Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I've been banging my head against a wall for two days trying to do what I thought would be relatively simple. I successfully set up a connection to a database and linked it to a sheet of address labels. I followed various instructions I found to merge the sheet of labels to a new file. But after that I cannot edit anything on any but the first label. If I copy and paste each label one by one into a brand new sheet of labels with synchronize labels off then I can edit each label as I need to do (a few lines that break in funny places or other minor changes like that not possible to do in the database itself).

So, the copying and pasting led me to believe that the problem with trying to edit my merged document is that it is set to synchronize all labels to the first label and therefore I can't edit any other labels but that one. Is there a way to turn off synchronizing after the document is created by the merge? I can't find this on any menu.

If this isn't possible I guess I'll have to copy and past each and every label by hand which seems to defeat the purpose of a mail merge. This was very easy in M$ Word but for the life of me I can not figure it out in Writer after days of searching online, poking through menus and help and experimenting. Help?

Synchronize is done by using sections. Therefore go to Format > Section. You will notice that the sections are linked to "master label". Remove the check "Link" will disconnect it.

On the options Tab uncheck "Synchronize contents".
I prefer to use label templates from Worldlabel http://www.worldlabel.com/Pages/openoffice-template.htm. They are tables and it is very easy to edit individual labels as needed. You can just use copy and paste to copy the fields from one label to another.

Tom K, I understood where the check box was when I set up the merge template but after merging into a new sheet of labels, that screen does not come up and I could find no way to bring it up.

earmsbyHPC:

I'm using OpenOffice Writer to merge labels for the first time and came across the same issue you did. I think I have the solution you're looking for.

Go to Format > Sections... and an "Edit Sections" window will appear. On the left hand side, under the heading "Section" you'll see a list of sections. Shift click to select all (I'm on a Mac: I did this by selecting the first item in the list, clicking on it, then holding down "Shift" while I scrolled to the bottom of the list; at the bottom, I clicked again -- while still holding down "Shift" -- and the entire list was selected. It probably works differently on Windows machines...)

Next, in the middle of the "Edit Sections" window look for the heading "Write protection": the "Protected" box is checked for all of the items in the left hand list (you'll see little padlock icons next to all of them (except for perhaps the first one, i.e., the MasterLabel); click on the "Protected" box to uncheck it and all the locked items will have an unlocked icon appear next to them.

Now click the "OK" button in the upper right hand corner and you should be good to go. [It worked for me, anyway.] Good luck!

D.

Thank you Dante, that turned out to be what finally worked!