How to Print Mailing Labels from an iPhone or iPad (2012 Edition)

Updated October 4th, 2020.

NOTICE

Things have changed since this article was written in December 2012. The Avery Templates Everywhere app is no longer available. The Avery Design & Print app is still available, but it’s terrible (bad interface, crashes, buttons don’t work– you name it). Use myCardLists* instead. It prints labels perfectly. Here’s a link to my how-to article about myCardLists.

(Rather than delete the old post I am leaving it here for people who already have the Avery Templates Everywhere app installed. Note that I do NOT recommend the Avery Design & Print app as it is essentially unusable.)

Christian Boyce


Avery Templates app

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.

NOTE: If you do have a Mac, use its Contacts (or Address Book) app to print your labels from there. If you have an iCloud account your iPhone’s contacts are probably in sync with your Mac’s contacts so there’s a decent chance that your Mac has everyone’s name and address in it already. See my “How to Print Mailing Labels” article for instructions. If you don’t have a Mac, continue on here.

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.”
IMG_2119

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.
IMG_2120 IMG_2121

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.
IMG_2122

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.
IMG_2123 IMG_2124

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.
IMG_2125mailinglabelpreview

If it looks good to you, tap the Share button That’s the curvy white arrow at top right. You’ll get three choices.
IMG_2127

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.
IMG_2128

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


Copyright 2008-2024 Christian Boyce. All rights reserved.

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Christian Boyce

Christian Boyce is a Mac and iPhone expert with over 30 years' experience in the field. His specialty is teaching people how to get more out of their Macs and iPhones using the software and apps already installed. He is the author of several books, a guest speaker for Mac and iPhone user groups worldwide, and a former rocket scientist. He splits time between homes in Santa Monica, California and Round Rock, Texas.

17 thoughts on “How to Print Mailing Labels from an iPhone or iPad (2012 Edition)

Add yours

  1. Thank you, Thank you Thank you!!!!
    Every year I goggle how to print address labels from my ipad and your article is so helpful with the step by step instructions and visuals!!!
    Thanks again!!!

  2. Hi Great post thanks, would be great for Christmas Cards. I have one problem though, I need to print 2 address lines, this app only allows one. I thought I'd edit it when I emailed to myself, but as it's in PDF format, it can't be edited. Any ideas how to get around this please?

  3. I get as far as preview,then hit next and I can not connect, it is say not connected to Internet. The internet is working because I can get on other site, what could the problem be?

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