Mail Merge - How compatible?

[sternfan]

Hi all,

I've been using OpenOffice personally for years and am considering rolling it out where I work. I'm fairly certain that most of the users will have little difficulty in the move, but some of our users make extensive use of mail-merges. These users are currently using MS office 2000 pro.

So - if I switch one of these users with OO - do the mail merge settings still work? Will they have to redo all of these?

Thanks,
Rob

[acknak]

Have you tried the mail merge in OOo yourself?

I wouldn't choose MS Office over OOo just because of the mail merge, but I suspect that very few "heavy mail merge users" would be happy changing from MS Office to OpenOffice. OpenOffice can certainly do it, but most users seem to find it more difficult to set up and use, compared to MS Office.

With some "expert" help (you, I'm guessing) to get things set up, and provide some training on the differences, it could work smoothly.

If I were in your place, I would definitely want to do a pilot project with some real data before making a decision, and I would anticipate some initial resistance if you do switch.

[Villeroy]

So - if I switch one of these users with OO - do the mail merge settings still work? Will they have to redo all of these?

Yes, I'm afraid. MSWord and Writer use different "mechanisms" to connect with a source of addresses.