New York, NY -- According to an article posted on PC World’s website today, Mac OS X’s Address Book is full of potential with just a few simple steps. The first step to printing a great looking envelope is to find the right template. It is very easy for standard size envelopes, but what about non-standard envelope sizes? No problem! All you have to do for things such as greeting cards or invitations is to create a custom sized envelope template.
To do this, the first thing you need to do is to open the software and find an address you’d like to print. After you select File and then Print, a printer dialog box should appear with a preview on the left hand side of the box and a list of printing options on the right (if this doesn’t happen, use the disclosure triangle to get them to display).
The next step is to select Envelopes from the Style pop-up and three tabs should appear. From these tabs, select Layout, and then from that pop-up menu, select Define Custom. You should be prompted to name the template and hit OK. Be sure to use something that gives you a clue about it in the future instead of say, “My Template1”. The final part requires you to measure the envelope’s height and width, converting fractions to decimals, so you can input them. Be aware that you should use the tab to save the changes instead of hitting return, as this will print your envelope.
The second part of creating a custom envelope is to make any adjustments to the size of your address block. Depending on how much you change the dimensions, your addresses may show out of place. To fix this, look underneath Envelope Size, there should be places for both the Recipient and the Sender. The fields Top and Left are for determining the placement of the address block on the envelope and Height and Width refer to the size of each.
PC World states that as a general guideline, “the width of the sender's address is approximately one-third the width of the envelope, while the width of the recipient's address is about half the width of the envelope.” The sender’s address is almost always placed in the top left hand corner of the envelope, but the receipient’s address block may not be where it needs to be (center of the envelope) following size adjustments. The maximum font size for these blocks is determined by the font which is selected. The default is Lucida Grande, 14pt.
Once you have set up all of your parameters for size and placement, now it is time for any further customization. The three options you have left to change and set are Color, Image, and Font.
The first of these, Color, determines the color of the text on your envelope. As a cautionary note, be sure and choose a color which is not too light so it can be seen well after printing. The Image portion here is where you can add any graphics to the left of the sender’s address, such as a company logo or picture. The majority of image file formats are accepted, including PDF. The final tweak, the Font, allows you to choose both its face and the size. Click on Set to change things, being mindful of the font so it fills out the recipient address block. It is also important to use a font that is not overly complicated so it can easily be read by a mail sorting machine.
Now that all the hard work is done, you are ready to test our your envelope. Before you do though , be sure and check that orientation is set according to your printer’s requirements for envelopes. Test the print out first on a regular sheet of paper and make sure things are as you want them. If satisfied, you are ready to print out your new, custom envelopes as needed.
