The most straightforward wizardless way to create an envelope in OpenOffice.org Writer (and then reuse it as a template)

Envelopes can be problematic. Yes. This is primarily because envelopes are not Letter or Legal. Each printer has its own approach to printing, and you'll need to do a little experimenting.

But you can do it. The Envelopes category and the Mail Merge catogory of my blog each has various approaches.

But with this new entry I've tried to clarify what I think is the best and most straightforward approach to making envelopes. The thing is, creating the first doc is a little work, and figuring out how to print is a little work. But once you do it, you don't have to create the envelope document again. You don't have to figure out which way the printers go in. You know. So the second time and all other times, you just open the old doc, whether you made it into a template or just saved it in

C:\myreusabledocs\envelope.odt

and retype the info. Then you print, and you now know how to print.

Just do the hard work once. Then re-use.

THE PART YOU ONLY HAVE TO DO ONCE: CREATING THE ENVELOPE THE FIRST TIME AND FIGURING OUT HOW TO PRINT

A) Make the envelope document once

B) Print

C) Save it as a template so you never have to make it again

THEN ONCE YOU'RE SET UP PRINTING ADDITIONAL ENVELOPES IS MUCH SIMPLER

D) Open the template, retype or paste, and print

Here we go.

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THE PART YOU ONLY HAVE TO DO ONCE: CREATING THE ENVELOPE THE FIRST TIME AND FIGURING OUT HOW TO PRINT

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A) Make the envelope document once

1. Create a new empty document. This will be your envelope.

2. Now make it look like an envelope. Choose Format > Page, Page tab. Make your window match the settings in this window, then click OK.

 

 3. This is what it should look like.

 

 
4. Type the return address if you want (skip it if you've got that already on your envelopes.)

After typing, you want to take the cursor, the entry place where you type, down and over. Click after the return address and press Enter a few times til the cursor is about as high as you'd want it to be for the regular address.

 

 5. See the top item circled on the ruler? Click and hold down on the bottom triangle and drag it about halfway over.

6. And now the cursor is where you need it to be to type the address.

 

7. Type the To address.

 

8. And now you can format it of course any way you want.

 

9. If you don't like where the To text is, click above the text and press Enter a few times to lower it or press Backspace a few times to raise it. Just the same way you'd do it in a normal doc.

 

10. And to move it left or right, select at least part of the To text and drag that bottom triangle left or right. Same way you did it before.

  

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B) Print

Take out some cheap envelopes. You're going to need to experiment a little potentially.

1. Choose File > Print. In the Print window, click Options and in the window (this varies by printer), find the paper size and choose Envelope 10. This is the most important part of printing. You must do this or it won't work.

 

Click OK in the settings window, then specify your print options and click OK to print.

Now, it's up to you to fiddle with which way to insert the envelope, up or down or one end first or the other. That's allllll your printer.

If you end up getting the address printed 90 degrees off, then make this change to the print setup in your print window too. Print it landscape. How it looks in your printer will vary.

Click OK in the settings window, then click OK to print.

At this point it should  work.

Once you've got it working, write down all the settings you did that work.

Note: You can also choose File > Printer Settings in your document and make the same paper size and landscape/vertical settings there. And theoretically those settings are saved so you don't have to do it again each time you print. If it works for you, great. However, I've found this slightly less reliable.

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C) Save it as a template so you never have to make it again!

Had enough formatting? Then just save it as a template so you never have to create it again. You can make it into a template by choosing File > Templates > Save, selecting the My Templates category, naming it, and clicking OK.

 

Then use the template. When you want another envelope, choose File > New > Templates and Documents, click the Templates icon in the window that appears, and open the My Templates category.

 

 Inside the category, find your envelope. Double-click it. And you'll get a new untitled envelope document just like the one you made.

 

Then just type or paste new info.

 

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THEN ONCE YOU'RE SET UP PRINTING ADDITIONAL ENVELOPES IS MUCH SIMPLER

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D) Open the template, retype or paste, and print

This is all you have to do once you've done all this stuff.

• When you want to print an envelope, open up that template. (Or skip the whole template-making thing and just open the old document, wherever you saved it.)
• Type or paste in new information.
• Print, being sure that the printer is set for Envelope 10 and, if necessary, Landscape.

That's all.

Comments

[Tomas Valusek]

Nice article, but why not to use text fields for both addresses? I think Enter should be used solely to end paragraphs and not for template formatting. Yes, if I want to write a quick note, enters are fine, but for templates? Moreover, a text field could contain a hint text like "Type the posting address here" so that the template could be given to someone else. And text fields can be moved freely without bothering with text lines grid.

