How to Work with Templates

How to Work with Templates
First edition: January 2004
First English edition: January 2004

Contents

Overview	ii

About this guide	ii

Conventions used in this guide	ii

Copyright and trademark information	ii

Feedback	ii

Acknowledgments	ii

Modifications and updates	iii

Creating and using templates	1

Creating documents from a template	1

Creating templates	2

Editing templates	3

Setting a default template	5

Organizing templates	6

Creating template folders	6

Deleting template folders	6

Moving templates	7

Deleting templates	7

Importing templates	8

Exporting templates	8

Overview

About this guide

How to Work with Templates shows you how to create, use, and organize templates for text documents using OpenOffice.org Writer 1.1.0. To understand the instructions, you need to know how to create and edit documents in Writer. (For an introduction to Writer, see the OpenOffice.org document How to Write and Manage OpenOffice.org text documents using Common Features and Styles, available at http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO )

Conventions used in this guide

This guide uses the following conventions:

Bold indicates menu options, buttons, and other items that you select on the screen.

Step-by-step directions are numbered to make them easy for you to follow. When you have a choice, the choices are presented in a bulleted list, just like the bulleted list you're reading now.

Copyright and trademark information

The contents of this Documentation are subject to the Public Documentation License, Version 1.0 (the "License"); you may only use this Documentation if you comply with the terms of this License. A copy of the License is available at:
http://www.openoffice.org/licenses/PDL.rtf

The Original Documentation is How to Work with Templates. The Initial Writer(s) of the Original Documentation is Catherine Waterman © 2004. All Rights Reserved. (Initial Writer contact(s): sparkovich@att.net)

Contributor(s): ______________________________________.

Portions created by ______ are Copyright (C)_________[insert year(s)]. All Rights Reserved. (Contributor contact(s):________________[insert hyperlink/alias]).

All trademarks within this guide belong to legitimate owners.

Feedback

Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to
dev@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Sophie Gautier, author of the French native-language document, Comment Créer, Utiliser Et Gérer les Modèles, which I used as a reference.

Modifications and updates

Version	Date	Description of Change
0.1	01/20/04	Initial version issued for comment

Creating and using templates

A template is a model that you use to create other documents. For example, you can create a template for business reports that has your company's logo on the first page. New documents created from this template will all have your company's logo on the first page.

Templates can contain anything that regular documents can, such as text, graphics, and formatting styles. Writer comes with several predefined templates that you can use, and you can also create your own templates.

This chapter shows you how to:

Create documents from a template.

Create templates.

Edit templates.

Set a default template.

Creating documents from a template

To create a document from a template, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > New > Templates and Documents. The Templates and Documents window opens. (See Illustration 1 on page 2.)

In the box on the left, click the Templates icon if it isn't already selected. A list of template folders appears in the center box.

Double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to use. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears in the center box.

Click the template that you want to use. You can preview the selected template or view the template's properties:

To preview the template, click the preview icon. (For the location of the preview icon, see Illustration 1 on page 2.) A preview of the template appears in the box on the right.

To view the template's properties, click the properties icon. (For the location of the properties icon, see Illustration 1 on page 2.) The template's properties appear in the box on the right.

Click Open. The Templates and Documents window closes and a new document based on the selected template opens in Writer. You can then edit and save the new document just as you would any other document.

Illustration 1 Templates and Documents window

Creating templates

Writer allows you to create your own templates and save them in a template folder. (To learn about template folders, see the chapter, “Organizing templates,” on page 6.)

To create a template, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > New > Text Document. A new document opens.

Add the content and styles that you want.

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Save. The Templates window opens.

Illustration 2 Templates window

In the New template field, enter a name for the new template.

In the Categories list box, click the category to which you want to assign the template. (The category is simply the template folder in which you want to save the template. For example, to save the template in the Default folder, click the Default category.)

Click OK. Writer saves the new template and the Templates window closes.

