Difference between revisions of "Documentation/OOoAuthors User Manual/Writer Guide/Creating the data source"

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= Creating the data source =
 
= Creating the data source =
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Although you can create and print mailing labels and envelopes without using a data source, in most cases using a data source is the most expedient approach. This chapter assumes that you are using a data source.
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A ''data source'' is a database containing the name and address records (and optionally other information) from which a mailing list may be derived. Although you can create and print mailing labels and envelopes without using a data source, in most cases using a data source is the most expedient approach. This chapter assumes that you are using a data source.
  
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A data source is a file, spreadsheet or database, which contains the list of names and addresses the letter is to be sent to.
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OOo can access a wide variety of data sources, including spreadsheets, text files and databases such as MySQL, Adabas, and ODBC. If the information to be used in the mail merge is currently in a format that OOo cannot access directly, you need to convert it, for example by exporting it to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.
  
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For this example, we will use the following column headers: ''First name, Last name, Address 1, Address 2, Town/City, State/County, Country, Postal Code, Gender, Points''. A sample data source is shown below.
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For the following example we use a spreadsheet with the following column (field) headers: ''Title, First name, Last name, Address, State/County, Country, Post Code, Sex, Points''. A sample data source is shown below.
  
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OOo can access a wide variety of data sources, including spreadsheets, text files and databases such as MySQL, Adabas, and ODBC. If the information to be used in the mail merge is currently in a format that OOo can not access directly, you need to convert it, for example by exporting it to a comma-separated file.
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[[Image:WG11-1.png|Spreadsheet data source]]<br>''Spreadsheet data source.''
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You can enter the data for the mail merge as part of the Mail Merge Wizard. However, if you have more than a few records, you probably should use an external data source.
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[[Image:WG11-1.png|Spreadsheet data source]]<br>Spreadsheet data source.
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Latest revision as of 19:14, 18 September 2009



Creating the data source

A data source is a database containing the name and address records (and optionally other information) from which a mailing list may be derived. Although you can create and print mailing labels and envelopes without using a data source, in most cases using a data source is the most expedient approach. This chapter assumes that you are using a data source.

OOo can access a wide variety of data sources, including spreadsheets, text files and databases such as MySQL, Adabas, and ODBC. If the information to be used in the mail merge is currently in a format that OOo cannot access directly, you need to convert it, for example by exporting it to a comma-separated values (CSV) file.

For the following example we use a spreadsheet with the following column (field) headers: Title, First name, Last name, Address, State/County, Country, Post Code, Sex, Points. A sample data source is shown below.

Spreadsheet data source
Spreadsheet data source.

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