Print numbered tickets in Word | Raffle Ticket Creator

Printable numbered tickets in Word 2007: step-by-step instructions


Note: Updated version for Word 2016 is here

(Instructions for Word for Mac 2011 are here. And instructions for Publisher are here.)

You'll create a document with several raffle tickets on each page, as many as you need, and each ticket will have a unique number. In other words: a template of printable numbered tickets.

Step 1. Create your basic numbered raffle ticket template in Word

Open Word and create a new document and create one raffle ticket. You want to make it about the right size so that you can fit four tickets on the page. Leave space for the ticket numbers, which you'll add in a minute. Something like this:



Then maybe add some color and design to it:


Step 2 Create a single page of tickets

Once you are happy with your basic layout, copy everything three times so you have a page of four tickets. At this point, they won't be numbered tickets just yet, you will add the numbers in a moment:


Step 3 - Create a list of numbers, in Excel

Open Excel and create a new workbook. In cell A1, type the number "1" (without quotes) (or another number, if you want to start your numbering from a different number):


In the cell below, type "=A1+1" (without quotes) and hit enter/return:


That'll put a 2 in that cell, like this:


Now click the tiny black square in the bottom right of that cell, keep your mouse button clicked and drag down for as many rows as you need raffle tickets:


... all the way down to (say) 500 rows (to give you 500 unique ticket numbers):


(If you prefer using the keyboard, rather than the mouse, then do this instead of dragging down: select cell A2, hit CTRL+C to copy, then select cell A3 and use SHIFT+PageDown to select all the way down to row 500. Then hit CTRL+V to paste.)

Now save your spreadsheet somewhere you can find it again, and close Excel.

Step 4: Add numbers to your Word doc, to get a printable document of pre-numbered raffle tickets

Return to your Word document and go to Mailings > Start Mail Merge > Letters:


Then go to Select Recipients > Use Existing List:


Navigate to the Excel spreadsheet of numbers which you created earlier, and open it. On the dialog box which appears, uncheck the box 'First row of data contains column headers' and Click 'OK':


Now put your cursor at the point where you want the ticket number to appear on the ticket.



Click on Insert Merge Field, and something like 'M_1' will appear as a clickable item below the 'Insert Merge Field' button. That's a field name, representing your ticket number:

Click that, and a placeholder will appear where your cursor was, which will later insert the ticket number at that point. Do that twice for each ticket (once for the counterfoil, once for the main ticket). You should end up with something like this:


Repeat for all four tickets on the page:

 Step 5: Make sure each ticket gets a new number


Now for the slightly hard bit. If you just try and complete your merge now, you'll get several pages of tickets. Each page will have four tickets on it. But all tickets on any page will have the same number. Each page will have a different number, but all the tickets on that page will have the same number. That's no good. You need each ticket to have a different number.

To get Word to put a different number on each ticket, you need to insert a special field to tell Word to look for the next number after the end of each ticket, rather than the end of each page.

Put your cursor just after the second <<M_1>> placeholder on the first ticket. Then click Rules > Next Record:



 That will insert the 'Next Record' placeholder in your ticket, telling Word to get the next number ready for the second ticket. Your document should look something like this:


Now repeat for the second and third tickets. But not the fourth, because that's at the end of the page, so Word will skip to the next number anyway, because the next page always gets the next item in your merge list. Your document should look like this:


Step 6: Complete your merge to generate a document with lots of tickets, all with different numbers


Now click on Finish & Merge > Edit individual documents:


Click 'OK' on the next dialog, and you'll get a new document, with four tickets per page and each ticket will have a different number:



Print that out, and you are done!

Looking for an easier way? Use this tool to create numbered raffle tickets online, then print them on your computer:




55 comments:

  1. Thank you for these instructions!! I'm using them to auto number my son's baseball team raffle tickets which we hand numbered last year (UGH!). I followed the instructions exactly but for some reason the numbering is starting at 2 every time. I did deselect the checkbox about the column headers which seems the obvious culprit. Any ideas? I'm using Word on a PC. Thanks!!

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  2. Got it to work! I modified my spreadsheet and added a header row with the words "Ticket Number" in field A1. Then I left the checkbox checked when I imported the spreadsheet to Word. That seemed to make it happy. THANK YOU!! This was so helpful!!

