Holiday cards, wedding invitations, a stack of thank-you notes for customers: writing every envelope by hand takes an evening. Printing the addresses takes a few minutes, if the list and the sheet are ready. This guide covers what goes on a mailing label and a return label, which sheet to buy, and how to print a whole list from your contacts with Label Cat, our label maker for iPhone.
What goes on an address label
The usual layout, from top to bottom:
- The name. A person, a couple ("Jonas & Ana Ortiz") or a family ("The Okafor Family").
- A company, if you're sending to someone at work.
- The street address, with the apartment, suite or unit on the same line or the next one.
- City, state and ZIP code on one line, like Portland, OR 97205. Other countries use other orders, so follow the way addresses are written there.
- The country, only when the letter goes abroad. Leave it off for mail inside your own country.
Keep the text left-aligned and easy to read. A script font looks lovely on a wedding envelope, but keep the street and the ZIP code plain. Your post office publishes its own addressing guidance, so check it if you're sending a big mailing.
A return label is the same thing for you: your name and address, smaller, for the top-left corner of the envelope or the back flap.
Which sheet to buy
Address labels are sold by the number on the pack. Label Cat has templates for these, among others:
- 5160: 30 labels, 1 × 2⅝ in, on US Letter. Also sold as 8160 and 5260.
- 5161: 20 labels, 1 × 4 in, for longer addresses.
- 5162: 14 labels, 1⅓ × 4 in, with room for a fourth or fifth line.
- 5167: 80 small return labels, ½ × 1¾ in.
- 5195: 60 return labels, ⅔ × 1¾ in.
- On A4: L7160 (21 to a sheet), L7162 (16), L7163 (14), and L7656 (84) or L7654 (40) for return labels.
The designs open on Letter or A4 to suit your region, and you can change the sheet at any time in the editor's Sheet tab. For finding your sheet's number, using one that isn't listed and lining up the print, see how to print labels on iPhone.
Make your return address labels
- On the home screen, tap Address labels and pick a design: Return address, Tiny return (on the smallest size: 80 to a Letter sheet, 84 on A4), House icon, Holiday return, Elegant script or Navy & brass.
- In the Text tab, replace the sample name on the first line with yours, and the sample address below it with your own. Tap Add line if you need another.
- Leave Print many different labels off, so every label is the same.
- Tap Print. Under Used sheet?, set Sheets to how many full sheets you want, from 1 to 50.
Already have the labels? On the home screen, tap Start from the number on the pack and type the number. On an address or return sheet, the label starts with Your name, Street address and City, ST 12345 for you to fill in.
Print a different address on every label
This is the part that saves the evening.
- Under Address labels, pick Mailing list. It opens with a few made-up sample addresses, so tap Clear first. (Any other design works too, like Guest address under Wedding & party: turn on Print many different labels in the Text tab.)
- Add your list with one of three buttons:
- Contacts opens iOS's own contact picker. Only contacts with a postal address can be picked. Each one becomes a label with the name and the first postal address, set out by iOS's own address formatting. If the address is in your own country, the country line is left off; abroad, the country goes on the last line. A contact saved as a company prints the company name.
- CSV file reads a spreadsheet saved as CSV. Columns called First Name and Last Name, Name, Company, Address, Address 2 (or Apt or Suite), City, State, Zip and Country are recognised and set out as an envelope address, with City, ST 12345 on one line. Files that use semicolons or tabs instead of commas work too.
- Paste adds copied text: one label per line, or for addresses, one address per block with an empty line between them. Cells copied straight from a spreadsheet are read like a CSV file.
- Use the arrows under the preview (Label 1 of 12, and so on) to check each address before you print.
- Tap Print. The button says how many labels, like Print 45 labels, and the list runs across as many sheets as it needs. Want two of each, say one for the envelope and one for your records? Set Copies of each.
You can mix sources. Pick some contacts, then add a CSV file: new entries go to the end of the list.
Use up the rest of the sheet
Forty-five addresses on a 30-label sheet leaves fifteen labels on the second sheet. Put it back in the pack. Next time you print that label, Label Cat starts on the first unused label, and Start at label on the Print screen shows where. You can also tap any label on the sheet preview to start there.
What it costs
Every sheet layout, all the designs in the categories, lists from Contacts, a CSV file or a paste, printing, the PDF and starting on any label of a used sheet are free. There's no watermark: nothing is printed on your labels except what you put there. There are no ads, no sign-up and no account. Label Cat Pro is an optional one-time purchase with three extras: three design packs (Seasonal, Wedding and Kids), QR codes and barcodes, and Address books, which save a list under a name, like "Holiday cards", so you can add it to any design next year. More on the Label Cat page.
Your lists and the contacts you pick are kept on your device and in your own backups unless you share, save or print them.
Quick answers
Can I print address labels from my iPhone contacts?
Yes. In Label Cat, open Mailing list, tap Clear, then Contacts, and pick the people. Each label gets one person's name and address. It's free.
What size is a 5160 address label?
1 × 2⅝ in, 30 to a US Letter sheet. On A4, L7160 has 21 labels to a sheet.
How do I make return address labels?
Open Return address or Tiny return, type your name and address once, leave Print many different labels off and set how many Sheets to print.
Should the country go on the label?
Only for mail going abroad. Label Cat leaves the country off for addresses in your own country.
Try Label Cat
Try Label Cat: free, no watermark, no sign-up → iyio.com/apps/label-cat