# Using Word for envelopes **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 5, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149 "2003-12-05T13:58:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pegleg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@pegleg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pegleg)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/1 "2003-12-05T13:58:21Z")
While addressing my Xmas cards, my printer would feed a second envelope thru. Looking at the program, I notice what I would call a page break, indicating this was a two page project. How do I make this a one page project? Win XP Pro, MS Word 2000. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/2 "2003-12-05T14:06:11Z")
I print envelopes all the time with no problems. Explain what steps you took, and likely one of us can find a misstep for you. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/3 "2003-12-05T14:53:16Z")
There are a couple of possibiliities: 1. Open the doc in Word. on Word’s menu, click view|show all. that makes the various paragraph symbols, tabs and manually inserted page breaks visible. If you see a thin horizontal dotted line with the words “page break” in the middle, put your cursor on the left edge of the line and press the delete key. It ought to disappear and your problem with it. The other possibility is that you’ve got one too many regular paragraph symbols ([enter] keys) after the address. This is particularly likely if you’re merging the addresses in from Outlook or some other source. You may be able to cure the problem by deleting the extra para symbol after the address. If you don’t see any para symbols after the address, try adjusting the margins. That’s on the menu under File |Page setup. The idea is that they usually set the margins to cover up most of the envelope, just leaving a 2" by 1" hole for the address to fit into. If the address is slightly too tall, it forces a second page, which you don’t want. Try reducing the bottom margin by 1/4" or so and see if that curues your problem. None of these ideas may be exactly what you need, but it’ll give you some hints on where to look. Without seeing the document you’re dealing with it’s difficult to be more specific. Aren’t computers wonderful labor-saving devices?? I hand address mine because the envelope feeding process is just too finicky on my printer and address labels seem pretty tacky on holiday cards. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/4 "2003-12-05T14:56:04Z")
**LSLGuy’s** advice is good, but I really think you need to pull out the inkwell, dust off your best nibs, and start doing some fine calligraphy (this, from a man who can’t read his _own_ handwriting). ---
**Author:** ![the\_first\_supraliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f475e1/32.png) [@the\_first\_supraliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_first_supraliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/5 "2003-12-05T15:29:35Z")
**pegleg** - I know just what you’re talking about and I have never been able to beat it myself. The selection of Envelope forces a page, and the envelope seems impossible to deal with or print separately. So I just do envelopes the old way, as though a regular sheet of paper printed in landscape. And I just eyeball where the center goes and try it on the back of recycled scrap sheets until it’s the right position for an envelope. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/6 "2003-12-05T19:57:54Z")
I’m with **Bill H.**. I do envelopes fairly often, and have never had this problem. Please describe the steps you’re going through, so we can see if there’s something unusual about it. There’s also a chance that some printer drivers louse things up. What type of printer are you using (make, model)? ---
**Author:** ![pegleg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@pegleg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pegleg)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/7 "2003-12-05T20:51:26Z")
Thanks for the help What I do: open Word and go to Tools \> envelopes & labels Open Options- select font, placement. Open address, double click recipient Click Change Document (this is where it goes to a 2 page doc.) Click print. I use a Canon S520 (and my handwriting is atrocious!) ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/8 "2003-12-05T21:42:36Z")
I’m not quite following this. When you say “Open address,” what do you mean, exactly? I’m using Word 2002, which should be pretty much the same as yours. Tools, Letters and Mailings (I think this step is missing in Word 2000), Envelopes and Labels. Plug in the recipient’s address (or copy and paste it from somewhere else), then click Print. If I click “Add to document” (maybe that’s “Change document” in Word 2000) instead of “Print,” it puts a page break after the address, because it assumes I’m going to add more addresses before printing, and it needs to do a page break before the next address. I could keep adding addresses, then print them all at once, but since there’s still a page break after the last address, it would feed one envelope through needlessly at the end of the print job. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/9 "2003-12-05T21:56:00Z")
**Pegleg** : I solve this problem by printing off the pull-down menu and clicking on “Print Current Page”. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/10 "2003-12-05T22:09:44Z")
Let me clarify: when I said “click Print,” I was referring to the Print button in the Envelopes and Labels window, not the Print option on the main toolbar. ---
**Author:** ![pegleg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@pegleg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pegleg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/11 "2003-12-10T00:47:14Z")
When I say open address, I mean clicking the address book icon next to “delivery address”. Then I scroll thru my contacts and double click a name to insert that contacts name and address. Niblet Thx. I’ll try that, but it seems to me that the printer will still see it as a two pager. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/12 "2003-12-10T02:49:42Z")
OK, my original advice stands. Once you’ve inserted the address you want, why are you clicking “Change Document?” Just click the “Print” button in the window in which you’ve just inserted the address - not the “Print” button in the larger Word window, but the “Print” button in the little sub-window that’s currently open. As I said earlier, when you click “Change Document,” that puts the first envelope into an otherwise empty document, and inserts a page break after it, on the assumption that you’re going to be creating more than one envelope. So, if you’re only printing one envelope, it’s going to give you a superfluous form feed after it’s printed that one envelope. ---
**Author:** ![pegleg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b4bc9f/32.png) [@pegleg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pegleg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-word-for-envelopes/217149/13 "2003-12-10T13:28:01Z")
OK Early. Thanks for sticking with this.