Trouble With Labels

[Virgil]

I have a table in a Base database from which I'm trying to make mailing labels. The problem is that when I look at the Labels dialogue (file->new->labels) and select the database and table from the appropriate dropdowns, the final dropdown doesn't display all of the fields. At first I thought that it was only displaying the first 15 fields and cutting off there for whatever reason, but after changing the order of the fields in my table (because that was a tutorial I could actually find) I found that the list of available fields for that table seems to be fixed, and is unchanged despite everything else accepting my edits just fine (columns are displaying in proper order and such). Further, I have also tried to do this on a system running SUSE Linux and the problem persisted; any help would be much appreciated.

[UnklDonald418]

In the database, create and save a query with all the fields you want to appear on the label.
Now in a Writer document select New >Labels to open the Labels dialog. The query should appear on the list of Tables when you select the correct database from the list of registered databases.

[Virgil]

Do databases need to be re-registered or something? I followed your instructions and made the query just fine, which then ran just fine, but when I select the database in the labels dialogue it doesn't display the query as an option in the 'Table' dropdown menu. At this stage, the database only had the table and the query, and the dropdown menu would only display the table. To further test this I made a new table with a different name, and it doesn't show up either. As far as the menus in the labels dialogue are concerned, this database only contains one table, and no queries.

[UnklDonald418]

A Base database only needs to be registered once, unless its name or location are changed. It does no harm to re register it and see if that helps.
I tried the label wizard in AOo 4.1.5 on my Windows 10 computer and was able to access 80 columns from a database table I found, so your problem doesn't appear to be related to the number of columns in your table.

While a Base database is open, all the data is kept in memory, including any changes. Any other module won't see those changes until they are saved to the file. After saving to the file you must restart the label wizard, so it can load the modified database file.

Sometimes resetting a user's profile will resolve some mysterious problems, but if you have the same problem on more than one computer that isn't likely to be a solution.
[Tutorial] The OpenOffice User Profile

[Virgil]

Successfully worked around it; still unsolved though. I tried the above and didn't make much progress. Finally, I made an entirely new database and copied the table into it- using calc as an intermediary as a precautionary measure. Works fine now, so while the problem still exists, it only pertains to the old database. *shrug*

[UnklDonald418]

It's not a common problem, but a Base .odb file can become corrupt and won't work properly.
Like all the other OpenOffice files, a Base .odb file is actually a zip archive which contains the tables, queries, forms and reports. You can use a zip program to look at all the files inside. That is a handy format but can also be a source of problems if the zip process doesn't complete properly. In some instances the database tables can disappear, so when making changes to the database tables be sure to allow time for the zip process to complete before shutting off the computer and back up frequently.
By moving the tables outside of the zip archive the chance of losing the tables is reduced
[Wizard] Create a new 'split' HSQL 2.x database
but there are trade-offs which are discussed in the tutorial.