[ryden]

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[Twayne]

Good article: I can tell because that's exactly how I (finally) fiuured out how to do envelopes too! Funny how we like things that agree with us.

Seriously, I am happy to see the fonfirmation of the process. I only make the templates as I need them so I haven't done them all, but it does wokr well.

A comment:
The normal printer driver will usually tell you which way to insert the envelope. Pretend you're going to print an envelope until you get to that part, then back out of it. Mine is long way, centered which presents a few extra problems but this same process will work fine for it, just a little extra positioning to do.
For testing, it's handy to first just print on a standard sheet of paper to see how the positioning comes out. I put a border on th eenvelope so it's easy to see just where it is. When it looks right, pull the border off and try it with a real envelope. I'm cheap & paper's cheaper than envelopes.

Thanks for the article!

[Frank Fuhs]

I must admit I was disappointed when I did not find an option for 'Envelopes and Labels' under Tools, like I was accustomed to using in Word 97.
I did find the 'Insert' -- 'Envelope' approach by using Help, and that worked well with a little experimentation for printing, as your process explained also.
I guess I'll have to learn to live without the ability to insert a postal bar code for the address, eh?

[Solveig]

Hi Frank,

Envelopes/labels aren't really OOo's strong suit, though you can do them. There's a way to do bar codes but it looked so complicated I haven't tried to figure it out yet.

If you have access to Linux, try Glabels which is a beautiful combination of simple and powerful.

[Solveig]

Hi Tomas,

Text boxes are a level up in complexity, and I wanted to just have a very simple approach. Also with frames, a better type of text box, it can be a little confusing whether you're clicking on the box to move it or type in it. You have to click outside, then inside again, to clarify you want to edit rather than move.

Using text boxes or frames is fine, just depends on what you want to do and what your users can handle more easily. You could also include a note (Insert > Note) with plain text to give a hint.

[seattlewingnut]

I found this article incredibly easy to understand and use. I have been trying to use the envelope function since 2.0, but have gotten very frustrated with the process. Now, I have a clear understanding and will be able to use the envelope function tremendously.

Thank you very much on the well-written article that explains the function to everyday users of OOo

Thanks again

[Sheridan Miszklevitz]

Great article! Envelopes have bugged me for three years. I have a MacBook Pro running Leopard 10.5.5 so my Print Options are a little different --- never did find an option for Envelope under Printer Setup Options or in the Print dialog box itself, but it turns out I didn't need it; the envelope printed perfectly the first time!

Now if we can just get bar codes . . .

[Carl Seiler]

Yours appears to be one of the better tips on envelopes out there, and I see it cited several times on the OOo web forums. I'm still not even close. I've thought of even re-installing Word '97 just to do envelopes. Egad!

When envelope after envelope comes out completely blank, I've been printing on paper to see where the printer wants to put the addresses, and it looks like it's printing six inches too far to the left, off the letter-sized paper (and completely missing my 6 3/4 envelopes when I use them).

Why is it so difficult to print envelopes from Writer when I can pop them out so easily Word?

[tiffany bracelets,tiffany bangle]

GOOD

[Greg]

If the good folks who write the Open Office software would just fix the problems they have with the envelope styles, people wouldn't have to screw around with creating envelopes the wrong way just to end up printing them correctly.

Sheesh! There are only so many sizes of envelopes and only so many legitimate ways to print them. And envelopes were the second thing a caveman ever wanted to print. What's the holdup on getting the program to do it correctly?

[Johnson McGoober]

Great Template tutorial.....
I searched for months to glean all this info and within a few short steps I was able to master how to make envelope and label templates......

Since then my work load has shrunk. I have also gleaned a lot of starbasic macro information and have been running my very own envelope macro selecting envelope gizmo.....
I am about to release it as an OOo extention. Just finalising a few small niggly details though......

[Kurt]

Very clearly written and illustrated -- just what I needed. The problem I have is printing envelopes with LEGIBLE kernering. It seems that the additional kernering has to be set separately for each font used. Otherwise the font may come out with -5 pts kernering to +5 pts kernering; the latter with letters "squished" and entirely unlike the screen font.

I do know OpenOffice does not have the financial importance that Word has for Microsoft behind it, so I am not complaining. On the other hand, the usability differences between the two products explain why open source is not (yet) a standard in the corporate offices and in most homes.

Again, thanks for the excellent tutorial!

[Solveig]

Hi Kurt,

Re the kerning, the only thing I know to try is Format > Character, Position tab, Pair Kerning option. The help says that this works only with fonts that support it and where the printer font supports it too. So perhaps try other fonts?

"Automatically adjust the character spacing for specific letter combinations.
Kerning is only available for certain font types and requires that your printer support this option."