At 14:30 07/11/2008 +0200, Stan Goodman wrote:
I want to print sheets of uniform "labels" on Business-Card stock.
The content of these is entirely text, with no variable fields. I
have reviewed several tutorials on the subject, but am still flummoxed.
You are mixing up labels and business cards here - but I think you
are right to do so. A quick look suggests to me that OpenOffice's
Business Cards facility is mostly useful in that it creates a complex
layout for all the items that it expects you to want to include on a
business card. If you need to print on business card stock but to
have total control over the content and format, it may well be that
using OpenOffice's Labels facility is the way to go.
The first problem is that the dialog at New > Business Card shows
dimensions in inches, even though OOo is set up for metric units.
There is not problem is converting that size of each label, but the
top and left margins are in even tenths of an inch, ...
I'm puzzled by this. The label sizes seem to be round figures in
inches, so it is not surprising that they are specified in
inches. But you knew that. The units for the various spacings that
appear on the Format tab of the Business Cards dialogue are those
that you set at Tools | Options... | OpenOffice.org Writer | General
| Settings | Measurement unit. Change them there if necessary. In
any case, you can enter values in other units in that dialogue ...
... and it is not possible to set margins for 17mm (~0.67"). There
has to be a way to do that.
You can type .67in or .67" and OpenOffice will convert this before
your eyes to any other units you have selected! If you mean that
OpenOffice objects to this value in some way, you may have to say
how. Are you perhaps just being warned that the margins are outside
your printer's capabilities?
The stock I have is made by "Geographics".
There is information about this on their web site, of course. In
particular, it suggests "Printing Help: Try mailing label 5371 in
your word processor." Did you try that? 5371 is an Avery (Letter)
format, and it appears in the list for both Business Cards and Labels
in OpenOffice. The web site also offers a template for
downloading. (This is actually a Word document file, not a proper
template, in fact.) Did you try that? You could use this in either
of two ways: as an actual framework in which to insert your material,
or else to examine carefully for the various format spacings that you
need to construct your own set-up. In the latter case, open the
document in Writer and then examine the various values at Format |
Page... | Page, at Table | Table Format... | Columns, and at
right-click | Row > | Height... to find what you need.
The "Business Cards" tab of this dialog offers me five canned
content formats, none of which is appropriate. All are based on
variable fields.
Indeed. As I say, I think you are right to think of Labels as being
nearer to what you need.
How can I just point OOo at the prepared text, which I have prepared
in the form of a template, and placed in the "My Templates" folder.
Where should this template be so that OOo will see add it to the
list of the existing canned Business Card templates?
I don't know that you can. But that is probably not the right way
forward anyway. I suggest:
o Create a new Labels document.
o On the Labels tab, select "Avery Letter Size" for Brand and "5371
Business Card - White" for Type.
o Ensure that the "Label text" box is empty.
o On the Format tab, modify any settings as required.
o On the Options tab, select "Entire page" and tick "Synchronize contents".
o Enter your required material in the first label.
o Click Synchronize Labels to populate all your labels.
If you want to keep your work as a template for future use, go to
File | Templates > | Save..., select My Templates as Category and
give the template a name. When you need to use it, you can again
enter material once and use Synchronize Labels to populate all your labels.
This is OOo Build 2.3.0.1.5.
All the above is for 3.0; I imagine your version is not dissimilar.
I trust this helps.
Brian Barker
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
