Re: [libreoffice-users] printing envelopes

On 09/24/2017 11:07 PM, John R. Sowden wrote:
> I struggled with the method you referenced below, soliciting 
> assistance from this list.  The responders also could not get LO to 
> print a stack of envelopes.  We finally agreed that the LO way is to 
> print each envelope with each document.

John,

That's quite an eclectic collection of vintage software. I can't 
remember the last time I found someone still using DOS, an operating 
system I still miss. In one sense, I envy you. I'm an old PC-Write for 
DOS fan myself, and I loved all all those uber-productive WordStar 
ctrl-key combinations, which PC-Write emulated.

All that aside, I never saw your original question to this list, but if 
I had, I might have responded with a solution similar to Brian's. I have 
been using LO to print envelopes for years and it's the simplest thing 
ever. It appears from what you wrote to Brian that all you want is to 
print your return address on a batch of envelopes of different sizes so 
that your office staff can then grab one of the pre-printed envelopes 
and put the addressee on the envelope.

Here's how I did it with LO and #10 business sized envelopes.

1. I first found out how my printer feeds envelopes. Its paper feeder 
loads envelopes in the center of the feeder with the envelope turned in 
a landscape orientation with the top of the envelope facing left. I have 
had printers that fed envelopes on one side or the other of the paper 
feeder, with some facing left and some facing left, and some with face 
up printing and others with face-down printing.

2. Once I figured out how my printer feeds envelopes, I then created a 
blank LO document and set the orientation to landscape. Then, with trial 
and error, I figured out what margins I needed to set to get the text to 
appear at the location of a return address on an envelope. At first, I 
tried to change the paper size in LO to match the size of the envelopes, 
but then I realized I didn't need to do that. I just used my default 8.5 
x 11 paper size and adjusted my page margins so that the address 
appeared where it would print on the envelope.

Yes, my method took a little time (about 15 minutes) and I wasted an 
envelope or two (until I realized I could just print my test "envelopes" 
on regular letter sized paper, and then hold it up to an envelope to see 
if the margins would be right).

Once I got it set up, I saved the document as an LO template with my 
return address in place. As Brian suggested, I can now print out 100 
return address envelopes by simply selecting 100 copies. Of course, my 
printer's paper feeder will object to 100 envelopes being fed in one 
batch, but that's a printer issue, not an LO issue.

Now, I realize my method may be considered somewhat of a hack, but it 
works just fine. I like Brian's depiction of an envelope simply being 
another form of paper stock and LO being a tool to place characters on 
paper. It's just a matter of figuring out how the paper gets fed into a 
printer and then adjusting page margins to make sure the words appear on 
the paper where you want them.

I also realize that, by now, you have found another solution using a 
different application, but others may still be wondering how it can be 
done with LO.

Virgil

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