![]() Once you’ve selected the source for your data (again, I’m using a spreadsheet), select “Next” and you’ll get this screen: But you can see from this screenshot that you choose from a variety of database sources: I’m using a Spreadsheet, so I’ll leave that selected. You have a lot of options you can choose from on this screen. It’s actually really smart, when you think about what the programmers did here, but it isn’t straightforward at all that you have to do all of this first. On this screen, click on “Settings” and you’ll get a completely separate window: (Did I mention that this is a bit confusing and complicated. Unless you have your address data stored in Firefox or Thunderbird, select “Other external data source.” Then click on “Next” and you’ll get this next screen: It’s basically saying, “Hey, let’s use existing data instead of having to enter new data.” Groovy. ![]() When you click on that, you’ll get this window: To create your database, click on File -> Wizards -> Address Data Source: ![]() Just think of this as getting everything set up. But it seems counterintuitive that you have to do this before you can start the mail merge. LibreOffice will walk you right through it with a wizard. Basically, you need to turn this list of addresses into a database that LibreOffice has registered so it can then pull those fields when it generates the labels. Okay, now we get to the weird part that is going to seem unrelated to merging these addresses into labels. Of course, if you’re outside the US, your columns will be different. It’s always a good idea to separate out your fields like I have done: first name, last name, street, city, state, zip. Make sure that you have column names at the top as those can become the field names in the database. I’m assuming you have a spreadsheet with addresses, like this one: Part 1: Register Your Database with the Address Book Data Source Wizardīefore creating any labels, the first thing you need to do is create your database. ![]() And, in fact, the first step will seem unrelated to merging labels, but it is necessary. LibreOffice is fully capable of doing this, but it’s not what I would call “easy” or straightforward. The idea behind a label merge, just like a form letter merge, is that you have a bunch of address information in a spreadsheet or database and, rather than having to enter all of that separately into a document to print labels, you’ll just have the software create the labels from the data you already have. So, here is my tutorial on how to merge labels in LibreOffice. Whenever that happens, I know that means I need to create a tutorial on here so I can remind myself how to do it if I ever need to do it again. In the process, I realized that I totally forgot how to do it after the first time. The first time, I actually did a form letter and a label merge the second time I just had to do an address label merge. I’ve been using LibreOffice for over a decade and have only had to do an address label merge twice in that time – both of which have been in the last month. ![]()
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