Registering the data source

OpenOffice.org 3 Writer Guide

Chapter 11: Using Mail Merge

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• Creating the data source
• Registering a data source
• Creating a form letter
• Printing mailing labels
• Printing envelopes
• Using the Mail Merge Wizard to create a form letter

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For a data source to be directly accessible from within a Writer document, it must first be registered as described below. You only need to do this once; after that, the data source is available to all documents in OpenOffice.org.

1. From within any Openoffice.org document, or from the OpenOffice.org Welcome screen, choose File > Wizards > Address Data Source.


Starting the Address Data Source wizard
2. The choices on the first page of the wizard vary with your operating system. Select the appropriate type of external address book—in this case, Other external data source. (The choices on this page of the wizard vary with your operating system.) Click Next.


Select type of external address book
3. On the next page of the Wizard, click Settings.


Starting the Settings part of the Wizard
4. In the Data Source Properties page, select the Database type (in this case, Spreadsheet). Click Next.


Selecting the database type
5. In the next dialog, click Browse and navigate to the spreadsheet that contains the address information. Select the spreadsheet and click Open to return to this dialog. At this time you may wish to test that the connection has been correctly established by clicking on the Test Connection button (not shown in illustration).


Selecting the spreadsheet document
6. Click Finish.
7. On the following page, click Next. (Do not click Field Assignment.)


Because this is a spreadsheet, do not click Field Assignment.
8. Name the file in the Location field. The default is ...\Addresses.odb; but you may replace Addresses with another name if you wish. You may also change the name in the “Address book name” field. In our example, the name “Points” was used for both.


Name the .odb file and the address book.
9. Click Finish. The data source is now registered.