Mail Merge - Labels

users
#1

Hello,

I noticed that when I try to mail merge a data base for labels, the program
will not supress a field if there is no entry; it will create a space on
the lable. For example, if I have the field "address 1" set for street
number and street name and the field "address 2" set for apt#, if a person
does not have an apt #, it will put a space between the address and city,
state and zip code. The link below seems to be the only fix I can find.

http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/05/suppressing_bla.html

Is there any way this issue can be addressed on the next update?

Thanks,

#2

This could be a Calc quirk or the correct expected behaviour, I'm
    not a power user, and this is not drama for me either. With a spreadsheet A1=1, B1=2, C1="=A1+B1"Example 1) In Excel 2003, where "|" is the cursor position in
    the formula "=A1+B|1", click on any other other cell and the cursor
    focus moves away leaving the formula unchanged.  I like this
    behaviour.Example 2) If you position the cursor as follows: "=A1+|B1", then
    click on any other cell (e.g. C6) Excel inserts that cell reference
    "=A1+C6|B1", this allows you to enter logic etc,  but just
    pressing Enter breaks the formula, a bit yucky.Behaviour in LibreOffice 4.4-8 from Collabora is the same as the 2nd
    example above irrespective of where the cursor is positioned.Qu) Is there any chance of adopting the behaviour of Example 1?I think adopting the resulting behaviour of example 1 for example 2
    would be wrong as there would be loss of work if you're
    experimenting trying to do a formula but are getting the syntax
    wrong.  Unless it is clever enough to detect that someone simply
    clicked on another cell by mistake.The Escape key is of course a good backout.  But right click does
    nothing in either program, perhaps a right click could do Esc+change
    focus.

#3

And this one should be sent in plain text: This could be a Calc quirk or the correct expected behaviour, I'm not a power user, and this is not drama for me either.

With a spreadsheet A1=1, B1=2, C1="=A1+B1"

#4

In my version of LibreOffice (4.2.8.2) there is a check box that says
"Suppress lines with just empty fields" in the mail merge wizard. It is
under the text box where you put the address information (ie <Address1>).

Mark

#5

Stan Grigiski wrote:

Hello,

I noticed that when I try to mail merge a data base for labels, the program
will not supress a field if there is no entry; it will create a space on
the lable. For example, if I have the field "address 1" set for street
number and street name and the field "address 2" set for apt#, if a person
does not have an apt #, it will put a space between the address and city,
state and zip code. The link below seems to be the only fix I can find.

http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2007/05/suppressing_bla.html

I haven't used mail merge to produce labels, but have used it for envelopes and other one-page-per-recipient type documents. I'm pretty sure when I've needed to suppress empty lines I've used hidden paragraphs rather than sections. Insert > Fields > More Fields > Functions > Hidden Paragraph, and enter a condition (similar to what that tutorial used for sections). If View > Hidden Paragraphs is enabled, they'll still show on screen but not in print preview (or actual print).

Needing to change the line breaks ("soft returns" in your link) to paragraph breaks ("hard returns") seems to be specific to labels rather than mail merge fields. I'm not sure why they're done that way.

Is there any way this issue can be addressed on the next update?

A few thoughts:

- There may be times when you want lines for blank fields left in, so it would need to be an option when creating the labels. Software can't (yet) read your mind ;o)

- Perhaps the wizard for labels should insert paragraph rather than line breaks between each field. At least then setting conditional paragraphs wouldn't involve first changing all the line breaks.

- As Mark Phillips pointed out, there is a tick box on the mail merge wizard (Tools > Mail Merge) when adding a standard address block to "suppress lines with just empty fields". Adding a similar option to the labels wizard may be a valid request. Possibly already filed at <https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=35798> although the description appears to be confused between labels and mail merge.

Feature requests can be filed at <https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/>. Don't forget to do a quick search first in case someone else has already filed the same request. Select "Enhancement" for severity. It would be handy to post the bug numbers you find or file here so others reading this thread can find them easily. If you're not sure what to select for any of the other fields feel free to ask here.

Mark.