Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I read the Open Office guides, tried to follow the steps and 'experimented'.

I edited the label format incorrectly and saved it. This appears to have been my undoing.

With most processes when you get something wrong, you can start again with a 'clean sheet' and try as many times as necessary until you get it right.

The main problem is that even after uninstalling and reinstalling Open Office 4.1.15 on my Windows 11 desktop PC it has 'remembered' everything I did before that was wrong.

It doesn't allow me to create a 'new sheet' - still displaying the incorrectly saved label format, and it created 'Addresses5.odb' - because it 'remembers' my previous 4 failed attempts, despite my deleting them (before uninstalling and reinstalling Open Office.)

Creating a new spreadsheet with names and addresses on hasn't made any difference.

I hope what I've typed above will make sense to a few readers, and I am hoping you might be able to help me get out of the mess I've got myself in.

I think its going to be far quicker for me to handwrite 55 Christmas card envelopes in December!

For nearly the last 30 years I printed all the labels I wanted on my word processor, but sadly its broken and the only firm able to repair it has gone bust.

Thank you

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Ulysses2024 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:44 pm I read the Open Office guides …

I hope you mean this, Writer Guide Chapter 11: Using Mail Merge - Form letters, mailing labels, and envelopes, which should have all the details you need.

Ulysses2024 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:44 pm The main problem is that even after uninstalling and reinstalling Open Office 4.1.15 on my Windows 11 desktop PC it has 'remembered' everything I did before that was wrong.

Reinstalling the same version of OpenOffice just replaces the program with an identical copy of it. Thus nothing has changed. Any remembering is in the user profile, which isn't touched during installation. If you exit OpenOffice and delete the user profile, OpenOffice will build a new one for you when you launch it, but there may be easier ways to correct this problem. All of the following information is explained in more detail in the Using Mail Merge guide.

Ulysses2024 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:44 pm It doesn't allow me to create a 'new sheet' - still displaying the incorrectly saved label format

You haven't said what process you are using to create labels. Have you tried File → New → Labels? That dialog should allow you to design a new label sheet. In the dialog there are three parts:
• Labels allows you to indicate the label type and the mail merge fields from your data source
• Format allow you to create s custom label if none of the predefined label types are appropriate
• Options allows you set label options but the defaults are probably what you want

Ulysses2024 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:44 pm it created 'Addresses5.odb'

To use mail merge you must have:
• a Writer document which contains mail merge fields
• a Base document which provides records with data for the merge (the data source)
• a registration entry in OpenOffice Base → Connections for the Base document
File → New → Labels creates the Writer document with the mail merge fields. Addresses5.odb is the Base document which you previously created. The registration entry was created when you registered that Base document. The Base document is used to connect Writer with your data source, which in many cases is a spreadsheet. You haven't told us what you are using for a data source.

If your data source, that spreadsheet, still has the information you need for these labels, you can continue to use Addresses5.odb. The data source just has the data for Mail Merge. It doesn't know the label type or the layout of fields in the label. You will provide that with File → New → Labels where you also specify your data source.

If you need a new data source, a different spreadsheet, do that with File → New → Database. Then use File → New → Labels.

This is an old topic about the process: Creating mailing labels using a Calc file as data base. We have many other Mail Merge topics in the Writer Forum which you can search for and review. Nothing in the Mail Merge process has changed for decades.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

Dear Mr Programmer

Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to respond in detail to my Post.

I shall copy/paste and print out for reference when I have several hours to spare and can have another go.

I am very grateful to you.