Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 118946
hidden content or a section at the top of first page destroys layout of merged letters
Last modified: 2014-09-02 18:12:50 UTC
Created attachment 77235 [details] a simple text Database for serial letters is a file test.ods create a new text file .odt fill in the very first line a database field <Name>. Print a serial letter. You will have an empty page after each letter. Dependant on complexity of the letter several different problems of printing occur: Missing form feeds afer each letter, or missing parts of text in the middle or at the and of the text. Even a complete colum of a two-colum-tables was missing, the "new" table took the same size as the original table, that means, the printed colum became wider. I tested several letters, more and less complex. No one of them was printed correctly. Until OpenOffice 3.1 all my serial letters worked without any problems. If desired I can email a set of more complex printouts and odt-files.
There is an empty page after each record. Test1.ods has 5 records -> resulting letter has 9 pages instead of 5. AOO410m14(Build:9760) - Rev. 1573601 2014-03-03 17:47:48 (Mo, 03 Mrz 2014) Win 7
The newest Version (4.1.1.) Shows the same defect as the older ones. The attachment demo1 contains a more complex Serial letter, containing tables and free text. the table ist toatally destroyed, form feed is missing, parts of the free text are missing. demo1.pdf has not been created by open Office, but by a virtual printer. There ist no changement since Version 3.1.
Created attachment 83915 [details] more complex serial letter this demo is normally an ott file, containing several letter headers. in General the database ist used to print only the Destination addresses. In rare cases additional data are used.
I can reproduce the problem with AOO 4.1.1 (no choice for it at "Latest Confirmation on:") under Linux. Because the OP stated that it was OK until 3.1 it seems to be a REGRESSION. The sample document includes many hidden sections but it seems no reason for the bug. I made all sections visible an give each a separate background color. The preview of mailmerge shows that the first section is destroyed without having a background color. To save the layout I tried to insert a paragraph before the first section. I formatted the characters of the paragraph as hidden and created a new paragraph style with it. Same result as before. By the way: If I use the original document demo1.ods without any changes and insert a paragraph break before the first letter (before name1) AOO crashes.
*** Issue 102297 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***