[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 129807] New: Replace "Database" and "Table" selectors in Envelope dialog with "Select Address List" button, like in Mail Merge Wizard

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=129807

            Bug ID: 129807
           Summary: Replace "Database" and "Table" selectors in Envelope
                    dialog with "Select Address List" button, like in Mail
                    Merge Wizard
           Product: LibreOffice
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Keywords: needsUXEval
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: medium
         Component: Writer
          Assignee: libreoffice-bugs at lists.freedesktop.org
          Reporter: mikekaganski at hotmail.com

Insert->Envelope is an alternative way of Mail Merge.

In Envelope dialog, on Envelope tab, there are two selectors - Database and
Table - that are used to fill the list of available fields in the third
selector - Database field.

There is a usability issue here: when a user wants to create/insert an
envelope, and add addresses from, say, a spreadsheet, the user will open the
dialog, only to discover that there's no way to select the spreadsheet in the
dialog. The Database selector only lists registered databases; and one needs to
create a new registered database beforehand, and only then start creating the
envelope. Furthermore, the help [1] doesn't mention this information, so users
are at lost here [2].

There is another issue here, too. Since version 5.1 [3], there is mail merge
database embedding into ODT, so that there's no separate ODB to think about -
or to register when you moved the mail merge document to another system. But
this is only available when you use Mail Merge Wizard with its Select Address
List dialog, and not when you register a database using File->New->Database.

So the proposal is to replace the Database and Table selectors in the Envelope
dialog with the "Select Address List" button used on step 3 of Mail Merge
Wizard, and use the Select Address List dialog with its Add button to open a
data source - including creating and embedding of new data source if required.
Additionally, this increases consistency across different methods.

There is a drawback here: currently it's possible to add fields from different
registered databases/tables in the Envelope dialog; the new method would
possibly make this impossible. However, I highly doubt that this possibility is
really useful enough to keep it and not do the change. Also keeping the
possibility might be possible by selecting the address list several times (like
now selecting Database and Table several times), and then using Database field
selector to insert fields to the target box.

[1] https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/text/swriter/01/04070100.html
[2] https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/223694
[3] https://vmiklos.hu/blog/mail-merge-embedding.html

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the bug.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/libreoffice-bugs/attachments/20200105/e818e4f9/attachment.htm>