How to print on envelopes

Man opening an envelope while sitting in front of laptop.
(Image credit: Getty)

Whether you’re sending out a job application or you need to post items for work, learning how to print on envelopes will make your letters look far more professional than a handwritten address. Plus, it's quick and easy to achieve. 

The best compact printers will make this task even simpler, so you don't need to e an expert. When it comes to the software that we’ll be using to create our printed envelopes we’ll be using Microsoft Office and customizing one of the ready-made templates which makes it super quick to do. If you don’t have access to Microsoft Word you could also use a program like Google Docs or Adobe Photoshop CC. Here’s how you can do it…

How to print on envelopes

Envelopes come in different shapes and sizes and you’ll need to find out the dimensions of the envelope you have before printing. This should be written on the packaging materials, though if you’ve since disposed of them all you need to do is get a ruler and measure the length and height.

Turn on your printer and connect it to your computer by USB cable, WiFi or NFC. Then, insert the envelope into the paper loading tray with the shortest side at the bottom. The envelope needs to be front face up and you may need to adjust a slider on the printing tray to keep it in place and correctly aligned - especially if you’ve previously been printing A4, as envelopes are usually much smaller.

We used Microsoft Word to print our envelopes though you could use Google Docs or even Photoshop. We found it particularly easy to use Microsoft Word as you can go to 'File>New From Template', then from the templates list click on 'Stationary' and you’ll find a good variety of envelope templates. You just need to click the one that you like the look of and you can then change the color and fonts to customize the template to your liking.

The template we picked had a space in the top left for your organization, but this can simply be deleted if not needed by clicking on it and tapping the delete key. Then, type in the relevant details where the template tells you to, such as the recipient's name and address. You can delete blank text lines above the recipient name if you want to move the block of the text upwards to make sure it’s in the center of the envelope.

It’s now time to print so go to 'File>Print' and in the 'Page Setup' menu set the paper size to a relevant envelope size. If you can’t find one that’s quite right click 'Manage Custom Sizes' and manually input the width and height of your envelope. Finally, make sure the orientation is set to landscape to match the way your envelope is loaded into the printer, and hit 'Print' to finish.

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Dan Mold

Dan is Technique Editor on PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine magazine. With over a decade writing about all things tech he’s written for a variety of publications before joining Future in April 2019 in that time working across Top Ten Reviews, Digital Camera World, PhotoPlus, NPhoto, Digital Camera and Digital Photographer.