Incompatibility between the label stock and the ink in you printer
Printer needs cleaning
Distance of print head to paper needs adjusting
Inability of the printer to properly handle the label stock
Nothing to do with Word itself. Prove that for yourself by printing the
document containing the labels on ordinary paper.

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Hope this helps.
Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.
Doug Robbins - Word MVP
> I've merged labels and when I printed them out, all the printing on the
> label
> sheet was smudged - it looks like the old blotters looked when soaking up
> ink. What could have happened?