In another email I said that I had given up on using mailmerge, since the labels never print out
as you want them to. My problem is this:
I have a laser printer, Brother HL-5340D, excellent in all ways. I print from a Mac running OSX
10.6.6 and LibO 3.3.1. I use A4 sized sheets with three columns and eight rows of labels.
Avery L7159 has the same number of labels but they are slightly different. On the Avery L7159
format, the labels have a small vertical margin between labels. On my sheets, there is no
vertical margin. This should actually be better for my problem, but doesn't help.
What I get when I print is the first column of labels begin to print at the extreme left margin
so that a couple of letters are missing, notwithstanding that the Avery labels don't actually
extend to the extreme left margin. The second column starts printing in the middle of the
margin between labels 1 and 2, so that the first letter comes at the extreme left edge of the
label. The same thing happens with label 3, which, additionally prints all the way to the
extreme right edge, notwithstanding that the Avery label doesn't extend all the way to the
extreme right edge, so that letters are missing from long names or addresses which don't wrap as
they should.
I have tried creating my own custom label template, but there are so many other problems with
the mailmerge system that I've given up. For example, what I get when I manage to get labels
with the wizard is this:
Page 1 contains one row of the A's, three of them, of course, then 7 rows of labels with field
names. Page 2 starts with the fourth name in the list and continues "normally", as do
subsequent pages. I place "normally" in quotation marks since the normal form of the labels is,
as I said earlier, lacking letters on each label.
If any kind soul has a custom template which they think works with labels of this type, Avery
L7159 or ones which extend to the extreme left and right edges, and is willing to share it, I'll
give them, perhaps not gold, but undying admiration and gratitude.
But basically, I think the mailmerge system could do with a good working over. That, or the
instructions on how to use it, either manually or with the wizard. Fortunately my labels are
only around 200, for our local gardening club, so I can cope with doing it more or less
manually, but it would be nice to be able to automatise it.
TIA
//James