Hi, I posted the following in the “Help” forum, but no reply:-
“Hi, Is it possible with OpenEMR to use the database to set up addressed letters for patient contact by traditional mail (not email)? Thanks.”
Well, I thought it was a sensible question! Perhaps the answer should be obvious (it ain’t to me!), or perhaps my question is unclear. Let me try again:
The database contains my patients names and addresses. I wish to use that information automatically to print addresses on a standard letter to send to all, or selected, patients. Is this possible and if so, how can it be done?
I suppose the option “Letter” in openemr can help you little bit for your requirement. Select a patient and click on “Letter” option in drop down of leftnav. Create a template with patient address and save it. Use the same template for the patients to whom you want to send mail.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately what you suggest would be unfeasible with tens or hundreds of standard letters.
I use OpenOffice Word Processor, which has a mail merge function, allowing me to connect to a data source in order to address letters. I would like to try to use it to connect to the OpenEMR DB in order to extract and use the relevant address information. In which file is this data contained?
Which information you are talking about? Is that the patient information? If so, patient information is not stored in any file or directory. It should be retrieved from DB.
Yes, I am interested in retrieving names and addresses from the database automatically using the “mail merge” function of my word processing software, in order to address a standard letter to send to many patients.
I should have thought this would be a basic possibility with this kind of database. “Mail merge” is nothing strange, it has been a standard component of both Microsoft Word and OpenOffice for years, and its function is to retrieve information from databases for precisely this purpose.
In order to do this, I have to tell “mail merge” where to look for the data. So my (simple) question is: Where is the database on my computer?
I am not a computer expert, I am a clinician working as a sole practitioner, trying to get to grips with OpenEMR and to use it for what I see as a very basic and necessary function. If what I am trying to do cannot be done with OpenEMR, please tell it to me straight.
Now in open office when you have to select the data source select this file and proceed. You should be able to do it. I have myself not done it but know that it can be done this way.
Kanwaljit Singh
Please let us know if it works. Since this might be valuable to fill another Wiki page of “How To”, since if this easy mail merge thing is possible many more difficult tasks and searches to mail specific clients can be done for general mailings.
An other mail problem to be solved is an automatic personal mail for clients on a certain date with different kind of problems. This would require some kind of coding search with expiring data, wiht clients e-mail addres name and problem.
Driver = /usr/lib/odbc/libmyodbc.so
Description = MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver DSN
Server = localhost
Port =
User = openemr
Password = (My password as specified in the library/sqlconf.php file)
Database = openemr
Option = 3
Socket = 3306
This is in its default folder /etc/ as System DSN and saved in my home folder as File DSN.
In Open Office mailmerge, if I try to select it as my data source, it does not allow me to proceed with the mailmerge process. The OK button remains inactive so I cannot proceed.
Can anybody see any obvious fault in my odbc.ini file?