How to take report data exported to Excel from Synergy and print labels using Microsoft Word for Windows.

Exporting Data From Synergy

1. Open the report you want to pull data from, STU201 (student profile) for example.

2. Make the desired selections on the "Options" tab and then click on the "Sort/Output" tab

3. Change the output from PDF to Excel

4. Click the "Print" button.

Checking Excel

When you open the document in Excel, you will see that each cell in the first row contains "header" information that describes the content of that column, "Addressee," "AddressLine1" etc.

Setting up Labels in Microsoft Word

Start: Open Word, Select 'Mailings' Tab. Select 'Start Mail Merge' Button and 'Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard'. The wizard will embed a blue column on the right side of the screen.

Step 1: Select document type:  Choose labels:

At the bottom of the screen are the forward and back controls as seen below. Use them to continue forward and backward through the wizard as needed in the steps. Click this link to continue on when told to move to the next step. Click it now to move on to step 2.

Step 2: Select starting document:

The default choice is 'change document layout' (arrow #1). Keep it. Next click 'Label Options' (arrow #2) to pick your label maker and type.

Using the following screen, pick your label maker(#1) and product number(#2). These can usually be found on the label box or package. This will cause your document layout to change to reflect your label choice. You may not see the change visibly yet. Click the OK button at the bottom and then the "next" link in the "Mail Merge" window to go to step 3.

Step 3. Select recipients: Choose 'Use an existing list' and then click browse as shown below:

You will be presented with a standard file-browsing dialog box. Navigate to your excel file from the top step and then click OK. The average Excel spreadsheet defaults to having 3 sheets even though most of the time only the first is used. You may see the following screen after selecting your file. Choose the 1st sheet unless you have your data on another sheet. Click OK to continue with the wizard.

You will now be presented with a list of the records found in your excel file and asked to choose which records you wish to have participate in the merge. By default all the records are selected. This is the most common choice. Only deselect records if you have a need. You should not need the additional options available in this window. Click OK to continue the wizard. You will come back out to the main wizard. Click next to proceed to step 4.

Step 4. Arrange your labels: This is where you will setup the fields and layout for your labels. You will see 4 choices in the wizard. Choose "More items...." This will take you to a new screen with a list of your fields from your excel file.

Arrow #1 shows the default setting for the Insert area. Leave it there. Arrow #2 shows an example of picking a field. Clicking Insert (highlighted button below) will result in arrow #3...the field is inserted into your upper left, master label. Don't worry if you don't see the borders of your labels. It will become clear soon. In this example, I insert first and last name with a space on the first line. Close the 'Insert Merge Field' window (close button, lower right) then add the space between the fields. Lay it out like you'd want to read it.

Afterwards, I re-open the 'more items...' link from above and then insert address, city, state and zip. I put address on line 2 and city, state and ZIP on line 3 as seen below. Note the arrows showing where the spaces and commas are.

When finished, be sure to click the 'Update all labels' button in the wizard. This is arrow #2, 2 pictures up. You should see your page fill with labels similar to below:

Notice the arrows. They indicate a special field that is added to each label. Do NOT delete it. Don't worry about it pushing your spacing around. It has no effect on the spacing.This field called 'Next Record' tells Word to grab the next row in your excel file and paste it in that label. You may make any edits to your upper left, master label and continue pressing 'Update all labels' to push those changes to the rest of the labels. Be sure you always update after changes. When done click to go to step 6

Step 6: Complete the merge: Here, Word will grab all your data from the excel file and fill out label pages until there is no more data. You have two choices as seen below:

If you click print, your merge will complete and be sent directly to your printer of choice. I recommend choosing 'Edit individual labels'. This will run the merge and display the full, finished, merged document as a new word document. You can then review for any mistakes and print when ready. I also recommend running page 1 as a test sheet on regular paper and holding it up to a blank label sheet and make sure your labels line up. It will save you many wasted label sheets. When you are really ready, run the print job with your label sheets loaded in the printer.

Conclusion: You may save the document where you started the merge as a template if you run the same type of data on labels over and over. All you have to do is load the template and then step backwards to where you chose your excel file, choose a new excel file, step forward, preview, run the merge, review and print. Saves a lot of time!

You may also save the final merge document as a record of what labels you printed on this run.