How to Print Mailing Labels from an iPhone or iPad
It's Christmas-card time… and that means it's also "Help! I need to print mailing labels!" time. In the olden days it was easy: you used the Address Book program on your Mac (I wrote about printing mailing labels back in 2010). But what if all you have is an iPhone or an iPad? How do you print mailing labels then?Actually, it's easier than you might think.
First thing you do is you get the Avery Templates Everywhere app from the App Store.
UPDATE October 9th, 2014: the Avery Templates Everywhere iPhone app is not available on the App Store any longer. I don't know when it disappeared but it's not there now. This complicates things. iPad users can download the free Avery Design & Print app but iPhone users are out of luck.
UPDATE November 23rd, 2013: If you're using an iPad, you might want to try the Avery Design & Print app instead. It's a little clumsy but it handles multi-line street addresses, which Templates Everywhere did not. So that's progress.
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(The following was for the Avery Templates Everywhere app-- I am leaving it here for posterity. The Design & Print app has different screens. If you're really stuck email me and I will try to help you.)
When you launch the app you'll see this. Choose "Create Project."
Next you'll see the GIANT list of Avery label templates. Choose the one corresponding to the labels you're going to use. If you just want to play around in advance of getting your labels try the 5160s. Three across, ten down. Standard as can be.
Next, you'll see this screen showing you how your labels are going to lay out. You can drag things around here but they start out with something that works fine for me. All you need to do is choose which contacts you want to print. That's what the "Contacts" button is for. So tap that.
You'll get a message asking whether Avery can access your contacts (that's nice of them, but it's also required by Apple's iOS). Tap OK. Next you'll see your entire list of contacts. Tap the checkbox to the left of the contacts you want labels for.
When you're done, tap "Done," and then tap "Preview." You'll notice by the way that the number of contacts chosen is displayed next to the word "Contacts." If you are trying to fill a sheet of labels it's nice to know how many names you've selected.
If it looks good to you, tap the Share button That's the curvy white arrow at top right. You'll get three choices.
Save lets you save your project for later revising (or for printing again). I highly recommend saving your project. You'll have to create an Avery account first but that's easy: email address and a password (NOT your regular email password-- just something for Avery). Print lets you print to an AirPrint-enabled printer. AirPrint is sort of new and only works with certain newish printers so you may be out of luck there. Go ahead and try-- you have nothing to lose. Email is your Ace in the Hole because it lets you email your labels as a PDF to someone who DOES have a printer. Here's what it looks like when you tap Email.
That's all there is to it. Nothing fancy but it works. If you have an extra label you can make one for me.
Christian Boyce
3435 Ocean Park Boulevard #107
Santa Monica, CA 90405
