The Envelope Challenge

Simple tasks should be simple to do.  And to me, printing an address from Microsoft Word directly on an envelope is a simple task.  However, it is not a simple thing to do.

Last Friday afternoon I decided I was smart enough to accomplish this administrative feat.  Being a smart user, I tried to use Word’s “Letters and Mailings” function.  Twenty minutes and a rubbish bin full of wasted envelopes later, I was still no closer to getting a printed address on any envelope.  No matter what I tried, I simply could not get the address to be printed right side up and near the centre of the envelope.  What made matters even worse is that every time I wanted to print on another (experimental!) envelope, the dialogue box closes and forces me to retype the delivery address.  I was determined to get it right so I had something to show for my 20 minutes, but in the end I felt so stupid I had to give up.  I picked up a pen and in 10 seconds flat had completed this simple task the old fashioned way.