<p class="P2">Register an address data source in <help:productname xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help">%PRODUCTNAME</help:productname>, if you have not done so already.</p>
<p class="P2">You can find instructions <help:link Id="68409" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help">under the search term "address book" in the <help:productname>%PRODUCTNAME</help:productname> Help</help:link>.</p>
</li>
<li class="">
<p class="P2">Press Shift+Ctrl+N to open one of the form letter templates provided.</p>
<p class="P2">In the <span class="T1">Business Correspondence</span> category, select the <span class="T1">Elegant Letter</span>, for example.</p>
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<p class="P2">Select the addresses to be used for the form letter, or enter them now.</p>
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<p class="P2">Let <help:productname xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help">%PRODUCTNAME</help:productname> create the form letter and print it.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">To create a form letter you need the recipients' addresses, which should be in the form of a StarBase database table, and a text document containing the text of the letter. You will notice that fields appear at the positions in the text where the name and address should be <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>printed. These fields draw their information from the corresponding database fields. You can define these fields if you go to the<span class="T1"> Insert</span> menu and choose <span class="T1">Field</span> and from the sub menu select <span class="T1">Other</span>. The <span class="T1">Fields </span>dialog will appear, where you can define the fields.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">Fields are a type of place holder in your document. <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>These can be chosen when first inserting a field or opening or printing a current document. You can carry out an update manually with the (F9) key.</p>
<p class="Head3"><help:key-word value="dates; fixed and variable" tag="kw68207_7" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="fields; fixed and variable" tag="kw68207_6" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Fixed and Variable Fields</p>
<p class="Paragraph">"Fixed" fields are fields which are filled out only once, i.e., when the field is inserted into the document. For example, if you write an invoice based on an invoice template you can use a "fixed" date. The minute you set up the invoice document, you will see in the field position the actual date which will not change later on. That is, the date of the invoice is determined only once.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">On the other hand, a "variable" date is updated every time you open and print the document. A manual update of the fields (i.e. with the F9 key) sets the actual date in the field entered as "Variable date"</p>
<p class="Paragraph">If, for example, you want to insert a date as a field in your form letter, you have to decide if it is to be inserted as a fixed or as variable date:</p>
<ul class="L2">
<li class="">
<p class="P3">Choose to use a fixed date if the date should never change, i.e., as if you could have typed in the date directly (without a field). What is then the advantage of using a field? You can save the form letter as a template, and if you later want to write a new form letter based on that template, the date will automatically be updated.</p>
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<p class="P3">If you choose the variable date, the date will be updated every time you open or print the document.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="Paragraph">Apart from the date there are various other fields which you can also use in your form letter. The most important fields are the ones which determine where the different elements of the recipient's address are to be placed. <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>These fields have a direct connection to the database table which contains your address list. <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>A field will be inserted in the form letter for each data field (i.e. name, street, city, etc.). When printing, <help:productname xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help">%PRODUCTNAME</help:productname> Writer inserts the desired data fields in the fields for each record.</p>
<p class="Paragraph"><help:key-word value="form letters; inserting field functions" tag="kw68207_5" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>If you want to create a completely new document containing the necessary form letter fields, you can use drag and drop to do so: Open the text document and press F4 to show the desired database table. Point to a column header and, holding down the mouse button, drag it into the document. The field for inserting this item from this database table is automatically placed in the document.</p>
</span></th></tr></table>
<ul class="L3">
<li class="">
<p class="P4">Choose <span class="T1"><text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>File - New - Templates and Documents</span> to open a document based on the <span class="T1">Elegant Letter</span> template from the <span class="T1">Business Correspondence</span> category.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="Paragraph">A form letter based on the "Elegant Letter" template will be displayed. It already contains fields for the address, date, sender, etc.</p>
<ul class="L4">
<li class="">
<p class="P5">In the <span class="T1">Use of this Template</span> dialog that automatically appears, select the option <span class="T1">Several recipients (address database)</span>.</p>
</li>
<li class="">
<p class="P5">Since the "Elegant Letter" template is linked to an address database, the address table is opened automatically in the data source view. If this does not happen, press F4 to open the data source for the current document.</p>
</li>
<li class="">
<p class="P5">Select the records you want to use in the form letter by clicking the row headers at the left in the data source view. Press the Shift key and/or the <help:switch select="System" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"><help:case select="MAC">Command</help:case><help:default>Ctrl</help:default></help:switch> key to make your selection. To print a form letter for all the records in the table, click the empty field above the row headers to select all records.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">Now click the <span class="T1">Form Letter</span> icon on the database bar at the top of the data source view. The <span class="T1">Form Letter</span> dialog appears, where you can choose what you want to send as e-mail or print. You can also choose if you want to print selected records, all records or a particular range. If you want to print a range, e.g., records 1 to 5, make sure that the numbers follow the order displayed in the data source view.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">You can sort or filter records in the data source view by clicking the respective icons on the database bar. For example, to sort all records according to ZIP (postal) code, place the cursor in the ZIP CODE field of any record and click <span class="T1">Sort Ascending</span>.</p>
</span></th></tr></table>
<p class="Paragraph">Now your form letter is all ready to go!</p>
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<p class="Head3"><help:key-word value="form letters; avoiding blank paragraphs" tag="kw68207_4" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="blank paragraphs; in form letters" tag="kw68207_3" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/><help:key-word value="hidden paragraphs; form letters" tag="kw68207_2" xmlns:help="http://openoffice.org/2000/help"/>Avoiding Blank Paragraphs</p>
<p class="Paragraph">If you have chosen the form letter field <span class="T1">COMPANY</span> to appear in the recipient field, a blank line might appear in your printed letter. That happens if the <span class="T1">COMPANY</span> database field in the database is empty. However, it is possible to prevent empty fields from being included.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">Place the cursor in your text document before the form letter field COMPANY. Choose <span class="T1">Insert - Fields - Other</span> to open the <span class="T1">Fields</span> dialog. On the <span class="T1">Functions</span> tab select the type <span class="T1">Hidden</span> <span class="T1">Paragraph</span>.</p>
<p class="Paragraph">Now, in the <span class="T1">Condition</span> field, enter <text:s text:c="" xmlns:text="http://openoffice.org/2000/text"/>the following text (without quotation marks):</p>
<p class="PropText">not(Company)</p>
<p class="Paragraph">If the <span class="T1">COMPANY</span> database field is now empty, the <span class="T1">COMPANY</span> line will not be printed, and the rest of the lines will be moved upward.</p>
