Bug 87195 - mailmerge: add image from url field (enhancement)
Summary: mailmerge: add image from url field (enhancement)
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.2.7.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Mail-Merge
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Reported: 2014-12-10 16:13 UTC by berteh
Modified: 2024-01-11 13:27 UTC (History)
15 users (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


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Description berteh 2014-12-10 16:13:38 UTC
Please add ability to use mailmerge field as the address for an external image.

The field in data source could either be filename relatively to document export location (in local file system), or full url (eg on the web).

possible scenario: 
1. in writer document use insert > image > from file (click "as link"), 
2. pick one sample file in intended directory for layout purposes
3. replace picture location (right click on picture > Picture > Picture tab > Link) with the field name in data source, eg <illustration_url>, or full field name (displayed via CTRL+F9), eg datasource.datatable.attribute 


That would be huge!

Example uses are to include a dynamic QRCode in a business card, or to generate cards & letters with different headers images for different departments / teams / persons... and many more uses not relating to mail merging but to using this function as a user-friendly templating engine for partial data export.


related demands:
http://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/9578/how-do-i-insert-a-picture-during-a-mail-merge/
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=14303
http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=89804


how others do it for now (not always nice, but works)
http://www.gmayor.com/mail_merge_graphics.htm
http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=73329




If it's not much more work it would be nice to handle the use of dynamic colors in the same way: grab (openoffice) color name (or typically RGB code) from data source, and be able to use it as a section/paragraph font or background color.
Comment 1 berteh 2014-12-10 16:24:48 UTC
possible temporary workaround in OpenOffice with macros: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=73329
Comment 2 berteh 2015-11-17 09:24:16 UTC
Due to lack of support for this feature I'm now using Scribus for generating more complex documents, with its quite flexible plugin at https://github.com/berteh/ScribusGenerator/
Comment 3 Nicolas ABEL 2016-03-14 05:31:31 UTC
To trace outgoing mails, we use QR Codes.
We generate them dynamicaly through our mail management software.

We would really need to be able to use the URL of the QRCode and have LibreOffice mail merge replace the URLs by the pictures in the final mails.

More and more administrations are using mail management softwares.
The unability to use pictures with LibreOffice mail merge is a real trouble.
Comment 4 Jakobus Schürz 2017-01-04 10:14:23 UTC
I also need this feature. We have to create some archiv-cards for pictures, letters with individual pictures and so on.

Now i'm using the product from redmond - which has implemented this feature to add a picture from a link in a calc/excel-file from the local filesystem or even remote...

But i want to transit full to libreoffice in our office... so this is a killer-feature to get my boss involved... ;-)

jakob
Comment 5 Franklin Weng 2017-06-19 13:51:43 UTC
This feature is needed.

Currently the data source of mail merge can only be from Calc, which the cell can't restore any image.

Furthermore, such feature is included in the national exam of document processing in Taiwan.  Now LibreOffice is allowed to take the exam but this feature is not able to work out.
Comment 7 WyattB 2017-08-10 14:28:16 UTC
Add me to the list of users who would REALLY like to have this feature available. I'm currently doing this(in a very clunky way) with MS Word. Seems like there is a larger opportunity to have various properties and content be pulled from a field in a data source.
Comment 8 Kevin Loughrey 2018-08-15 21:23:14 UTC
I think this enhancement would be a powerful tool and an inducement for people to use LibreOffice as their office suite of choice.

We are entering an age where barcodes, particularly DataMatrix and QRCode are playing an increasing role in doing things like identification of the bearer of a letter or the ability to use the barcode to gain entry into a venue or collect an item.  In these situations there is often a need for the progenitor of the activity to create multiple documents with different details, including the graphics on each piece of written communication; be it a letter, card or ticket.
Comment 9 Wuestenschiff 2019-03-24 12:34:54 UTC
+1 this seems so a natural feature to have.

Will have a look at scrius in this case, but I really strugle with scribus...
Comment 10 Fernando 2019-10-02 22:28:57 UTC
What would be necessary to do this? Is there something fundamental missing?

I am interested in implementing this, but would need (a lot of) guidance
Comment 11 alexander_winkler 2024-01-11 13:27:40 UTC
Has there been any progress over the last 4 years? This feature appears to be still very much needed.