Create numbered raffle tickets in Word for Mac 2011

This post will show you how to create numbered raffle tickets using Microsoft Word for Mac 2011:

UPDATE: Click here for new instructions for printing numbered raffle tickets using Word 2016 (Mac or PC)

You'll be able to print several tickets per page, each ticket having a different number.

(Prefer to use Publisher instead? Instructions for printing raffle tickets using Publisher are here.)
(Using Word on a PC? Instructions for printing raffle tickets with Word 2007 for Windows are here.)

Step 1 - Create one raffle ticket

Create a new document in Word, and set up one ticket to occupy about one quarter of the page. Just use tabs and line breaks to format the text, don't use text boxes. And leave some space to put the ticket numbers in later. You might end up with something like this:

You might add some decoration too:

Step 2 - Create a page of tickets

Copy-paste everything three times to fill the page with four tickets:

Step 3 - Create a list of numbers for your tickets, 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 cmd+C to copy, then select cell A3 and use SHIFT+fn+down arrow to select all the way down to row 500. Then hit cmd+V to paste.)

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

Step 4: Add ticket numbers to your raffle tickets in Word

Return to Word and go to Tools > Mail Merge Manager:

Then, in the Mail Merge Manager box which appears, select 'Form Letter' under '1. Select Document Type':

Then, under '2. Select Recipients List' click 'Get List', then 'Open Data Source...':

Navigate to the Excel spreadsheet you created earlier and open it.

Click 'OK' to the next two questions:

 Back in the little Mail Merge Manager box, drag the blue star which now appears under '3. Insert Placeholders' into your document, where you want the first ticket number to appear:

A placeholder like this will appear to show where the number will be:

I've put it on the counterfoil part of the ticket first. Repeat for the main body of the ticket, and for each ticket:

Step 5: Force Word to put a different number on each ticket

Now for the tricky bit. Mail Merges usually have the one 'recipient' per page. So Word won't pick out the next number in your list until it gets to a new page. By default, it'll print you four tickets on each page, all with the same number. Then a new page, all with the next number. Etc.

To get Word to change the number for each ticket, you need to insert a special field.

Put your cursor just after the second <<M_1>> on the first ticket:

Then go to Insert > Field...

In the box that appears, under 'Category' select 'Mail Merge', and under 'Field names' select 'Next':

This will insert a special field to force Word to go to the next number in your spreadsheet for the next ticket on the page. You can't see this special field, though, unless you click the little {a} button in the Mail Merge Manager box:

Click that little {a} again to hide the field. You don't need to see it, and it rather messes up the layout when the fields are shown in full on the screen.

Now go the the next ticket and Insert another 'Next' field (by going to Insert > Field ... and selecting Mail Merge category and Next field).

Do that again after the number on the third ticket on your page, BUT NOT THE FINAL TICKET ON THE PAGE. Because the final ticket is at the end of the page, and the number will increment automatically at the end of a page. If you put a 'Next' field there too, you'll jump two numbers.

You can check you've got the fields in there by clicking that little {a} button again:

Don't worry that the formatting looks a bit messed up when you reveal those hidden fields. Just click the {a} button again and it'll jump back to how it was.

Step 6 Create your printable document of numbered tickets

Final step, yay!

In the Mail Merge Manager box, click the Merge to New Document icon:

Word will then create for you a new document, with several tickets per page, each ticket having a unique number:

Print out that document, and you are done!

Congratulations.

Looking for an easier way? Use this simple online tool to create numbered raffle tickets and then print them at home from your own computer: