Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 11244
Merge to email
Last modified: 2010-06-22 14:00:14 UTC
Hi, I just thought I would suggest the merge to email be reinstated and improved. I think it is a pity it has been removed as the ability to mail merge to an email is what a lot of my clients want to do or are moving towards. I would have liked to see this extended to provide customised Html formatted email like most of the big guys are now using. Every small business will soon, or should be marketing their services to their client base via email. Not to have such a facility in their main documentation product will force them to look for other alternatives. In my own case I like to send out emails to my client base and this would help. This is one feature that Word does appear to have and for some people, could be a single reason for staying with or going back to Word. Kelvin
There's mail merge in 1.01 but it seems to be broken. I can't send emails with the text as the message body. Is there a way of fixing this?
*** This issue has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
Reassigned to BH
this enhancement is covered by issue 20057 and will be implemented with OpenOffice.org 2.0. schedule plan for version 2.0 is available here: http://development.openoffice.org/releases/OpenOffice_org_trunk.html
Set the status to fixed. Please check it in OO.o 2.0, when it is available.
Hi Max, in m60 there is an option for E-Mail Merging. If I understand issue 34233 correctly, E-Mail was canceled for OpenOffice and is reserved for StarOffice?? See also http://sw.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=1089 Can you confirm this? Regards Peter
Hi Bettina, please reopen the issue, it won't be fixed with 2.0. Peter
OK, reopened.
> Major bummer. Apart from MS Office document compatibility, > Mail Merge would have to be the most common aspect of an office > product that our users need, and I would have to think they are > pretty typical office users! If this makes a difference to your business, PLEASE see if you can get someone to allocate (or pool with a few companies) some money for a bounty on this bug. It'd still be cheaper than paying for MS licenses, and you'd be providing a service to the whole community.
Assigned to requirements.
What about issue 30916 and release notes to m77? E-Mail-Merging possible or not (with installed java-mail)? It's a hurly-burly, isn't it? Peter
ok, so we've all waited for 2.0 for this email merge to work, and now it does not work. I just got the 2.0 beta (m79) and it looks like email merge will work, but it doesn't. It tells you to install JavaMail, you install JavaMail, and OO won't recognize that JavaMail is installed. After much searching I find that this is due to some StarOffice thing - some "special" Javamail component that exists for StarOffice and doesn't exist for OO. It just seems like this is a really simple feature, and I feel frustrated now that I was here waiting, waiting, waiting for 2.0 so I can use email merge and now it's not there. I work for a small nonprofit org and this simple email merge would help us immensely. I just wanted to express my frustration. Somewhere in the release notes, or in some official easy-to-find faq, we need to clearly explain the story on why email merge still doesn't work and when it will.
Hi, I think this will really be great, if merge to email works. This was the feature I was waiting for. And it is not ok to show this feature on the setup options and let the user think he/she can use it after installing java mail. My deception was big. Peter
Added myself to cc list
Check this: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=51638
since it is unlikely that there will be another implementation than that in issue 51638 I close this one as duplicate. If issue 51638 won't get accepted/integrated (unlikely), then this one sould be reopened. *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 51638 ***
closing duplicate.
hey i finally got this to work at long last - and i put together a doc of my experience - see here: http://internet.cybermesa.com/~aaron_w/OOo_email_merge/OOo_email_merge.html peace, Aaron
Created attachment 31250 [details] mailmerge.py - enable emailmerge in Writer
Tested fix on fresh XP SP 2 install. Clarifying the procedure: 1. Install Openoffice.org 2 2. Install Sun Java JRE http://www.java.com 3. Install JavaMail http://java.sun.com/products/javamail/ - i.e. extract the archive file and append a path to mail.jar in your CLASSPATH environment variable. (XP: Control Panel - System - Advanced - Environment Variables.) 4. Install Java Activation Framework http://java.sun.com/products/javabeans/glasgow/jaf.html - i.e. extract the archive file and append a path to mail.jar in your CLASSPATH environment variable. (XP: Control Panel - System - Advanced - Environment Variables.) 5. Install mailmerge.py. Instructions for linux are commented in script. For XP: 5.1. Copy mailmerge.py into OpenOffice /program/ subfolder. 5.2. Using Command Prompt, change directory to OpenOffice /program/ subfolder and type "unopkg add --shared mailmerge.py". 6. Enable mail merge to email in Writer. 6.1. (XP) Change Folder Options in Windows Explorer to show hidden folders and extensions for known file types. Writer's config file is in a hidden folder. 6.2. Run Writer, start and then cancel the mail merge wizard. This generates the attributes in Writer's config file that you will need to change later. 6.3. Edit "Writer.xcu" in notepad or wordpad. On XP, its path is like: C:\Documents and Settings\My Username\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2 \user\registry\data\org\openoffice\Office\Writer.xcu 6.3.1. Find: <prop oor:name="EMailSupported" oor:type="xs:boolean"> <value>false</value> </prop> 6.3.2. Change 'false' to 'true' Merge to email should now work.
EMail merge is not working for me in 2.0.2, on XP SP 2. I have two problems. 1. Minor - On step 3, the right panel shows sub-steps 1-4. a) The first sub-step shows "1. 1. Select the..." but should be "1. Select the..." b) The second and fourth sub-step is just blank. Should say something! 2. Doesn't send emails. I'm using smtp.comcast.net, SSL, port 465 which matches my exact settings in Thunderbird, but when I get to send email screen and click "Send emails" it hangs for about 1 minute, then shows me Sending 0 of 2 emails and this screen does nothing indefinitely. But I can close it by click Cancel so it's not "frozen". I really would love to have this functionality. And this is the first BIG bug I've found in OO.
Sorry, one more thing. I tried the above fix and I downloaded javamail and jaf, but the mailmerge.py was already included in 2.0.2 and they have the same code. Tried to do the unopkg but got an error and couldn't find that code in Writer.xcu. I assume that fix does not apply for 2.0.2. Anyone got any thoughts to help me get MailMerge going? Anyone else using Email feature successfully?
mailmerge.py works for me and does not require java, javamail or the sun specific code. I think that if you want a java solution, you will have to write it. See http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/word_processing/Email_mailmerge.pdf for how to get mailmerge.py working.
Okay, I have 2.0.2. ---------------- Problem 1 ---------------- Here's what happens when I do an unopkg: C:\Program Files\OpenOffice.org 2.0\program>unopkg add --shared mailmerge.py ERROR: Package has already been added: mailmerge.py unopkg failed. So maybe that's fine. ---------------- Problem 2 ---------------- <prop oor:name="EMailSupported" oor:type="xs:boolean"> is nowhere to be found in my Writer.xcu I tried adding it manually with the "true" in there but that didn't work either. I can get to the last step in the Email Merge and it just sits there saying 0 of 2 emails sent... So I changed my email settings from smtp.comcast.net/SSL/port 465 to use a standard port 25/no ssl and it finally sent the emails but they were blank. The initial settings were good, I think it has a problem connecting to non-standard ports/SSL? Dunno...