Labels are quick, but for wedding invitations, thank you cards or a letter that should look personal, printing straight onto the envelope looks better. If your addresses are in a Google Sheet, each row can become one envelope, with your return address in the top left corner, without retyping anything or setting up a Word mail merge.
The steps use Peelstack Label Maker, our add-on for Google Sheets.
Set up the sheet
One envelope per row, column names in row 1, for example Name, Address, Address 2, City, State and ZIP (or Postcode and Country). A couple or a family that shares one envelope shares one row. Empty cells are fine: a line with nothing in it is left out, so a missing Address 2 does not leave a gap.
Choose your envelope
- In your sheet, go to Extensions, Peelstack Label Maker, Create labels. The sidebar opens on the right.
- In the search box, type envelope and pick your size. The size is on the envelope box:
- #10 (4 1/8 x 9 1/2 in): the usual business envelope in the US
- #9 and #6 3/4: reply and personal envelopes
- A7 (5 1/4 x 7 1/4 in): the usual invitation envelope; A2 for RSVP and note cards; A6 and A9 too
- DL, C6 and C5: the usual sizes in the UK, Europe and Australia
- Check the lines. They are guessed from your column names, for example
{City}, {State} {ZIP}. Tick Bold on the name line if you like. - Open Return address (envelopes) and type your address once, one line per row. It prints in the top left corner of every envelope. Leave it empty if your envelopes are preprinted.
Where the address goes
The preview shows the envelope with a box where the address prints. On business envelopes (#10, #9, #6 3/4, DL, C5) the box sits right of centre and low, the way post offices expect; on card envelopes (A2, A6, A7, A9, C6) it is centred, which suits invitations. On every size it stays inside the area the US Postal Service reads automatically: at least half an inch from the sides and above the bottom 5/8 inch, where the post office prints its barcode. Long names are shrunk to fit the box, and the preview lists every row that had to be shrunk or shortened.
- Download the PDF. Each row is one page, the size of your envelope.
- In the print dialog, choose your envelope size as the paper size and set the scale to 100% (Actual size).
- Load the envelopes the way your printer's manual shows. Printers differ: some take envelopes flap left, some flap up, some face down.
- Print the first page on plain paper, hold it against an envelope in front of a window, and check that the address lands where you want it. Then print the rest.
If every envelope comes out shifted the same way, open Labels print a little off? Align your printer and set a small offset. It is saved for that envelope size, separately from your label sheets.
The editable Google Doc copy is made for label sheets only; envelopes print from the PDF.
Fonts and style
Under Text style and copies you can centre the text, raise the largest text size and choose one of twelve fonts, including the scripts Dancing Script, Great Vibes and Pacifico and the handwriting font Caveat. Postal machines read plain letters more reliably than flowing script, so for mail that must arrive, a clear font such as Playfair Display with a bold name line is a good compromise. Names and addresses in Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Greek, Cyrillic, Hindi or Thai print correctly.
Price
Peelstack Label Maker is free with every feature for up to 30 labels per run, one full sheet of Avery 5160 address labels, and you can run it as often as you like. A longer list prints its first 30 labels on the free plan, and the preview shows exactly those. Test pages are always free. Every plan reads up to 10,000 rows of a sheet at a time and makes up to 50,000 labels per run. A paid plan removes the 30 label limit: $29 for one year or $59 once. No subscription, nothing renews. On the free plan, a run makes up to 30 envelopes.