Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

we wuz posh, had a metal bin next to the machine and the tapes went in there instead of walking on them

saved the chads for weddings

`

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

That reminds me of my Dad. He started off with a BBC acorn computer when they were first available and when he retired he graduated to a DELL desktop with Microsoft software that he was determined to master. My mum set him the task of printing labels for their Christmas cards. He used to start work on it sometime in August.

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

Ladies, believe me the only challenge is getting the correct label.
MS Word will do it for you automatically if you bring up the label number in the prog especially if you have an industry standard Avery label, although it is also compatable with others which are listed.
Just read off the box the label number, put that into the mail-merge sub-prog, enter the address and away you go. You can even make it look posher with different type fonts, sizes etc.
I have some mail forwarded to my sister who sends on to me every couple of weeks, I arranged for a pack of envelopes to be delivered to her from Amazon and printed off 2 sheets of address labels for her to stick on the envelope.
Easy Peasy - or is it now just Simples.

The mail merge can also be used to print off addresses held in Excel and merged in to the labels - good for printing the addresses for Christmas cards.

Printing directly to an envelope is only slightly more difficult, the biggest restriction is the printer holding the envelope and getting the orientation right.

PM me if you have any problems, but if I, a mere male, over a certain age, can manage it then anyone else can.

`

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

just a thought, if you have a number of labels to print to various addresses, instead of using the ordinary printer then Brother do a small desktop printer that will take a roll of labels - just it costs about £150.00

`

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

I did some for my Dad to use for his Christmas cards when he began to have difficulty writing because of a hand tremor. You'd have thought I'd split the atom, he was so chuffed with them, bless him!

Domino has it right with his instructions, it really isn't that hard.

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

Like all these things, it's easy once you know how (unless you have labels from the Bazar Chino that aren't Avery Standard :huh:).

But label formatting is just one of many things that are irritatingly time-consuming to learn in MS Office. Each version has new features to make you want to upgrade, but most users don't need 90% of them. Bloatware, I think it's called?

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

You can do multi-address labels on avery-type labels...

I'm wracking my brains to remember if I got RSA 150 or RSA 140 & Pitman 150 or what..... got them both in Shorthand-Typing too, but goodness knows what level, I think III (better than I if I've got it right?) ! ... then of course there was the NCTJ exams which were different again. All those qualifications and I can't remember one of them :o

We didn't have key-covers, we just had to put a piece of newspaper over our hands....

And as for computers, I can remember the difference it made to my ability to write (I suspect many in this thread might relate to this) because with good touch typing you can think and type at similar speeds so the whole creative process, complete with brackets, commas, clausal phrases, ellipses et al (beloved of moi!!!!) just come so much easier than with a fountain pen and unlined paper;)

......... oh, and not forgetting backspacing :lol:

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

*ahem* ...

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

Before that there was the blackboard, chalk and a rag for erasing errors and before that there was the earth and a stick.

Rosemary

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

And who needs a calculator? All you need is a Virtual Abacus

Make sure you watch the video - :eek: you will be amazed... :nod:

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

ok there are many "standards" but yes the Avery is the defacto standard on labels, but there are many others around
I don't have the latest MS Word but it does give me label formatting for
AVERY
AONE
APLI
DEVAUZET
ERO
FORMTEC
GERNA
HISAGO
KOKUO
MACO
RANK XEROX
PIMACO
ZWECKFORM
Other
surely even a Chino label will fit into one of those ?

If in doubt, lay out your label by the nearest physical dimensions or under Other and print off on a thinish piece of paper and hold it up to the sheet of labels, make adjustments if necessary and then print off again, usually over the top of the original printout and recheck. Keep on doing this until you have it right. (Saves labels that way and you can see your adjustments against each print.).

HTH

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

I rest my case!

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

on what :confused:

someone gives you a program that is multi-purpose, capable of covering the needs of the world and all you can say is I rest my case!
That is a copout, the lazy way of going about life, the universe and the way of things

Next you will say you don't understand "if the answer is 42, what was the question?"

Perhaps you want to put a rogue label sheet and expect the printer to ask the computer the settings to print out correctly - well James Tiberius hasn't been born yet, so you will have to wait.

`

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

No I've managed it and I don't have standard labels, I just stick the measurements in. Back in the days when my Dad tried to do it the programme wasn't so good as it is now and he had a dot matrix printer with labels on sheets with holes up the side.

Re: Typewriter / Computer
 

Now now ... :cool: I can and do use all sorts of programs and I have also helped other (usually older) people to use them. I've seen the look of despair on their face ...

All I was saying was that office software in the 21st century is just as fiddly as stencil carbons, typewriter rubbers and the other museum items people were going on about earlier. Modern technology saves you a lot of time but also consumes a lot of time.