Trying to merge spreadsheet into mailing labels

[SusanR]

I used to use a mail merge on Windows Office to get address labels from an excel spreadsheet. I can’t figure out how to do that on Libre Office. Is it possible? If yes, then I would appreciate step by step (simple) instruction on how to do it.

This is my first time asking a question on this forum so I am not sure if I am doing this correctly or even making sense.

Thanks,
Susan

[mariosv]

https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/guide/labels.html?DbPAR=SHARED#bm_id3150774

[Wanderer]

@SusanR

Is it possible?

Sure. But it is handled differently to MS-Office. MS sells Access as a separate product, so Word/Excel can not rely on Access for help.
As Star-/Open-/LibreOffice contains a database module named Base it is used to make the connections.
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I avoid mostly the available assistants, so for me it is a two step process (define datasource, then usage):

• At first I open Base to define a new datasource. When Base asks what to do I tell to connect to an “existing database”, the type of my database is “spreadsheet” and I can then select the file I wish to use. Usually I also register the database. This assigns a name to the connection.
  This process creates an .odb-file. It will have not the actual data (they are in the spreadsheet), but hold only the connection to/location of the data.
• Now your new datasource is shown when you choose View>Data Sources (Ctrl+Shift+F4) from the menu. You can find a picture of the result for the always available datasource bibliogrphy in this thread: Writer: "View>Data Sources" always disabled - #2 by Hrbrgr
• Open a writer-file and drag a column-head from the right part of the data-sources view to your document and it will be inserted as a field. Place as much as you need in your text and save somewhere.
• Last point to mention: There is no obvious big button “create serial letter”, but if you select print for this file you will be asked, if you wish to create a serial letter. If you select yes, you can select records from your datasource, then print. While testing I recommend to write the result in a file or to print to pdf.

[Grantler]

@SusanR

I used to use a mail merge on Windows Office to get address labels from an excel spreadsheet

(The “Excel” app of LibreOffice is called Calc.)
When using mail merge on Word/Excel there is no third file to use compared to Calc/Base/Writer.
For LibreOffice (Calc/Base/Writer) you may use a Calc file for your different addresses (data base origin) which writes a Base file. You do not have to edit the Base file. But it must exist. And it must be connected to the Calc file.
This first step - before starting mail merge on Writer - is a fundamental difference to Word/Excel. Having solved this problem it will be pretty easy to handle mail merge.
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When going forward to do this you can inform yourself on a German tutorial (your browser may interpret it):
Serienbrief: Daten einer Calc-Tabelle als Datenbank anmelden
Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitung
or translated:
Mail merge: Registering data from a Calc spreadsheet as a database
Step-by-step instructions
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This explanation is related to @Wanderer’s first point of his bulleted list.
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Solving this hard start you will see that @Wanderer’s advices are better to get used to.
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Godspeed