Can someone PLEASE help me print an envelope?

English
#1

I cannot place the sender’s address in the proper location on a #10 envelope. It locates way to far to the right, and too low from the top by far. I have tried everything I can imagine, and the F1 help information is no help at all. I am looking for a 1/4" indent from the left (which my printer will do), and a 1/4" margin at the top (which Libre Writer seems unable to do?). Is there a human out there that knows how to solve this problem?

This feature is not user friendly or intuitive at all. Makes me completely crazy, and is costing me future employment opportunities.

Thanks,
Scott

how do I print an envelope using LibreOffice?
#2

Here’s my problem: I have a MacBook OS 10.11, LO 5. My LO creates envelopes just fine, but they print sideways at right edge of envelope, as if it’s for 8x11 paper. In print, I have to change tab for “LibreOffice” to “format” to even see a print button, and the “select paper size” function is greyed out no matter what tab I use, so I cannot select “#10 envelope.” If I try to change envelope to Landscape, the text boxes do NOT turn sideways, so that doesn’t help.

#3

Here is what works for me (I don’t print too many envelopes.)

Two ways to format an envelope: (I usually go with #1)

  1. Use the Menu - Insert - Envelope
    In the Envelope tab enter the Addressee and Sender info

    Format tab under size select #10 envelope ( the Sender position numbers are apparently derived from your printer driver “printable area” spec or something - not too sure about that - but don’t worry about it at this step.)

    Printer tab - select the appropriate orientation for your printer and under Current Printer go to the setup and set the appropriate printer settings - especially the paper size for #10 envelope.

    Then either make a new document or insert the envelope as a page in your current document.

    Select the text box surrounding the sender (or addressee) text and then drag it to the position where you really want it.

  2. Format your page to a #10 envelope size and set the margins wherever you want - enter the text - print it.

Good luck - there are apparently a multitude of pitfalls with printing envelopes since there is such a wide variety of printers, all doing things just a little different.

#4

I have the same problem, I am using an HP Envy 5535 printer and it prints my addresses too far down the envelope. I tried opening the printer settings from the envelope print dialog and I changed the print to landscape mode and the paper to a #10 envelope. For those who don’t know, on my printer there is a guide you move to load envelopes, and it centers them in the printer and inserts them sideways to print in landscape mode. I selected the proper orientation in the print envelope dialog box, but I still get the error. I would like to move away from Microsoft products whenever possible, and would like to continue to use Writer, but this makes it difficult.

#5

I didn’t realize the date on the original question until I posted. Suggest you open a new thread with your question so it can be separately tracked. If I see your post, I will add my answer there.

#6

Bear with me for a moment and I’ll provide my current approach.

After years of printing envelopes with M$ Word, I ran into problems with a particular printer I no longer have. The primary problem was smearing. I tried several approaches to fix the problem with limited or no success.

HERE IS MY CURRENT APPROACH

I finally settled on printing the addressee and return address to a piece of paper (this may also include a business logo). I make sure these two addresses match the bubbles on a bubble envelope. I developed a template docx (now odt) for future use with placeholders for this information.

Once the address information is printed on paper, I fold this paper either separately or as the top page in the document to be mailed and ensure the addresses show in the envelope windows.

I no longer have to worry about special envelope settings (including paper thickness), smearing, paper tray settings, re-tooling, etc.

Hope this helps.

Please click the check mark beside the response you believe best answers your question.

#7

I had a similar problem.
The fix I found and seems to work for me every time was in the formatting.

By default (I have found no way to change this) LO inserts an envelope that is the wrong size. I wish it would insert a standard size (#10) envelope by default.

After inserting the envelope I go to format → page and on the page tab I usually find that it has inserted an envelope that is “user” format. The width x height is shown as 9.5 (correct) X 6.31 (incorrect).
Changing the “format” button from ‘user’ to ‘#10 Envelope’ changes the incorrect height to 4.13 (correct).

This is also where you set the left and top margins, and on the header and footer tabs I make certain both are turned off.
Once the formatting is done I click the OK button and it returns me to the document with the page size and orientation correct.

I now have 2 text boxes on the page, one for the sender return address and one for the ‘to’ address. I do not recall if LO created those or if I did, but they are very useful for positioning the text properly.

The only thing left is to 1) enter the addresses, 2) drag the text boxes to the proper position on the envelope, and 3) save the document as a template so you do not have to redo everything you just did each time you want to print a new envelope.
Now it prints the envelope properly formatted.

#8

I had a similar problem.
The fix I found and seems to work for me every time was in the formatting.

By default (I have found no way to change this) LO inserts an envelope that is the wrong size. I wish it would insert a standard size (#10) envelope by default.

After inserting the envelope I go to format → page and on the page tab I usually find that it has inserted an envelope that is “user” format. The width x height is shown as 9.5 (correct) X 6.31 (incorrect).
Changing the “format” button from ‘user’ to ‘#10 Envelope’ changes the incorrect height to 4.13 (correct).

This is also where you set the left and top margins, and on the header and footer tabs I make certain both are turned off.
Once the formatting is done I click the OK button and it returns me to the document with the page size and orientation correct.

I now have 2 text boxes on the page, one for the sender return address and one for the ‘to’ address. I do not recall if LO created those or if I did, but they are very useful for positioning the text properly.

The only thing left is to 1) enter the addresses, 2) drag the text boxes to the proper position on the envelope, and 3) save the document as a template so you do not have to redo everything you just did each time you want to print a new envelope.
Now it prints the envelope properly formatted.

#9

Doing all that, the printer still prints a letter sized page that omits the senders address and places the addressee far to the left.

#10

Abandon the Envelope Wizard - it is buggy with peculiar spacings.

