Printing labels is one of the most frequent tasks you will undertake in Shepherd’s Staff. Knowing this, we have made an easy-to-use report for accomplishing this task. To access the mailing labels report, click the reports icon (a stack of pages with an R and a graph on it) on the Shepherd's Staff central toolbar and select "Labels". There are three different types of reports this window can generate, click on the option you want more information about below to jump to that section:
- First, if the report you will be setting up is one you will need to print frequently again in the future, you will want to set this up as a Layout. Press the "Add" button down in the bottom left corner of the window, and then fill out the name you would like to use for the layout. You can then add it to a category in the category field, and input a brief description in the description field.
- The next step is to choose the group for which you need this report for. In the Who field you can select all records, a Subgroup of records, or even just one person or household. Apart from those options, you can run the report for a specific list or grade, as well as using the built-in Household Newsletter group.
- Note: The Household Newsletter list is based on the Household Newsletter check box on the Household record in the Mailing Information tab.
- Note: For the label reports (Mailing Labels and Information Labels), if you'd like a separate label for those who have a personal alternate address, check the box for "Print a separate label for those in the household with an active personal alternate address."
- Note: These reports will not generate labels for individuals/households who have no address filled in, regardless if they are part of the group you chose in "Who".
- Select "Mailing Labels" in the "What" section, and then, select from the following options:
- Style—This determines the size of your labels. We offer options for 6 of the most popular style of Avery mailing labels, as well as the ability to print directly onto Size #9 or Size#10 envelopes.
- Sort By —This option determines what order your labels will print out in. You have the option of printing out sorted by name, zip code, then name, zip code+carrier route+4 digit extension, or Carrier Route, then Zip Code
- Addressee—This determines how the labels are formatted. There are both Household and Person options. Any Household option will print out one address label per household, and any person option will print out one label per person. There are also checkboxes to append "or Current Resident" to the addressee line of your label as well as to make the Addressee line bold by checking the "Boldface the addressee" box.
- Next, select from formatting and printing options for your labels. These options include:
- Repeat each label this many times — If checked, this checkbox will produce copies for each label for the number you selected.
- Include label count and date printed—If checked, this checkbox will create an additional label after the last label that shows how many labels you printed, and when you generated these labels
- On the first page, skip this many labels —If checked, this checkbox will leave labels blank for the number of labels you selected.
- Bulk mail format (all caps, no punctuation) —If checked, this checkbox will print your labels with all capital letters, and will not include any punctuation.
- Suppress barcodes—If checked, this checkbox will remove the barcodes from the labels you produce.
- Include the carrier route, with this additional prefix —If checked, this will allow you to include the carrier route on the label with an additional prefix that you type in on your labels.
- Before you print your labels, you can pick which font you'd like to use (either Arial or Courier New).
- After choosing the settings you want, click Print to preview your labels.
Intelligent Mail Bar Codes—If you need to use Intelligent Mail Bar Codes on your labels, click the button for Setup IMB. Your postmaster should have given you a Mailer ID number, and after you enter that in the specified field, your labels will print with Intelligent Mail Bar Codes.
The Mailing label report shows the number of labels that will be produced for a particular zip code or carrier route. This is useful if you want to CASS certify your addresses.
- Select "Mailing label report" in the What section, and select from the following options:
- Report —This option determines what kind of Mailing report you're running. You can check the number of unique addresses you have at each zip code you have based on the first 3, 4, or all 5 digits, or you can check the number of unique addresses you have at each carrier route or a combination of carrier route and zip code. Check the "Use active alternate addresses as the mailing addresses" box if you want the report to calculate based on the alternate addresses that have been entered
- Addressee —This option determines if you'll be running this report for household, or individual addresses. For this report, simply select an option that lists household first to generate your reports for household addresses, and Person to generate your reports for individual addresses.
- After choosing your options, click the Print button to preview your report.
The Information label option allows you to build your own custom labels based on a set of fields you can select from. This lets you build labels for uses outside of the standard mailing label, or include extra information on a mailing label that may be important for a specific mailing.
- Select "Information labels" in the What section, and select from the following options
- Style—This determines the size of your labels. We offer options for 6 of the most popular style of Avery mailing labels, as well as the ability to print directly onto Size #9 or Size#10 envelopes.
- Sort By —This option determines the order in which your labels print out. There are options to sort by different configurations of the lines you select in the Information section.
- Information —These fields allow you to select how you want your label to be laid out. The lines on your labels will be laid out from top to bottom, from Line 1 to Line 6. Each line contains the same set of options that you can place on that line. There are options for names, addresses, phone numbers, birthday, and membership information. There is also an option for (user supplied text) where, if selected will let you type in what you want to appear on that line for every label you print.
- Next, select the formatting and printing options for your labels. These options include:
- Repeat each label this many times — If checked, this checkbox will produce copies for each label for the number you selected.
- Include label count and date printed—If checked, this checkbox will create an additional label after the last label that shows how many labels you printed, and when you generated these labels
- On the first page, skip this many labels—If checked, this checkbox will leave labels blank for the number of labels you selected.
- Before you print your labels, you can pick which font you'd like to use (either Arial or Courier New).
- After choosing the settings, you want, click Print to preview your labels.
Intelligent Mail Bar Codes—If you need to use Intelligent Mail Bar Codes on your labels, click the button at the bottom of the window for Setup IMB. Your postmaster should have given you a Mailer ID number, and after you enter that in the specified field, your labels will print with Intelligent Mail Bar Codes.