Of all four OpenOffice.org applications, Base is probably the most complicated one. It is a powerful tool that allows you to build complex databases, but this power comes at a price: if you've never worked with database applications, you might find Base a bit overwhelming.

When databases became available for the personal computer in the mid-1980s, they quickly gained a mystique as the ultimate productivity applications. Despite their widespread use, in some ways they have never lost that mystique -- so much so that many desktop users will stretch the use of spreadsheets to cumbersome lengths rather than consider setting up a database.

OpenOffice Base is a database management system capable of creating its own databases or connecting to a database created by the more powerful MySQL database server. But for the average user, creating a stand alone database is enough power. And OpenOffice Base handles this task easily.

The steps for setting up any mail-merge document in OpenOffice are easy; the one potentially gnarly bit is creating your contacts database in the first place. Your contacts list must be in Base, which is a bit of a pain. But the good news is Base can import data from most other databases, spreadsheets, text-delimited files, and email address books.

While OpenOffice.org is first and foremost a desktop office suite, it has a few powerful features that allow you to create some nifty solutions. For example, the Base application supports different database engines such as MySQL, and it can connect and manage remote databases.

The Sun Report Builder extension adds powerful reporting capabilities to OpenOffice.org Base, and using it to create reports is easy, as we can see with a simple example.

" In OpenOffice 2.0 Reports, it's easy to do the simple stuff, like just printing the contents of a table or query. It requires no SQL know-how at all, just the ability to press F4 and click and drag. Creating interesting and more informative reports isn't hard; but you must be willing to step away from the wizard."

For many people the mere thought of having to create or use a database sends shivers down the spines of many users. But it doesn't have to. Creating a database and adding data to that database is actually a simple task in OpenOffice.org Base.

How to use OpenOffice.org tools to create reports.