Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 62584
Implement n-up printing for mail-merge ("2 pages per sheet")
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:38:59 UTC
Hi, before I came to OOo, I used MS Office and there I had a feature in the page settings for the page layout. That feature gave me the ability to print 2 DIN A5 pages (landscape-layout) on a DIN A4 page (portrait-layout). As discussed at http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?p=129709 the feature isn't currently available in OOo and therefore I'm requested this feature if it's possible to do so. :) Kindly regards, Martin.. :D
You should read that thread again. It is possible to do n-up-printing in OOo - it was possible from the beginning of OOo. You have the choice between "dumb" n-up printing or brochure printing (then the pages get reordered so you can just put sheet onto sheet and fold it and then have the correct page-order in the result). Use the print-page-preview button (not the standard-print-button) to print n-up from page-preview. That solution was given right at the beginning of the thread.
closing issue. Feature was there from the very beginning and is working.
The problem is, that it doesn't work with the mail merge-wizard. I'm going to describe what I want once more: By default, I got a normal, portait-layouted DIN A4-page inside of Writer. That DIN A4-page is *always* only half-filled with text. Inside the text (at the beginning) is the mail merge-field which consists of both, a form of address (i. e. "Dear Miss" or "Dear Mister") and a name ("Sophie James" or "John Doe"). Because I want to reduce costs, I don't want to print page by page and when the half number of pages is reached, turning the pages and continue the printing proccess. Instead, I want to say to OOo "OK, the printer got DIN A4-pages, print 2 pages on ONE page by printing the first page at the upper page-part and the second page at the lower page-part - Go, do it!". With MS Office I could do that as described above and till now I couldn't find such a way in OOo.. :(
Reassigned to requirements.
Always write the whole info.... Extending summary to actually tell what this issue is about, setting keywords. However, I don't think this will get a high prio, since most print-drivers offer this functionality nowadays, thus no need for the individual applications to support it...
OK, sorry for that. But IMHO the new title isn't much correct. My printer *is* able to print multiple pages on a sheet (up to 8 or 16, AFAIK), but the the serial letter I've got is always just half the size of a DIN A4-page and because I don't want to change the printer-setup everytime I print that letter, I'd like to have a feature in OOo which tells Writer to print 2 pages of that serial letter on 1 sheet when this specific document is opened and sent to the printer. This hopefully explains better what I want to do.. :)
Actually, I have to disagree with the "printers will handle this" comment. I'm fighting with this issue *now*, and its not just for mail-merge. And not all printer drivers have this functionality for that matter! The problem is that when you use the printer's version of function (AND the built-in version), you have to reverse-specify the sizes. I KNOW I'm printing to say, US Letter-sized paper. What I don't know is how big I have to make the pages to get it to "work" properly, i.e. so the margins and sizes will be correct on any given printer. I'm trying to print a manual, 2 "pages" per sheet, and also on the back. I want page numbers on each "page", I also want to have different headers & footers on each page (which I know can be done with the appropriate style setup). If I have a photo that is 600 dpi and I try to send it to the printer via the printer's n-up function, or even the software, then the picture will get resized on me. If I'm given the file to other people, I have to instruct them to print it "specially" as well. If I've saved to a PDF, the users definitely will have to depend on their printer driver for this functionality. I had to go through and calculate every 4th page, type in the Print Pages: "1, 4, 11...." and run it through the printer several times. ARG!!! I certainly can't expect a user to manage to do this. I'd also like to be able to run a graphic and/or header and/or text across BOTH pages, which *is* impossible as far as I can tell, and I'd really like to be able to see both pages while editing. While this is getting more into the DTP functionality... I'd love to see it!
Thanks to dgebel - except the header/footer-feature, he's speaking about what my thoughts are, too. Of course, the printer driver could handle it - but it can't be reality that I have to change the printer settings each time I want to use OOo! Seriously, this should definitely find its way into the OOo-source code!