Editing templates

You can edit a template's styles and content, and then, if you wish, you can reapply the template's styles to documents that were created from that template. (Note that you can only reapply styles. You cannot reapply content.)

To edit a template, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (See Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to edit. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

Click the template that you want to edit.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Edit. The Template Management window closes and the selected template opens in Writer.

Edit the template just as you would any other document. To save your changes, choose File > Save from the main menu.

Illustration 3 Template Management window

The next time that you open a document that was created from the changed template, the following dialog box appears:

Illustration 4 Apply styles dialog box

Click Yes to reapply the template's styles to the document. Click No if you don't want to reapply the template's styles to the document. Whichever option you choose, the dialog box closes and the document opens in Writer.

Setting a default template

If you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document from the main menu, Writer by default creates the document from the Default template. You can, however, set a custom template to be the default. You can reset the default later if you choose.

Setting a custom template as the default

You can set any template to be the default, but the template that you choose must be in the Default template folder. To save a template in the Default folder, do one of the following:

Create the template as described in “Creating templates” on page 2 and save it in the Default category.

Move the template to the Default folder as described in “Moving templates” on page 7.

Import the template into the Default folder as described in “Importing templates” on page 8.

To set a custom template as the default, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the Default folder.

In the Default folder, click the template that you want to set as the default.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Set as Default Template. The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document, the document will be created from this template.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Resetting Writer's Default template as the default

To reset Writer's Default template as the default, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, click any folder.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Reset Default Template. The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document, the document will be created from Writer's Default template.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Organizing templates

Writer can only use templates that are in OpenOffice.org template folders. You can, however, create new OpenOffice.org template folders and use them to organize your templates. For example, you might have one template folder for report templates and another for letter templates. You can also import and export templates. This chapter shows you how to:

Create template folders.

Delete template folders.

Move templates from one template folder to another.

Delete templates.

Import templates into template folders.

Export templates from template folders.

Creating template folders

To create an OpenOffice.org template folder, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, click any folder.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose New. A new folder called Untitled appears.

Type a name for the new folder and then press the Enter key on your keyboard. Writer saves the folder with the name that you entered.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Deleting template folders

To delete an OpenOffice.org template folder, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, click the folder that you want to delete.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Delete. A dialog box appears and asks you to confirm the delete.

Click Yes. The dialog box closes and the selected folder is deleted.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Moving templates

To move a template from one OpenOffice.org template folder to another, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to move. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

Click the template that you want to move and drag it to the desired folder.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Deleting templates

To delete a template, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to delete. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

Click the template that you want to delete.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Delete. A dialog box appears and asks you to confirm the delete.

Click Yes. The dialog box closes and the selected template is deleted.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Importing templates

Writer can only use templates that are in OpenOffice.org template folders. If the template that you want to use is in a different location, you must import it into an OpenOffice.org template folder.

To import a template into an OpenOffice.org template folder, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the folder into which you want to import the template.

Click the Commands button. The context menu appears.

From the context menu, choose Import Template... The Open Templates window opens.

Find the template that you want to import and click Open. The Open Templates window closes and the template appears in the selected folder.

If you want, type a new name for the template and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Exporting templates

To export a template from an OpenOffice.org template folder to another location, follow these steps:

From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management window opens. (For a picture of the Template Management window, see Illustration 3 on page 4.)

In the box on the left, double-click the folder that contains the template that you want to export. A list of all the templates contained in that folder appears underneath the folder name.

Click the template that you want to export.

Click the Commands button. The context menu opens.

From the context menu, choose Export Template... The Save Templates window opens.

Find the folder into which you want to export the template and click Save. Writer exports the template to the selected folder, and the Save Templates window closes.

To close the Template Management window, click Close.

Organizing templates

How to Work with Templates	7

Overview

How to Work with Templates	vii

[Document Title]	7

C Waterman

2004-01-02T17:05:42

C Waterman