How to Create and Print Mailing Labels on a Mac Using Contacts
If you’ve ever needed to print mailing labels for invitations, holiday cards, or business mail, you don’t need to buy extra software or wrestle with complicated templates.
macOS includes a powerful — and often overlooked — feature inside the Contacts app that lets you generate mailing labels in just a few steps. You can customize layouts, add images, adjust fonts, and even save everything as a PDF for later printing.
This guide walks through the entire process from start to finish.
🎓 What You’ll Learn
• How to select and organize contacts for mailing lists
• The built-in macOS option for printing labels, envelopes, and lists
• How to choose the correct Avery label format
• Ways to customize fonts, colors, and images
• How to fix background image transparency issues
• How to save mailing labels as a reusable PDF
• When and why to use Avery templates instead
🏷️ Creating Mailing Labels with Contacts
The Contacts app on macOS includes a hidden but powerful printing feature.
Once contacts are selected:
• Open File → Print
• Choose Mailing Labels
• Select your label layout (such as Avery 8160 or 5160)
This approach works the same whether you’re printing five labels or five hundred.
📋 Creating Mailing Lists
Before printing labels, you can also generate clean contact lists.
The List option allows you to:
• Print addresses, phone numbers, emails, or birthdays
• Create spreadsheet-style contact summaries
• Customize exactly which fields appear
This is useful for record-keeping or event planning beyond labels.
🎨 Customizing Labels (Fonts, Colors, Images)
Mailing labels don’t have to look plain.
macOS lets you:
• Choose which address type to print (home or work)
• Adjust font style and color
• Add a small image or icon next to names
These small touches are perfect for weddings, holidays, or themed mailings.
🐞 macOS Preview Bug (What to Know)
In some versions of macOS, preview changes don’t always refresh instantly.
If fonts or colors don’t update:
• Zoom in and back out
• Force a redraw of the preview
Annoying, yes — but harmless and easy to work around.
🖼️ Making Images Transparent
If you add an image and see a solid background box, Preview can fix it.
Using Preview’s Instant Alpha tool:
• Remove background colors
• Save the image as a PNG
• Re-apply it to your label
This creates cleaner, professional-looking labels.
📄 Saving Labels as a PDF
You don’t need to print immediately.
The Save as PDF option allows you to:
• Store labels for later use
• Print when labels arrive
• Reuse the same layout again
This is ideal for events that require multiple print runs.
🧩 Using Avery Templates for Partial Sheets
If you’re not printing a full sheet of labels, templates help.
Avery’s website offers:
• Free templates for all label sizes
• Support for Pages, Word, Photoshop, and more
• Precise placement for partial label sheets
Templates give you extra control when needed.