How to Turn Your PC Into a Printing Press

Just about every business needs letterhead, business cards, rubber stamps and maybe a few labels. You can order these from just about any printer or office supply store, or you can use your PC to help you create them.

A variety of software products are specially designed to create stationery and business cards. Print Shop ($29 Mac or Windows) from Broderbund (https://www.broderbund.com) has everything you need to design great-looking business cards, stationery, greeting cards, announcements and other documents.

There are a variety of different Print Shop programs for Windows and Macintosh, but the basic Print Shop Standard Edition ($29) is fine for most jobs. If you want some publishing software in a hurry, you can visit Parson Technology’s Web site (https://www.parsonstech.com) and download Announcements for Windows ($16). The program is about seven megabytes, so allow plenty of time to download it over the Internet.

If you need graphics, you can scan them and import them into the program, or you can use text to create a wide variety of effects. Just be sure not to go overboard with too many fonts or gaudy graphics. If you don’t have a scanner, you can take your artwork to a copy shop or service bureau and have it scanned for a modest fee. Kinkos charges about $10 a scan, but you can rent one of its PCs and scanners and do it yourself for a fraction of that cost.

Unless you’re looking for something fancy (in which case you should probably hire a designer), you can easily create basic stationery using any Windows or Macintosh word-processing program. Most high-end word-processing programs, including Microsoft Word, have all the tools you need to lay out stationery, business cards and even simple brochures. I have some pretty sophisticated publishing programs, but I still use Word for most of my projects because it’s relatively easy to use.

You can even use Word to create business cards. Lay out the card the way you want it to look, select Envelopes and Labels from the Tools menu, click on Labels and, under options, select one of the business card options.

You can make a good quality laser or inkjet copy and have your local print shop print and cut the cards for you, or you can print them directly on perforated business card stock. This is a great option if you need a small quantity of cards, need cards in a hurry or want to experiment with a new look. It’s also useful if you plan to be out of town and want a business card that includes your hotel or remote office phone number. Or you can create specialized business cards to promote new products or services.

Avery makes basic perforated card stock, but if you want something really fancy, check out PaperDirect on the Web at https://www.paperdirect.com or at (800) 272-7377. The company offers some designer business card stock that can make anyone’s cards look as if they were professionally printed, even if you run them off on a black-only laser printer. The company also makes special paper for printing brochures, note cards, tabletop presentation displays and other special jobs.

I don’t even own stationery. Instead, I’ve created a special letterhead template in Word that I print on the fly as I create my letters. I’ve inserted a logo and use a different font than I use for the text of the letter. I just print my letters on blank paper and, if I want to impress someone, I use fancy paper. I even generate my envelopes on the fly. The community where I live just changed area codes, but thanks to on-demand printing, it didn’t faze me a bit.

If you want to create great- looking, professionally printed business cards, stationery, announcements, labels, rubber stamps or bumper stickers, drop by your local iPrint store. It’s open 24 hours a day, and there’s no need to hop in your car. You’ll find it on the Web at https://www.iprint.com

This ingenious service lets you design your own printed material directly from its Web site. You pick the type style and sizes, choose the layout and insert your own graphics or use one of theirs. You get a preview of your job that you can examine on-screen or print out.

When you like what you see, you can order it online and have it delivered in a few days for prices that rival what you would pay at a standard print shop or office-supply store. The site has its own easy-to-use publishing software that you can use while you’re online. There’s is nothing to download.

Gummed labels are very handy in any business. I use them to label file folders, and to put my phone number on things I might lose, such as books, my laptop and my cell phone. They’re also handy for extra-large envelopes (I run regular envelopes directly through my printer).

You can buy Avery label stock designed for either inkjet or laser printers at any office supply store. There are specialized labeling programs such as AddressMate from CoStar ([800] 426-7827) and Labels Unlimited from Learning Co. ([800] 227-5609), but as with business cards, you can print labels directly from Word and most other word-processing programs.

The trouble with running labels through your regular printer is that you must print an entire sheet at once. If you plan to create lots of individual labels, consider spending about $150 for a specialized label printer such as the CoStar LabelWriter XL or the Seiko Smart Label Printer Pro. These small printers plug into your serial port and print one label at a time on thermal label stock. The blank labels cost about 5 cents each, so for large jobs you’re better off running Avery labels through your regular printer.

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Lawrence J. Magid welcomes your e-mail at magid@latimes.com. You can visit his Web site at https://www.larrysworld.com