Mail merge formatting

users
#1

Hi.
I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to control the number format.
I am merging with a .ods sheet with data. I have formatted the numbers in the sheet but in writer the formatting changes. 3.0012 prints as 3, 0.497 prints as 0.50 and 423.56 prints as 423.56.

How do I control the formatting on a merge, do I need to convert numbers to text.
steve

#2

Hi Steve,

Steve Edmonds wrote (07-07-11 21:28)

I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to
control the number format.
I am merging with a .ods sheet with data. I have formatted the numbers
in the sheet but in writer the formatting changes. 3.0012 prints as 3,
0.497 prints as 0.50 and 423.56 prints as 423.56.

How do I control the formatting on a merge, do I need to convert numbers
to text.

The properties of the mail merge field (can be accessed via the context menu when the cursor is just in front) allows to set this.

Regards,

#3

Thanks. I didn't see this the first time I looked. I may have had the cursor in the wrong place.
The mail merge is working well and pleasantly easy to use.
steve

#4

Steve Edmonds <steve.edmonds@ptglobal.com> writes:

Hi.
I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to
control the number format.

The mailmerge tool is too buggy to be used.

#5

Hi Lee,

lee wrote (07-07-11 23:06)

Steve Edmonds<steve.edmonds@ptglobal.com> writes:

I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to
control the number format.

As you may have seen, Steve is both helped and happy.

The mailmerge tool is too buggy to be used.

Hmm, such a comment does not seem so helpful :wink:
But OK, I can understand some level of frustration. I work with mail merge for years, and oh so often had to file bugs when a new (beta) version of OpenOffice.org was made available.
Luckily, many problems were solved fine, and I am able to do most of my work without problem. Obviously because I know how to find my way and have the attitude to work with clean documents and data. But OK, it works.
( Which does not mean that both in the OOo bugTracker and in that one of LibreOffice, there can be found quite some issues and RFE for MailMerge. )

HTH,
Cor

#6

Cor

Hi Lee,

lee wrote (07-07-11 23:06)
> Steve Edmonds<steve.edmonds@ptglobal.com> writes:

>> I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to
>> control the number format.

As you may have seen, Steve is both helped and happy.

> The mailmerge tool is too buggy to be used.

Hmm, such a comment does not seem so helpful :wink:
But OK, I can understand some level of frustration. I work with mail
merge for years, and oh so often had to file bugs when a new (beta)
version of OpenOffice.org was made available.
Luckily, many problems were solved fine, and I am able to do most of my
work without problem. Obviously because I know how to find my way and
have the attitude to work with clean documents and data. But OK, it works.
( Which does not mean that both in the OOo bugTracker and in that one of
LibreOffice, there can be found quite some issues and RFE for MailMerge. )

HTH,
Cor
--
  - Cor
  - http://nl.libreoffice.org

To follow up on mail merge, it is a functionality I use just often
enough to sort of know what I doing but can not remember the exact steps
I need to do. Thus, I am always frustrated with a properly working
functionality. It is always back to the documentation for me.

#7

Cor Nouws <oolst@nouenoff.nl> writes:

Hi Lee,

lee wrote (07-07-11 23:06)

Steve Edmonds<steve.edmonds@ptglobal.com> writes:

I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but can't seem to
control the number format.

As you may have seen, Steve is both helped and happy.

Yes, and I'm happy when it works for him :slight_smile:

The mailmerge tool is too buggy to be used.

Hmm, such a comment does not seem so helpful :wink:

The idea behind the comment is that he might spend a lot of time to get
it set up the way he needs it just to find out that the mailmerge tool
doesn't work. So when he knows that it doesn't work, he might test it
before wasting time, or find another way.

But OK, I can understand some level of frustration. I work with mail
merge for years, and oh so often had to file bugs when a new (beta)
version of OpenOffice.org was made available. Luckily, many problems
were solved fine, and I am able to do most of my work without
problem. Obviously because I know how to find my way and have the
attitude to work with clean documents and data. But OK, it works.

