[Solved] Bug in custom labels section

[MrProgrammer]

The custom labels will NOT allow me to type in a label size greater than 2 inches tall. I typed in 5 inches and it corrected it to 2 inches for me and THEN the resulting page printed in landscape not portrait even though portrait was selected as the wanted method by the print dialog.

[keme]

I have used different versions of Writer and never had a fault (IIRC). However, you need to set the measurements in correct order, and the auto-update preview can be annoying, especially when you try give measurements in a different unit from what is chosen as default.

I can try to make a template for you.

What size label do you need, and how large are the sheets (or do you use continuous paper)?
Spacing between labels?
How many labels per sheet/page (if appplicable)?

[acknak]

Many people find the label pages that OO generates to be difficult to work with. It uses a series of text frames that have to wrap just right to give the necessary layout. This approach makes it easy to "clone" the contents of the first label into all the others, at the expense of a more complex layout method.

The alternative is to use a table, which is much easier to work with. The only problem is that any cloning of the content has to be done manually, by copy/paste.

If you're already making custom labels, you may want to skip the File > New > Labels ... approach altogether and just make your own table-based layout.

[DJandrews]

The custom labels will NOT allow me to type in a label size greater than 2 inches tall. I typed in 5 inches and it corrected it to 2 inches for me and THEN the resulting page printed in landscape not portrait even though portrait was selected as the wanted method by the print dialog.

I had the same problem setting the height, and for me the answer was to change the setting for the number of rows first. So for 5 inch tall labels on letter size paper, you would only be able to have two rows, so enter this first, then it should let you set the height to 5 inches.

[DJandrews]

I have also found that it will adjust the page dimensions even though you may have selected something like Avery letter size.

Everything looked ok on the screen and page preview, but it was not printing the last quarter inch on the right hand side of the page. Took me a lot of fiddling before I realized what was going on.

So always check Format, Page if it doesn't behave as expected.

[MrProgrammer]

The alternative is to use a table, which is much easier to work with. The only problem is that any cloning of the content has to be done manually, by copy/paste.

I've used the table approach, but did the cloning via linked, protected sections. I find it easiest to refresh the links using File → Save, then File → Reload. I've attached an example. Look at Format → Sections. For a one-time job, copy/paste would be easier, but my file is a template that I use many times a year so the extra effort to create and link the sections was worthwhile.

[acknak]

Very nice!

I'd never thought about using sections inside a table. Good to know that's an option.