Fix Repeated Recipients in a Word Label Merge by Checking Next Record
A label sheet places several recipients on one page. Copying an address field into every cell does not by itself tell Word when to advance through the recipient list. If the sheet repeats one person or skips a record, inspect that instruction before changing the address data.
Use a working copy and a fictional list with easily distinguished entries: Sample 01, Sample 02 and Sample 03. Confirm the intended recipient order and any filters. Keep the real mailing list outside the trial.
Inspect the transition between label cells
Microsoft describes Next Record as advancing to the next data record without starting a new page. Label sheets use it in their table cells. Its example starts with an ordinary merge field for the first record, then places Next Record before the merge field for each subsequent record. The rule is available under Mailings, Rules, Next Record.
Inspect the first label and the next two with merge fields visible. The first label should use the current record. Each subsequent label in this simple arrangement needs one advance before its recipient fields. An omitted advance can repeat a recipient; an extra advance can skip one. Do not insert an advance between the name and address of the same label.
For a new sheet in desktop Word for Windows, the Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard starts under Mailings, Start Mail Merge. Select Labels, the intended product and the recipient list. Arrange the first label, then use Update All Labels to replicate the arrangement. Preview the labels before completing the merge.
Prove the sequence across boundaries
Check that the trial reads Sample 01, Sample 02, Sample 03 in successive positions, with each name paired with its own address. Repeat with enough fictional records to cross a row and a page boundary. This catches a problem that a correct first label cannot reveal.
When correcting the template, recheck the generated sequence after updating the other labels. Do not repair a repeated recipient merely by typing a different name over the preview; that leaves the underlying field logic unresolved.
Before the real output, reconcile the complete intended recipient sequence, including deliberate exclusions. Keep physical label alignment as a separate print check after the merge data is correct.
Sources: Microsoft: mail-merge rules; Microsoft: mailing-list labels.