Well, I tried it and found that it would sometimes send mails and
sometimes not, that it messes up the PDF which is just fine when
exported manually or by a macro and that modifying the "Properties" of
the messages to be sent crashes LO. Besides that, some other bugs
turned up so that I consider LO to be in some alpha stage.

"Some level of frustration" isn't so crucial. Crucial is getting the
results one needs. That bugs may be fixed some time in the future is a
good thing, yet it doesn't help me much when I need the results now. I'm
getting them with LaTeX now. The difference is that trying with LO lead
to finding bugs and to things getting more and more difficult, while
trying with LaTeX lead to progress, to things getting easier and to
results. Both ways involved frustration, of course.

Anyway, I'm surprised that mailmerge works for you. I could have used
it if it worked.

#8

Hi Cor,

Hmm, such a comment does not seem so helpful :wink:
But OK, I can understand some level of frustration. I work with mail
merge for years, and oh so often had to file bugs when a new (beta)
version of OpenOffice.org was made available.
Luckily, many problems were solved fine, and I am able to do most of my
work without problem. Obviously because I know how to find my way and
have the attitude to work with clean documents and data. But OK, it works.
( Which does not mean that both in the OOo bugTracker and in that one of
LibreOffice, there can be found quite some issues and RFE for MailMerge. )

I'm afraid I have to agree with Lee here. Compared to previous sucessive
versions of OpenOffice.org, mailmerge functionality has regressed, so
much for preserving "past investment" as our mission statement likes to
tout. A quick overview of the bugzilla lists a few of the most relevant
mailmerge problems within LibreOffice. I keep a copy of OpenOffice.org
3.2.1 !!!! for that very reason - sad ain't it, but nonetheless a
business necessity.

I see that there is a bug issue floating around on bugzilla for all
problems deemed to be required to be resolved in order for LibreOffice
to be considered "enterprise ready" - I hope mailmerge is up there with
the others (haven't looked yet to be honest).

For a quick gander at mailmerge problems :

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=libreoffice+mailmerge

Alex

#9

I was using mail merge on 3.4.1 on mac and it was easy to set up to
merge with an .ods file. I could edit the mail after the merge and
change things around, encountered no problems except the known issue of
producing PDF's properly with a document containing EPSs.
steve

#10

Hi Alex,

Alexander Thurgood wrote (08-07-11 07:49)

I'm afraid I have to agree with Lee here. Compared to previous sucessive
versions of OpenOffice.org, mailmerge functionality has regressed, so
much for preserving "past investment" as our mission statement likes to
tout. A quick overview of the bugzilla lists a few of the most relevant
mailmerge problems within LibreOffice. I keep a copy of OpenOffice.org
3.2.1 !!!! for that very reason - sad ain't it, but nonetheless a
business necessity.

Well, I think it is worth knowing what are indeed reproducable regressions compared to OpemOffice.org 3.3.0 on the list below.

For a quick gander at mailmerge problems :

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=libreoffice+mailmerge

Thanks,

Cor

  ( leaving for a short vacation soon )

#11

Hi :slight_smile:
Good luck and have fun on vacation! You will be sorely missed here!
Many regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#12

Tom Davies wrote (08-07-11 16:01)

Hi :slight_smile:
Good luck and have fun on vacation! You will be sorely missed here!

:-x

#13

In news:4E1608F7.1010504@ptglobal.com,
Steve Edmonds <steve.edmonds@ptglobal.com> typed:

Hi.
I am trying to perform a mail merge with numbers but
can't seem to control the number format.
I am merging with a .ods sheet with data. I have
formatted the numbers in the sheet but in writer the
formatting changes. 3.0012 prints as 3, 0.497 prints as 0.50 and 423.56
prints as 423.56.

How do I control the formatting on a merge, do I need to
convert numbers to text.
steve

OS? LO? Versions? Something, anything, to try to help those trying to help
you? Do those numbers come from your printer? Or LO? Etc.