Twayne wrote: > "Jonathan Kaye" <[email protected]> wrote in message > news:[email protected] >> Harold Fuchs wrote: >> >>> Jonathan Kaye wrote: >>>> Hi all, >>>> Googled high and low and nothing even close to a solution. Here's >>>> the problem. I'm using mail merge to convert data in a spreadsheet >>>> into a nice report formatted the way I want. Everything is great >>>> except that OOo wants to put a hard page break following every >>>> record (83,000 of them) but I want the records to flow from one to >>>> the other without even a line break. (Don't panic! There are line >>>> breaks but they don't come at the end of every record). So what I >>>> would like to do is one of the following: >>>> 1. Let OO insert the page breaks and then I use a search/replace to >>>> convert them all to a single space, or >>>> 2. Convince mail merge somehow not to put hard page breaks at the >>>> end of every record. Instead it can put whatever it wants as long >>>> as I can find it using a regular expression (so a newline is fine >>>> with me. But Openoffice, unlike WordPerfect (ahem ;)) makes it >>>> impossible to find page breaks. >>>> >>>> Any solutions will be rewarded by warm thoughts directed towards the >>>> genius. Thanks, >>>> Jonathan >>>> >>> Please try the following. It works in a simple case in which I >>> deliberately created a 4-page document by inserting a manual page >>> break before each of lines 2, 3 & 4 of what started as a 4-line >>> document. >>> >>> * Select the entire document except the first record (Ctrl-A >>> probably). * Go to menu Format>Paragraph>Text Flow >>> * Uncheck the box labelled "Insert" under the heading "Breaks" >>> near the middle of the pane. >>> * Click OK. >>> >>> You *might* end up with a blank line after each record (I did). If >>> so, use the Regular Expression "^$" (without the quotes) to get rid >>> of those empty lines (change all occurrences of it to the null >>> string). >>> >> Thanks to TWayne, Uwe and Harold for your kind responses. In fact I >> have found a solution (there may be others such as some of yours). >> It's a bit of a hack but it beats doing it by hand. Check this link: >> http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=35766 >> and then scroll down to the post of May 02, 2006. I found the partial >> solution to be the one that worked with one modification. I have to >> delete the two \n's that mark the page break one at a time. So I >> start at the top of my merged file and replace \n ($ in the search >> field) by +++ as suggested in the post. Then I go back to the top and >> do it again, resulting in a string of 6 +'s where the page breaks >> used to be. I replace ++++++ with a space and I've got want I want. >> >> No go down to the last 2 posting which are much more recent. The >> solution suggested by JohnV doesn't work for me. I get to the point >> where I'm inserting his fields as he suggests but the Data t0 Text >> icon always remains greyed out. My only choice is a mail merge which >> just leads me back to the same hard return problem. If anyone >> succeeds in getting that solution to work, I'd like to hear about it. >> When I get a chance I'll try the other solutions and report back. >> Cheers, >> Jonathan > > Outstanding, Jonathan! Thanks for the close-out! > > Maybe I should have asked you: I just uploaded a post to Harold about > the same thing but with respect to Writer which is a little different > than Calc, but for the life of me I didn't really see why. I suspect > this will work for Writer et al too. > > Your solution seems to be working for me but I only went far enough to > see if the Finds worked. I'm pretty sure the rest will. Funny thing: > Searching for 2 newlines (\n) worked the first time I tried it, and then > quit - 2 in a row were never found again. I wonder if the order > changes? e.g. nl/rt/nl. > I know, you said it didn't work<g>!! lol. The best way for me to > recall it wouldn't work was to do it; I seem to recall my failures > better than my successes. > > Thanks again, > > Twayne` Hi Twayne, But this is about writer. The fields are linked to a spreadsheet but the heavy-duty formatting work is all done in writer. That's where my problem was: writer not calc. Also check the original thread where I commented on the other possibilities. Beware of Uwe's suggested extension! It is very very s-l-o-w. Unless absolutely necessary, don't use it. This is not a slap at Uwe. His was a very useful suggestion and well worth my time to try it out. So thanks again, Uwe. But it would be useful to the community to know what it's limits are. Cheers, Jonathan -- Registerd Linux user #445917 at http://counter.li.org/ Please do not send me copies of list mail. I read the lists. Thanks!
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