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  3. Thank you for these clear instructions. I have had the same problem as Mommy Vaughan and followed the suggestion. However, on re-opening the Word document, I have the dialogue box Invalid Merge Field. I have to use Task Manager to close down Word. I am using Word 2010. Maybe that is part or all of the problem. Any ideas please? I need to sort this by tomorrow night to print them on Monday!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Cathy - I'm not sure what would cause that to be honest. Because (even with these instructions!) it can be quite hard to get Word to do this right, I did build a little web-based service to do the same thing. Have you tried that? http://app.raffleticketcreator.com

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    2. Thank u sooo much Sir Bruce Greig.. you helped me a lot.. -Daylin

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  4. Hi Bruce, I've managed to sort it! I put "1" (without the quotes) in A1 and then "1" in A2, "2" in A3, etc.. Thank you so much! Best wishes.

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    Replies
    1. Great! I've no idea why that would work better, but as long is it does work, then great!

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  5. Hello Bruce, I seem to be having a different problem altogether. I created my ticket in word using logos and text boxes as needed, ticket looks great. I followed your very clear instructions but when I did the Finish & Merge I got this message, "You cannot include DATA, NEXT, NEXTIF, or SKIPIF fields in comments, headers, footers, footnotes or endnotes." I then click on OK and get this, "A field calculation error occurred in record 1. Bruce any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kelli-Anne,

      Looks like you've accidentally put one of the special merge fields in the comments / header / footer or footnotes to your document (rather than in the main body of the document).

      Hunt around and check those areas (you shouldn't need anything in the comments or notes or header / footer, so just delete anything you find there.)

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  6. THANK YOU!!!
    Your clear instructions worked perfectly!
    Thank you for your time figuring this out and sharing it!

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    Replies
    1. No problem, I'm happy to know that lots of people are having an easier time than I did printing their raffle tickets. ;-)

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  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  9. Thank you, it worked like a charm!

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Hi..I have my raffle tickets :) :) :) Thank you !!!

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  13. I have done this twice now, getting flustered. The ticket part the person keeps has the correct sequential number on it, but the side that we keep has the same number on it for the whole page. What part am I missing, at first I did not uncheck the box, but this time I did but have the same number on the stub side that we keep with the person's name, etc

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  14. I have done this twice now, getting flustered. The ticket part the person keeps has the correct sequential number on it, but the side that we keep has the same number on it for the whole page. What part am I missing, at first I did not uncheck the box, but this time I did but have the same number on the stub side that we keep with the person's name, etc

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  15. Truly excellent instructions thank you, clear and straightforward. Just what I needed to home-print tickets for my choir concert. Your website is much appreciated.

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  16. I can't get ticket number 1 to show up. I wanted to see where I went wrong. Thanks.

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  17. I'm also having the same problem number 1 never shows no matter what I try....

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  18. NVM I figured it out, your 1st cell must be 1 and then the 2nd one also 1 then you add till your desired no. That worked for me. Thanks for an easy tutorial.

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  19. Thanks for this - I used your instructions to set up numbered tickets for a Fundraiser function.
    In the past we printed the tickets and wrote numbers on manually. Now I have the template set up, as long as I keep the ticket graphic the same size I can just change the background next year.

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  20. Thanks for these instructions! I too had to put in a header row on the excel sheet and then re insert the merge field. But then they worked beautifully!

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  21. I am using your instructions to create a page of tickets - the design has been created as a picture so I added a text box to "hold" the mail merge instructions but I keep getting the error message "You cannot include DATA, NEXT, NEXTIF, or SKIPIF fields in comments, headers, footers, footnotes or endnotes." I have not included any of these but I'm wondering if it's because I've attempted to insert it in a text box. Is there an easy way to do this? TIA

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    Replies
    1. Hmm, sounds like Word won't let you include those fields in a text box (and Microsoft need to update the error message to "text box" in the list of things you cannot include merge fields in!).

      Have you tried Publisher? It might work in Publisher (though I'm not sure). Instructions here: http://www.raffleticketcreator.com/2012/02/print-raffle-tickets-on-your-own.html

      Or, failing that, use my (chargeable) online ticket creator to create the tickets automatically: https://app.raffleticketcreator.com

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  22. The field where the name of the organization goes keeps interfering with the date of the event field. Is there anyway I could change the size of the font????

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    1. Hi - are you creating your own tickets using the instructions on this page? If so, you can of course change the font and everything else in your Word document. If you are using the Raffle Ticket Creator app (app.raffleticketcreator.com) then you can't change the font size ... you'll just need to tinker with the exact words that you are including in order to get them to fit on the page. Hope that helps!

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  23. Hi!

