Specialty printing: Labels, envelopes, greeting cards, and photos
In one simple step, you can print standard photos, documents, or other files in Windows: right-click the file, click print, and you're done. However, when you're working on specialty projects, such as labels, envelopes, or photos, it's best to use a program specifically designed for creating, editing and printing them.
Labels and envelopes
For mass mailings, mail merges, and printing envelopes and labels, you'll need to use a special program. Many word-processing, desktop-publishing, and design programs contain templates for printing a wide variety of envelope and label sizes. You'll get good results using one of those programs.
Some programs contain features to help you print envelopes and labels.
Greeting cards and brochures
Greeting cards and brochures are some of the most difficult items to print. After you finish designing them, you’ll have to figure out how to feed the paper into your printer so that it correctly prints each side. You can use the Paint program in Windows, but many people use a special desktop-publishing program that includes templates to help you make—and print—greeting cards and brochures.
Many programs with templates for greeting cards also help you print them.
Photos
Some people print their own photos at home, others prefer to send their digital photos to a professional printing service. There are many websites where you can upload photos to be printed. Another option is to take your camera or memory cards to a store and have your photos printed on the spot.
For information about printing your photos at home, see Print a picture.
Each scanner, monitor, and printer has a particular range of colors that it can produce. If the colors you see on your screen don't match the colors of your prints, first change your monitor so it displays color more accurately. Then change your printer output to match what you see on your monitor. For tips on how to do this, see Change color management settings.
Printing non-standard items isn't always easy, but with the right program—and a little practice—you'll be able to get high-quality results.
