\makelabels (LaTeX2e unofficial reference manual (November 2018))

Next: \name, Previous: \location, Up: Letters [Contents][Index]

### 26.6 `\makelabels`

Synopsis:

    \makelabels   % in preamble

Optional, for a document that contains `letter` environments. If you just put `\makelabels` in the preamble then at the end of the document you will get a sheet with labels for all the recipients, one for each letter environment, that you can copy to a sheet of peel-off address labels.

Customize the labels by redefining the commands `\startlabels`, `\mlabel`, and `\returnaddress` (and perhaps `\name`) in the preamble. The command `\startlabels` sets the width, height, number of columns, etc., of the page onto which the labels are printed. The command `\mlabel{return address}{recipient address}` produces the two labels (or one, if you choose to ignore the return address) for each letter environment. The first argument, return address, is the value returned by the macro `\returnaddress`. The second argument, recipient address, is the value passed in the argument to the `letter` environment. By default `\mlabel` ignores the first argument, the return address, causing the default behavior described in the prior paragraph.

This illustrates customization. Its output includes a page with two columns having two labels each.

    \documentclass{letter}
    \renewcommand*{\returnaddress}{Fred McGuilicuddy \\
                                   Oshkosh, Mineola 12305}
    \newcommand*\originalMlabel{}
    \let\originalMlabel\mlabel
    \def\mlabel#1#2{\originalMlabel{}{#1}\originalMlabel{}{#2}}
    \makelabels
      ...
    \begin{document}
    \begin{letter}{A Einstein \\
                   112 Mercer Street \\
                   Princeton, New Jersey, USA 08540}
      ...
    \end{letter}
    \begin{letter}{K G\"odel \\
                   145 Linden Lane \\
                   Princeton, New Jersey, USA 08540}
      ...
    \end{letter}
    \end{document}

The first column contains the return address twice. The second column contains the address for each recipient.

The package `envlab` makes formatting the labels easier, with standard sizes already provided. The preamble lines `\usepackage[personalenvelope]{envlab}` and `\makelabels` are all that you need to print envelopes.

Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual