# Converting from Excel to Word **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050 "2010-11-09T16:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/1 "2010-11-09T16:20:40Z")
I’m asking for a friend 😉 She needs to create about 60 address labels in Word. The data is all in an Excel spreadsheet, with separate cells for name, street address, city, state, zip. Obviously copying a cell at a time would be a total PITA – is there some way to convert the spreadsheet into some form of Word doc that she could adapt more easily? TIA. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/2 "2010-11-09T16:30:57Z")
Copy into Word. Select the table, and convert “table-to-text”. Find and replace Tabs with spaces. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/3 "2010-11-09T16:34:17Z")
“Copy” meaning what, a complete cut-and-paste of the chart into a blank doc? And “table to text” is where, in the “edit” dropdown? Format? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/4 "2010-11-09T16:36:10Z")
Yeah. You can just highlight the whole table in Excel, press Ctrl-C, and paste it into Word. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/5 "2010-11-09T16:38:41Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > “Copy” meaning what, a complete cut-and-paste of the chart into a blank doc? Yup. > [@](#): > > And “table to text” is where, in the “edit” dropdown? Format? Depends on your version of Excel. In older versions, it should be a dropdown in Tables. In 2007, they did a dandy job of hiding it. It’s in…Layout-\>Convert to Text. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/6 "2010-11-09T16:39:48Z")
OR… You could do a mail merge. For address labels, that would be the least overall work. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/7 "2010-11-09T16:41:13Z")
Great, thanks. I’ll pass on the info to my friend. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/8 "2010-11-09T16:55:54Z")
Okay, she got it into Word – now she’s stuck on making labels. Is there some trick to the mail merge? (Seriously, this isn’t for me, this is for the office admin here.) (No, really.) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/9 "2010-11-09T17:04:35Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Okay, she got it into Word – now she’s stuck on making labels. Is there some trick to the mail merge? > > (Seriously, this isn’t for me, this is for the office admin here.) (No, really.) A little bit. I’d suggest Googling and getting step-by-step for a mail merge. They’re a tad tricky to set up, but in the long run will save you tons of time. “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” – Abraham Lincoln ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/10 "2010-11-09T17:07:37Z")
Thanks, **Munch** , I appreciate your help. I’ll have her google the specifics on the mail merge. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/converting-from-excel-to-word/560050/11 "2010-11-09T17:11:42Z")
Also - if she’s using Avery labels (or something similarly standardized), she should definitely be using a mail merge to prevent her from royally screwing up and wasting some pretty expensive labels.