mail merge won't send email -- Google warning LO Writer='less secure app'

[default_abuser]

LO will not send emails via mail merge.

I’ve used LO 5.5 and 6, on Windows 7 and 10, at work and now at home, two different smtp servers (one gmail, one for work), and more security/authentication/port combinations than fit on two bingo cards, and nothing works.

Tools->Options->LO Office Writer->Mail Merge Email->Test Settings can frequently be successful on both lines with both gmail and my work smtp; but even when a configuration passes that test Writer is still not successful at actually sending email. When you click [send email messages] I frequently get “connection…established” “17 of 17 emails sent” (erroneous tho, none are actually sent) then right below it, the awful truth at the bottom line: “Emails not sent: 17.” Then down below it shows “sending failed” on on the individual emails.

I get indistinguishable behavior whether I’m using the gmail server or my work server. With both I can find multiple authentication/security/port combinations to pass the test, but none that will actually send email. Until I can get it to work with gmail my work ISP just wants to blame LO doesn’t want to help me but I have to do this for work

Last but not least, during my tests Google sent me a security warning that an unauthorized app was trying to access my account and it asked me if I wanted to authorize “less secure app access.” So I turned that on, thinking FINALLY I had solved it, but no. Still sent no sent emails from Writer. Thanks for helping.

update: work’s ISP is getting no authentication requests from me on their logs when I try to send the emails. They say they have not blocked Libre in a firewall or similar and they basically shrugged their shoulders and will no longer help me. They say basically it looks like Libre’s signals aren’t leaving my office–at least, they aren’t reaching the email server at the ISP.

[ve3oat]

Perhaps I am very old-fashioned but it seems like an unnecessary complication of life, as you have discovered, to use a word processor to send e-mail. Why not send your documents as attachments to a regular e-mail message, using an e-mail client like Thunderbird or Opera or any of the many others?

[mikekaganski]

@ve3oat: supposedly because that’s mail merge, and it could be used to automatize sending of auto-prepared mails to thousands of recipients.

[default_abuser]

I have over 1,000 emails to send to members of my organization. They are not marketing emails, so we don’t want to use Constant Contact as those members who have opted out of marketing emails would thus not receive this email we are trying to send, which we want/need all members to receive. Further, we have used mail merge features to customize each message for the particular member, including their name, account number, etc. Do you have a better free solution?

[default_abuser]

As recently as December 2017 we used LibreOffice to email tax receipts to all our members, thousands of customized emails sent with relative ease, which saved us a lot of money on printing and postage. Now that same feature can not be made to work even after many many hours of tinkering. This world is so frustrating.

[ve3oat]

The marvels of modern technology! It is too late to edit so please consider my earlier comment as “Withdrawn”.

[erikfjer]

I have been using open office for years, including latest supported version 4.1.11 and using mail merge for several clubs, doing mailings of customized account info, etc. As OO is no longer supported, and encourages changing to LO, I installed the latest version 7.3.0.3. LO is obviously a derivative from Open Office and setting up the mail merge function with tried & proven documents from Open Office was simple. Setting up the email server was identical to Open Office, and the “test connection” was successful. Executing the mail merge to either disk files or to the printer produces the proper result - correctly merged documents. When then selecting email, and selecting the “to” field appropriately, identical to the process in Open Office, the screen flashes “sending emails” but nothing actually gets sent,

The email function in 7.3.0.3 is clearly broken. I will be using the old Open Office app until LO is fixed.