Re: [libreoffice-users] writer: business cards w/ tables - duplicate cells

At 16:17 19/11/2011 -0500, Matthew Monaco wrote:
> I'm trying to print out some business cards in writer. The document 
> consists of a 5x2 table taking up the entire page.  I'd like the 
> first cell to be the master cell and the remaining 9 to just be 
> duplicates. I've tried to set the other cells as a formula =<A1>, 
> but that just leaves me with 0.

That's because that facility works with numbers, not text.

> Is there some way to do this?

Here's one idea:
o Select the required text in the first cell.
o Go to Insert | Cross-reference...| Cross-references.
o Under Type, select Set Reference.
o For Name, enter a name for your paragraph of text.
o Click Insert.  (Leave the Fields panel open.)
o Click in each other cell in turn.
o Under Type, select Insert Reference; under Selection, select your 
name; and under "Insert reference to", select Reference.
o Click Insert.

You will notice that only a single paragraph of text can be 
referenced in this way.  And if you modify the source text, you will 
need to use Tools | Update > | Fields (or F9) to update the copies.

> If it involves fields, will it include the formatting?

Sadly, it appears not.  So it might be easier simply to copy and 
paste the text ...

> As a secondary issue, the 5 cell rows are 2 inches high. The 
> document is US Letter (11 inches long). And the top and bottom 
> margins are set to .5 inches each. Therefore, everything should fit 
> exactly. However, there is a blank second page which I cannot get 
> rid of. Any suggestions?

There is always an empty paragraph after a table, and this appears to 
occupy a vertical space appropriate to its font size.  You can get 
around this problem in many ways:
o Simplest, just print the pages you need, not the extra one.
o Reduce the bottom margin to accommodate the empty 
paragraph.  Nothing will print there, of course.,
o You can reduce the font size of the empty paragraph to make all this easier.
It is easier to see what you are doing here if you toggle on the 
display of non-printing characters.

But here's a much better idea:
o Go to File | New > | Labels.
o On the Format tab, set up your required card sizes.
o On the Options tab, select "Entire page" and "Synchronize contents".
o Click New Document.
o Enter and format your text once and click Synchronize Labels.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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