Printing

If your data is just normal stored data, see Printing Any Document Based on Fixed Data. If your data is from a data source, i.e. you're doing a mail merge, see Printing or Emailing Mail Merge Documents.

Printing Any Document Based on Fixed Data

Just choose File > Print; you're using fixed data so the program can handle printing it normally. See Chapter 12, Printing in Writer , on page 425.

Printing or Emailing Mail Merge Documents

Until you follow the instructions in this section to bring up the Form Letter window and tell the program, "Yes, I really do want to print using this data," you get only blanks or the field names when you print.

1. Open the document you want to print.

2. Choose File > Form Letter. The window in Figure 10-56 will appear. If you want to change data sources or tables, do so now, and enter any filtering or other printing options. The following subsections demonstrate how to print to a printer, how to email, or print to files.

   Figure 10-56. Printing a document containing data source data to a printer

   

Note

You can sort the data to print in a different order, and search for a particular record. See Sorting on page 918 and Filtering on page 918.

Printing to a Printer

Figure 10-56 shows the options for printing to a printer.

1. Specify the appropriate options in this window, then click OK.

2. The print window will then appear; enter any options in that window and click Print. Note that in the Print window, you enter the number of pages in the document to print, not the number of records. Typically you'll want to choose to print All pages, not a range of pages.

Be careful of the Create Single Print Jobs option in the Form Letter or Print Options window, for any application, when you print to a duplex printer. If this option is selected, each new print job will begin on a new page even if you are using a duplex printer. If this field is not checked then the first page of the second copy might be printed on the reverse side of the last page of the first copy, especially if there is an odd page number.

Emailing Recipients

Figure 10-57 shows the options for emailing recipients. Be sure your email program is already up and running, and that you're completely logged into it, before you click OK in this window.

Figure 10-57. Emailing a document containing data source data

Be careful about sending a document that has graphics in it. If you inserted the graphics using the Link option, your recipients won't be able to see the graphics if the link points to a location that only you can access, like your own hard drive or a folder on the network that only you have access to. It's a good idea to email PDFs if your document has any inserted objects.

Printing to Writer Files

Figure 10-58 shows the options for printing to a printer, emailing the letter, or printing to a Writer file.

Figure 10-58. Printing a document containing data source data to a file

Faxing

Be sure that your fax device is set up; see Setting Up Faxing Capabilities on page 63.

Follow the procedure for letters ; see Printing or Emailing Mail Merge Documents on page 399.

Select Printer as the output method and then, in the Print window, select your fax device.

Figure 10-59. Selecting a fax device

Printing and Layout Tips

Often, your document will print beautifully the first time. If there's anything you need to tweak, take a look at the hints in this section.

Showing Data Instead of Field Names, Onscreen Before You Print

When you create just about any document in this chapter, the name of the field, such as CONTACTS_FIRSTNAME, will be displayed instead of the data itself. Since the data source and name are hardly ever the same length as the data itself, this makes it hard to judge how much space the data will take up, whether the printed version will look good or wrap hideously, etc.

In order to see the data instead of the field names, choose View > Fields to remove the check mark next to Fields.

Fixing Spacing Between Data Source Fields

Often you'll be presented with a window like this that lets you insert the fields you want to appear in the document. Or you'll be able to simply drag the fields from the data source viewer. In either case, make sure you space the fields appropriately and put in the appropriate carriage returns, preferably in the insertion window or if necessary later in the created document. Otherwise you'll end up with:

 ElaineNelson626AspenLaneBerthoudCO80022 

Fixing Problems With Empty Fields and Lines

If some records in the database don't have certain fields filled in, those empty fields will create extra spaces and blank lines in the mail merge. Use the following merge fields as an example.

 <PREFIX> <FIRSTNAME> <LASTNAME> <COMPANY> <ADDRESS> <CITY>, <STATE> <POSTALCODE> 

If a record doesn't have a Mr., Ms., Dr., or whatever in the Prefix field, the merge will show an empty space before the first name. Also, if the record doesn't have any company information entered, there will be an empty paragraph between the name and the address.

The obvious answer is to remove the Prefix field entirely. However, if you want it in and some of your data just doesn't have a value for that field, here's how to make the merge remove the empty space and the blank line. (You can use the techniques in these procedures to tighten up other parts of mail merges.)

Fixing the Empty Space Problem

This procedure shows you how to fix empty space on a line caused by empty fields. A prime example of this issue is when a database record doesn't have a prefix (Mr., Ms., Dr.) for one of your contacts. So we use a <PREFIX> field as an example in this procedure.

Note

For more information about conditions, see Condition Syntax on page 866.

1. Don't put a space between the Prefix and the First name fields, so that it looks like this: <PREFIX><FIRSTNAME>

2. In the document, click between the two fields, and press Ctrl+F2 to bring up the Fields window.

3. Click the Functions tab.

4. In the Type list, select Hidden Text.

5. In the Condition field, type PREFIX . (Or whatever the name of the field is that's turning up empty in your documents.)

6. In the Text field, press the space bar to enter a space.

7. Click Insert.

The condition you just entered means that if a PREFIX exists in a record, it will be printed with a space after it. If there's no prefix in the record, the line will begin with the first name.

Fixing the Empty Line Problem

This procedure shows you how to fix empty lines caused by empty fields. A prime example of this is when a database record doesn't have company information for one of your contacts, so we use a < COMPANY > field as an example.

1. Click in front of the < COMPANY > field.

2. Press Ctrl+F2 to bring up the Fields window.

3. Click the Functions tab.

4. In the Type list, select Hidden Paragraph.

5. In the Condition field, enter COMPANY EQ "" (which translated means, "if COMPANY equals nothing").

6. Click Insert.

The condition you just entered means that if there's nothing in the company field, create a hidden paragraph. That brings the address information just beneath the name information in the mail merge.

Printing in a Different Order, or Restricting the Records to Print

You can sort the data to print in a different order, and search for a particular record. See Sorting on page 918 and Filtering on page 918.

Note

It doesn't hurt to do a test run before printing everything to everyone in the data source, or before printing your business cards on the really nice cardstock. Print one record, and all the pages you need in order to judge whether it worked. This is probably only one page since address information is usually all at the beginning.