Alternatives to Avery Design & Print Online

Avery® Design & Print Online is a free tool from Avery for making labels. It runs in your web browser, and you can start from a template or a blank page. It is a good choice for many people. This guide explains what it does, then shows other ways to make labels. If you have looked for an alternative, you may have a specific problem in mind, such as a spreadsheet that will not import, a download you cannot find, or a tool that will not load. We cover those too.

What Avery Design & Print Online does

Avery says its Avery Design & Print Online software is free to use. You do not need to download it to use the browser version. Avery's help pages describe these features:

• Start from a template or a blank design.
• Customize text, images and colors.
• Use a barcode or QR code generator.
• Import data from a spreadsheet for mail merge. Avery's help lists .xls, .xlsx and .csv files.
• Download a PDF to print at home, or order printing from Avery.

Designs are saved to an Avery account. A free account adds cloud saving, so your projects are there from any device. Avery's help also mentions a downloadable version for Mac and PC, called Design & Print Offline. Check Avery's site for the current download, since the help pages may be older than the software.

Avery's tool is a solid choice when you want a design-first workflow with Avery's own templates. The sections below are for people who want something else.

Other ways to make labels

Microsoft Word. Word has a label mail merge built in. Go to Mailings, then Start Mail Merge, then Labels. Pick your product number in Label Options. Then go to Mailings, then Select Recipients, and choose your Excel list. Word fills every label with Update Labels, and you print with Finish & Merge. Word on the web cannot run a mail merge, so use the desktop app. The full steps are in how to print labels in Word.

Google Docs add-ons. Google Docs has no label maker. You can install a label add-on from Extensions, then Add-ons, then Get add-ons. Add-ons such as Labelmaker, Avery Label Merge and Foxy Labels are options. Check each one's page for its features and cost. Read more in mail merge in Google Docs.

Free blank templates. Every sheet page on LabelPeel has a free blank Word (.docx) and PDF template. Open the template, type your labels, and print. This works well for a short job with a few labels. It does not read a spreadsheet, so you type each label by hand. Browse the label sheets to find your size, such as Avery® 5160.

LabelPeel. LabelPeel is free while in beta. Paste rows from Excel, Google Sheets or another table, with the heading row. It makes one label for each row, on the sheet you choose. You can type plain-words changes such as "make the labels where Room is A orange", and it changes every label at once. It runs in your browser, so there is nothing to install. Try it on the home page without an account.

Comparison

This table covers the main facts. Check each tool's page before you decide, because prices and features change.

When Avery Design & Print Online is not working

If the tool does not load or print the way you expect, try these general fixes.

1. Try another browser. Avery has separate help pages for printing with Safari and with Google Chrome. If one browser fails, try the other.
2. Turn off blockers. Ad blockers and privacy extensions can stop a page from loading. Turn them off for the Avery site, then reload.
3. Clear the cache. Clear your browser's cached files and cookies for the site, then sign in again. Save your project first if you can.
4. Check the spreadsheet. If an import fails, save the file as a .csv. Remove blank rows and special characters from the heading names.
5. Print at 100%. In the print window, choose 100% or Actual size, not Fit to page.
6. Print a test. Print on plain paper, then hold it over a label sheet and check the edges.

If the labels still do not line up after these steps, read labels not lining up.

Common questions

Can I use an Avery template in another tool? Often, yes. Check the sheet's size and count, such as 1 inch by 2⅝ inches with 30 labels for Avery® 5160. Then pick a tool that supports that size.

Which tool is best for a long list? A tool that reads a spreadsheet saves the most time. Word, Avery's tool and LabelPeel all do this. Google Docs needs an add-on for that.

Do I need to pay? Avery's tool is free, per Avery. Word needs Word. LabelPeel is free while in beta. Check each add-on for its own cost.

Try LabelPeel

If you want a free tool that reads a list and prints one label for each row, try LabelPeel. It works with the same Avery® sheets you already use, and the steps are in our label printing guides. We make LabelPeel, so we are not neutral. Every step above also works without it.