    Thank you so much for this! These instructions were perfect and clear, and I got it all done, except when I go to print. It prints out 1 per page. I have Word 2007, and tried printing out on letter size with 4 per page, but then it prints them all very tiny in the corners. Can you help me? Thanks :)

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    1. Hi Darla,

      Hmm, I'm not sure why it would do that. Do you have four tickets on the page when you look at the Word document on your screen?

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  24. I have 500 tickets to print. There are 3 tickets per page. How can i print it in a way that I do not need to rearrange the tickets in running order once I done cutting it?

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    Replies
    1. Annabelle - You need the tickets in the top slot of each page to run from 1 to 167, then the second slot down to be 168 - 335, then have 336 - 500 in the third slot. Easiest way to achieve that would be to create a your list of numbers in Step 3 in Excel so it runs as 1,168,336,2,169,337 ... etc., like this:

      1
      168
      336
      =A1+1
      =A2+1
      =A3+1
      then copy that formula down to the 500th row.

      Think that would work, but I've not tested it!

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  25. Good morning! Directions are clear for sure but when i go to merge the first ticket is one but the second number on the raffle ticket is two. i have four raffle tickets per page the first three are messed up but the forth is correct all the way down to 500. Any ideas? i have tried with a header and without a header. i even made the first number with a formula. it does work with out putting next record but like you said it is four tickets with the same number and that would use a ton of ink. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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    Replies
    1. If the second number on your raffle ticket is one higher than the first number, you must have accidentally put the <> tag after the first number (causing the next number, on the same ticket, to increase by one). You only need the <> after the second number on each ticket, so the next ticket gets a new number. (But you don't need it on the final ticket on the **page**, because the next **page** automatically gets a new number)

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    2. Comment thingy has stripped out some text. For <> read "NextRecord tag"

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  26. I am getting my tickets to number on one side of it. However, I am needing my tickets to have the number on each side, but one side will not number. I have tried several times and it will not number on both sides. I am using an avery template that is printing 10 tickets per page, stub and tearable ticket. But the stub will not number while the tearable ticket will.

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  27. Thanks so much for these instructions, helped me save time with our curling banquet tickets!

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    Replies
    1. Great, glad they were useful for you! Amazing that this post I wrote six years ago is still useful.

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  28. Thank you soo much for sharing! Made my job much easier.

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    Replies
    1. Great news! Amazing that these instructions for Word 2007, which is over 13 years old, are still useful!

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  29. How do you get the format right to include "000" zeroes before the numbers?

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    Replies
    1. I'm actually not sure, but you could just start the numbering at 1001, for example, rather than 001 then all the numbers will be the same number of digits?

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  30. I did exactly what you said but in the text box of the numbering for the 2nd number I added the next record option and I get the error YOU CANNOT INCLUDE DATE, NEXTIF, or SKIPIF fields in comments headears, footers, footnotes or endnotes. Can you please help

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  31. Word won't let you include those fields in a text box (and Microsoft need to update the error message to "text box" in the list of things you cannot include merge fields in!).

    Can you re-work your design so it doesn't have text boxes? Or maybe try it in Publisher instead? Instructions here for publisher: http://www.raffleticketcreator.com/2012/02/print-raffle-tickets-on-your-own.html

    Or, failing that, use my online ticket creator to create the tickets automatically (this option is not free, but should save you a lot of time): https://app.raffleticketcreator.com

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  32. Hi there... I figured out to add the numbering on each side of the ticket (along with Ticket #: prior to this merge entry)... I have 4 tickets per page... when I 'Finish & Merge' I end up with 1 to 4 on 1st page... then 6 to 9 on 2nd page... then 11 to 14 on 3rd page... etc. Could you share your thoughts on this as to why it is happening?

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  33. My guess would be that you have included the 'NextRecord' tag in the final ticket on the page. You don't need to do this, because Word will automatically go to the next number when it starts a new page. By adding the 'NextRecord' tag to the final ticket on the page, you will skip a number. This is mentioned in Step 5 above, actually. :-)

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  34. Thank you for clear instructions, however when my document is ready to print it is skipping numbers for example page 1 shows tickets 1, 3, 4, 5. Then instead of there being 4 tickets per page pages 2- the end of the document either have 2 or 3 tickets per page and there are skipped numbers randomly. Any ideas???

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    1. I just checked to be sure after reading the comment from 9/21, I did not use next record on the last ticket of the page

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    2. Hmm, that does sound odd. My best guess would be that your list of numbers in Excel has somehow got messed up, and that list actually has missing numbers, or blank rows, or something. As the template in Word is the same for every page, for the output to end up looking different on different pages suggests that the underlying list of numbers has somehow gone wrong? If it is not that, then I'm afraid I am baffled, sorry!

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