Create a template with the same page size as the envelope you want to use.

Edit the template with the name and address.

Print the page.

As you used a template (File > Save As > Template …), the template will be unchanged and ready to use again.

This is my C:\Users\John\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\template$ Envelope - A4 folded in three.ott
$ Envelope - A4 folded in three.ott

1 Like
#16

JohnHa,

Many thanks. I wrestled with the Envelope Wizard for an hour, however, after following your advice, had my envelope printed in less than 3 minutes.

Hopefully the man behind the curtain will get better over time.

#17

The template approach makes no difference. Creating the document from the template is no problem but it still prints as if the paper size was 8.5 x 11.

#11

I have used all these approaches and all produce the same result:

  • Addressee is too low on a #10 envelope
  • Sender address is set and does not appear at all

What I did notice is that on the printer setting tab you cannot change the size from letter size. Nor does the tab register the size you do set under the format tab. This makes me suspect that there is a bug in the feature as well as a major UX design flaw. If the goal is to somewhat clone MS office, at least let’s look at how MS does it and develop an even more intuitive interface.

#20
#18

I would guess the bug is in setting the paper size. There seems to be no way to manually set any paper size that is not already on the menu list and most of the paper size options on the menu do not change the paper size.

There are 17 different paper size options on the Paper Layout/Paper Size menu, 5 of which are envelopes. Of these, none of the envelopes print properly and 7 paper sizes only print 8.5x11. Only the letter (which is 8.5x11), legal, A4, German Legal Fanfold and a User Defined 8.5x13.4 paper sizes print correctly. All others print 8.5x11.

You can create templates of any size you want, but they all come print as 8.5x11. It also doesn’t matter what you set in the system printer settings as the application settings override the system settings.

I have no idea how the “User Defined” paper sizes ever materialized. There seems to be no way to modify or delete these paper sizes and there seems to be no way to create new ones.

#12

I had the same trouble, but I remembered how I did it with OpenOffice on an old Mac. Save all envelopes as Pdf. when you print them the first time, go to the Page Setup tab on the PRINT page & set it to 4 x 6 & Landscape. That document will then print as a 4 x 6 envelope without changing the printer setting.

#13

Backstory: 1. Insert->Envelope didn’t seem flexible enough to allow me to change fonts, positions, etc.
2. I opted to create a new text document, and resize it to a vertical #10-envelope (4.13Wx9-somethingH).
3. However, when I went to print it, LO insisted that the print-size was “Letter”, with no apparent way to correct it.
4. The result was that my printer, which uses a center-aligning guide for feeding media, dutifully printed it, left-justified, to an 8-1/2x11 size.
5. Because it was printed left-of-center, the envelope, which was fed from the center, came out with no printing.

My solution, just verified:

  1. create a #10-envelope-sized txt document, assuming you’ll be feeding envelopes end-first, and not top-first.
  2. insert a rectangular “text box” for the address (a drawing object: File->Toolbars->Drawing and click the “T” icon on it).
  3. type in and format the desired text
  4. click outside the text box and then right-click the box and then Position and Alignment
  5. rotate it first (90 or 270 degrees, depending on whether right or left end will be fed first)
  6. left-click one of the red outline bars and drag it to place it on the envelope.
  7. do same for return address
  8. File->ExportAs->PDF, leaving defaults for all exc. InitialView->PageLayout->SinglePage (which was prob. unnec.)
  9. open in a PDF viewer (‘evince’ app in Ubuntu Linux), and print from there. In the PDF viewer, it looks like a sideways-envelope, but when it prints, the printer (Samsung M2020W) honors the centering, and prints it in the center of the printer–where the envelope actually is.
  10. turn off the Drawing toolbar by right-clicking anywhere on it and CloseToolbar.
#14

Go with the pdf solution. I used LibreOffice for years, printing envelopes of various sizes perfectly satisfactorily. Only recently - following (not necessarily because of) various system (Ubuntu/ LibreOffice) updates, I can no longer print DL envelopes using the manual feed of my Samsung M2835. I think I’ve tried every suggestion online, with zero success. The pdf thing works - i.e., not printing from LibreOffice.

#15

Okay (after hours of frustration), it was time for a more radical approach. Here is my solution.

Disclaimer: this may be slightly risky – no responsibility accepted for damage to printers, etc.!

Step #1: Type address/return address in the correct position on A4 paper size.

Step #2: Hook your envelope over a piece of A4 paper, using the closing flap on the envelope.

Step #3: Insert A4 paper + envelope in your printer and print.

I’ve tried this a few times with perfect results. No technical expertise required. (Now – am I, or am I not, a genius?)

N.B. This will probably only work for top-closing envelopes (although printing with 90 degrees orientation with end-closing envelopes may well work, although I haven’t tried that).

#19

Here is a work around that is a PIA but once completed is easy to use in the future.

  1. Open Writer and from the Format menu select Page Style → Page → Landscape. (This will turn an 8.5x11 page sideways.)

  2. Draw a box 9 1/2" wide by 4 1/8" high. (This is your envelope pattern.) Center it vertically and position it to the right hand edge of the page. Clear the fill pattern.

  3. Draw 2 text boxes, one for addressee and one the return address and position them appropriately in the envelope pattern. Be sure to place some text in each box or they will disappear.

  4. From the “File” menu select Template → Save as Template, give it a name (e.g., 10 envelope), select Envelope for style and save. Then close the document. (You don’t need to save it as a document.)_

  5. To print a #10 envelope, pull down the File menu and select Template → Open Templates → Envelope → Your Template Name (e.g. 10 envelope). Edit the text boxes, insert #10 envelope in manual feed tray and print.

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