Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: My "form letter query" is missing after the recent
Hello,
This was working fine just a few days ago, until I updated Neo. I have been making labels in NeoOffice, and I did it by creating a small database from a spreadsheet. I then created a new label doc, chose my avery preferences and data..and that should've been it. Before, when I chose file>print, it would ask me if I wanted to print a form letter. This query dialogue has gone missing somehow in the most recent update. I am either skipping over something very minor, or there is a problem here.. When I now choose file>print, it prints out the link instead of the actual data (ex: it would print "First Name" instead of the actual first name of the person).
Joined: Jun 20, 2006 Posts: 2051 Location: Midwest, USA
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:56 pm Post subject:
gigaMeK:
I have encountered the "would you like to print a form letter" dialog while doing labels recently, so I know it's still there, at least under some circumstances.
When you say you "updated" Neo, what do you mean, precisely? From which version to which version?
If you just upgraded from 1.x to 2.x, then data sources are handled differently. I won't go through the process now, since I don't know if that's this issue, but if it is, I can walk you through it (it is pretty simple).
If you click on "view data sources," does your spreadsheet show up?
Thanks for the response Lorinda. I misworded my post a little bit. I am on OSX and am running 2.1, a couple of days ago I updated Neo to patch 3. That's when I somehow lost the dialog that asks me if I would like to print a form letter. I went to view>data sources and my database showed up and was selected and all of my fields were in place in my document. The problem occurs when I try to print, the data sources are not being carried over from the database into the document. The problem could be something as simple as as an option or preference or something, but nevertheless happened when I updated Neo.
The way that I set up the dbase:
I linked it to a spreadsheet.
Select New>Label
I fill in the labels how I want them and choose my avery paper.
click new document
New doc opens up and shows which data I chose to sync.
(Before when I got to this point, I would simply select file>print and then it would ask if I wanted to print a form letter - now it just prints out which fields I want used (ex: First Name is printed instead of Janet)
This is where it gets boggled..and I am clueless how to fix.
Joined: Jun 20, 2006 Posts: 2051 Location: Midwest, USA
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 5:45 pm Post subject:
gigaMEK:
Thanks for the clarification. I'm working with patch 3, and the dialog shows up for me, so if it's the patch, it doesn't happen to everyone. But there is a "don't show this dialog again" check box in that dialog. I'm wondering if you accidently turned it off. Unfortunately, I didn't find any information about turning it back on, and a search of the seemingly relevant preference settings didn't turn up anything.
But I think I have found a work around for you. In the process of trying to figure out what was going on, I looked up "Mail Merge" in the on-line help, and found some rather cryptic instructions for adding the "old" Mail Merge dialog (not the Wizard) to a menu. This is the very same menu that comes up after you click "yes" in that "Do you want to print a form letter?" dialog that you are missing right now.
Go to the Tools menu and choose "Customize"
Then choose either "Keyboard," "Menus" or "Toolbars," depending on how you want to access the Mail Merge dialog.
The Mail Merge command can be found in the "Documents" category. Just assign it a shortcut key, or add it to a menu or a toolbar, and you'll have access to it.
In terms of getting the original "do you want to print a form letter?" dialog to reappear, you might need to post a question in the OpenOffice.org forums if no one here knows how.
Lorinda,
I really appreciate all of your efforts. I am almost positive that the problem lies in the "don't show this dialog again" checkbox. I looked around to see how I could re-enable the notifications, but to no avail. I'll dig around at the OOo forums and see what's up. I will keep looking into it and post back when I figure out what happened.
Thank you for the work around.
Joined: May 15, 2005 Posts: 94 Location: Iowa, USA
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 8:39 pm Post subject:
I remember running across this problem previously. Now if I could just remember how it was solved.
If I remember correctly the way to get the dialogue window to reappear was to trash the preference file. ~/Library/Preferences/NeoOffice 2.1 Then restart Neo.
Of course you may want to back up the folder first.
Joined: Jun 20, 2006 Posts: 2051 Location: Midwest, USA
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 8:57 pm Post subject:
If you trying pulling the Preferences files, and it works, and you may want to read this page of the wiki on salvaging important settings/files from the preferences. (Including such things as macros, templates, clipart, customized toolbars and keyboard shortcuts, etc.)
Bingo! That did it, rev. The preference file from 2.x was there as well, could that have been clashing with my 2.1 preference file? Anyway, I deleted both of them and relaunched and all was well. Thankfully, I am a somewhat recent convert to Neo (which I freakin' love by the way) and didn't have much to lose as far as clipart, etc. so it all worked out.
I did, however, have to completely recreate my database and go through the motions again in order to get it all re-linked up. For some reason, my database didn't show up when I clicked on view>data sources. It did show up when I recreated it. Not too much of a pain, since it was small in size. I guess I got off light on this one...
I do apologize for asking a question that has been answered previously. I searched earlier, but had no luck.
I really appreciate your help on this Lorinda and revsmitty!
Thanks Amayze. I followed your links to Solvieg's blog, but didn't see a solution to bring back that print form letter dialogue if you do accidentally click the do not show box. lol She just warned to "NEVER mark the checkbox" .. wish I saw her blog before.
I can't honestly remember if I clicked that box or not. I use Neo everyday, and I just couldn't see myself doing that...
For the sake of research.. Let's just say I did, how would one go about bringing it back? And if I didn't, then why would it disappear after I updated to patch 3?
Joined: May 15, 2005 Posts: 94 Location: Iowa, USA
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 8:37 pm Post subject:
gigaMEK,
First of all Welcome to NeoOffice.
Don't be embarassed to ask questions. I would venture to guess that all of us have asked the questions at some time or another.
And finding the answer isn't always easy. I knew it was here somewhere and I didn't find it.
Part of the fun for me is reading the forums and and going "Wow, I didn't know you could do that." or "So that's how that is done!"
As for the preference files I doubt if the 2.x and 1.2 files were causing the problem but deleting them doesn't hurt anything either. Neo only looks at the 2.1 file now.
The reason your database file didn't show upafter you trashed the preferences was the link that told Neo where to find it was part of the preferences file you deleted.
As for why the dialogue window disappeared after patch 3., who knows. There have been problems with preferences files becoming corrupted occasionally when upgrading from 1.2 or 2.0 to 2.1 but not with the patches. Maybe it was just the computer gremlins.
Joined: Jun 20, 2006 Posts: 2051 Location: Midwest, USA
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 6:28 am Post subject:
revsmitty wrote:
Lorinda, Do you suppose this might be worth putting in the Wiki?
Galen
Yes, I do. I've added to the "Tips to Add to the Wiki" list. I'm not sure if it should be it's own article or if it should be added to an existing one; I'll figure that out later. Thanks for the suggestion.
gigaMEK wrote:
I do apologize for asking a question that has been answered previously. I searched earlier, but had no luck.
As Galen said, don't worry about it. And I'm not sure that your particular question has been asked before. At least I don't remember seeing it. I'm just glad that my recent work had me printing mail-merge labels; it meant I was familiar with the dialog you were talking about--especially that 'don't ask any more' check box. And now I know not to satisfy my curiosity by turning it off!
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