Getting Started with Open Office .org 3 part 29. This Manual Book is for anyone who wants to get up to speed quickly with the latest version . “GETTING STARTED WITH ″ introduces all software programs of the OpenOffice bundle: Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector drawings), Math (equation editor) and Base (database). This book was written by volunteers from the community working through and is distributed under the CreativeCommon Attribution Licence | Using data sources in OOo documents Data can be placed into Writer and Calc documents from the tables in the data source window. In Writer values from individual fields can be inserted. Or a complete table can be created in the Writer document. One common way to use a data source is to perform a mail merge. Selecting Tools Mail Merge Wizard or clicking on the Mail Merge icon a small paper-and-envelope icon on the View Data Tip Source pane launches the Mail Merge wizard which steps through creating a mail merge document. This is discussed in Chapter 11 Using Mail Merge in the Writer Guide. Writer documents To insert a field from a table opened in the data source window into a Writer document click on the field name the gray square at the top of the field list and with the left mouse button held down drag the field onto the document. In a Writer document it will appear as FIELD where FIELD is the name of the field you dragged . For example enter the cost of meals and who paid for them on a certain date of a vacation. Make a sentence of this data On date our breakfast cost amount paid by name our lunch cost amount paid by name and our supper cost amount paid by name . Write the words of the sentence with the exception of the words in parentheses. Use the correct field names in the place of the words in parentheses. 1 Replacing data Begin the sentence by typing the word On. Click the field name Data in the data source window and drag it to the right of the word On. The sentence becomes On Date . If you have Field shadings turned on View Field shading Date has a gray background. Otherwise it does not. 2 Replacing first amount Continue typing after Date our breakfast cost. Click the Breakfast field name and drag it to the right of what you have just typed. Make sure you have the proper spacing between the field names and the words before and after them. Results so far On Date our breakfast cost Breakfast Chapter 8 Getting Started with Base 281 3 Replacing the first name
