Form letters with LibreOffice Writer

Posted . Visible to the public.

This is painful. Consider using Microsoft Office or switching careers. If you need to write < 20 letters consider doing it manually.

So you didn't listen and here it comes:

  1. Ignore the Mail Merge Wizard. It will crash or destroy your document.
  2. Export your addresses, recipient names, etc. as a .ods spreadsheet (.xls, .xlsx, .ods). Use any columns that work for you, but be consistent. I like to use one column for the address, one column for the salutation line.
  3. Import the spreadsheet as an address book source: Tools => Address Book Source => Address Data Source... => Other external data source => Settings => Choose "Spreadsheet" as Database type => Next => Pick spreadsheet file => Ignore field assignments => Give it a name
  4. Back in your document you can now insert placeholders for a column value. Use menu Insert => Field => More fields... => Mail Merge Fields. Select the address book database you imported earlier. Pick the column you want. Insert.
  5. Print the document with File => Print. LibreOffice will ask you if you would like to print a form letter.

If Writer keeps crashing on the last step, recreate your letter template from a blank page like a wild animal. Be careful to paste text without formatting or styles.

Henning Koch
Last edit
Henning Koch
Keywords
serienbrief
License
Source code in this card is licensed under the MIT License.
Posted by Henning Koch to makandra dev (2017-12-14 14:39)