation for your printer, or contact your printer manufacturer.

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