Creating Two or More Pages of OpenOffice Labels Without Using a Mail Merge

Lots of people complain that in OpenOffice.org you only get one page of labels from the File > New > Labels wizard.

One  way to get around that is to not enter the data manually; use a database and create a mail merge.  Then you'll still just see one page in the label document but OpenOffice.org will print as many sheets of labels as necessary for the data.

1. Click here to create the mail merge.
2. Click here to create labels based on the mail merge.

However, if you do want to manually type two or more pages of labels, here's what I recommend. Use the labels from WorldLabel.com. They're composed of  invisible-border tables so it's easier to just create a new page, then copy the table and paste it onto the new page.

For more detail on that, see http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/free_open_document_labels?page=0%2C2  and find the section called  Copying the first page to make additional pages. 

To see the whole article on using WorldLabel and regular label templates, click here.

 

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Comments

[Louis]

Boy, have labels been a thorn in my side. Despite all the trying and retrying, labels are a pain in OpenOffice.org. Now that's not something I like saying, but it's true. Don't take it too hard, though, because Word isn't much better. After a lot of trial and error, I decided that maybe a word processor isn't ideal for labels. I then began my search for dedicated label printing software. If you're still using Windows (too bad) then Avery makes a decent (free) program that works pretty well. If, however, you've graduated to Linux, then you owe it to yourself to try gLabels. I have been using it for several months, and I shall never print labels with a word processor again. It does mail merges from CVS files (export them from Calc!) with EASE. You can easily drop in pictures and barcodes. The interface is brilliant. It will even resize your text on a per label basis AUTOMATICALLY to prevent runoff!! I know this is an OpenOffice.org blog, but my experience with gLabels has shown me the mailing-label-merge light. Also, I have absolutely no affiliation with anyone involved with gLabels. Try it. That's my best tip for printing labels in Linux. Sorry to be off topic.

[Solveig Haugland]

Hi Louis,

Thanks for the tip -- I'm all about the easiest way. Mail merge from CSV sounds good. I'll check it out!

Solveig

[Tony Whelan]

I have just tried glabels, and yes think it will save me tearing my hair our with OOO's dreadful label procedure (which doesn't work for me). But the glabel instructions are a bit lacking. Here's what to do:

Click on 'T' (Create text object) and click in the Left hand side label box.
You'll get a movable box with "TEXT" in it.
In the RHS you edit this text like this:
${1} ${2}
${3}
${4} ${5}

Those numbers are the fields in your csv file, e.g.
Firstname, Surname, Address, Town, Postalcode

You should also select the font and fontsize for these, the defaults are rather big.

Now save the label layout at this stage so you can use it again (file open) without having to recreate it.

Then go to [Objects][Merge Properties] and choose the file and records to include in the labels.

Select Print then Print Preview and you should see the labels.

[Solveig]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the tips on gLabels!

Solveig

[Julien Mills]

I just wanted to second the advice on using gLables. I created labels using OO going through the many steps and finally, finally when I was done the labels printed too far to the left. I adjusted margins, paper size, etc., couldn't get it to work. So I get gLables, the instructions are not the greatest but I used Tony's advice (above) and got labels printing perfectly.

Thanks