By A Web Design

Templates In Writer

A template is a document that contains specific formatting styles, graphics, tables, objects and other information. It is a master copy of all pages with a document and can be used as a starting point to design other documents.
For example: Specific paragraph and character styles can be defined in a template and the template saved. This template can then be used to create multiple, identically formatted, pages for any document.

Unless otherwise specified, Writer creates a document from the Default template. OpenOffice.org has a number of predefined templates that can also be used to create different types of pre-formatted text documents.

Creating Templates:

You can create your own templates and save them in a template folder.
In order to create a template, you have to follow some steps:

1. From the main menu, choose File --> New --> Text Document. A new document opens.
2. Add the content and styles that you want.
3. From the main menu, choose File --> Templates --> Save. The Templates window opens as shown in Diagram1.

Diagram 1

4. In the New Template box, type a name for the new template as shown in Diagram 2.
5. In the Categories list box, click the category to which you want to assign this template to.

(A category is simply the template folder in which you want to save this template. For example, to save the template in the Default folder, click the Default category.)

Diagram 2

On clicking OK, Writer saves the newly created template and the Templates window closes.

To create a document based on the template, select File --> New --> Templates and Documents and then select the template as shown in Diagram 3 and click Open.

Diagram 3

Changing the Default Template:

The default template contains all the default formatting information required when creating a new document. If desired, a new template can be created, containing new formatting information and used as the default template.

In order to change the default template you have to follow some steps:

1. From the main menu, choose File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens as shown in Diagram 4.

Diagram 4

2. In the box on the left, double-click the folder containing the template that you want to set as the default.
3. Right click the template that you want to set as the default.
4. From the options, choose Set As Default Template as shown in Diagram 5.

Or else,
Click the template that you want to set as the default.
Click the Commands button placed on the right hand side.
From the drop-down menu, choose Set As Default Template.

The next time when you create a document by choosing File --> New, the document will be created from this template.

Diagram 5

Resetting Writer’s Default Template as Default:

To reset Writer’s Default template as default follow these simple steps:

From the main menu, choose File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management dialog opens as shown in Diagram 6.
In the box on the left, right click any folder in which the template reside.
From the options, choose Reset Default Template --> Text Document.

Or else,
Click the template that you want to reset.
Click the Commands button placed on the right hand side.
From the drop-down menu, choose Reset Default Template.

The next time that when you create a document by choosing File --> New --> Text Document, the document will be created using Writer’s Default template.

Diagram 6

Organizing Templates:

Writer can only use templates that are in OpenOffice template folders. You can create new OpenOffice template folders and use them to organize your templates.

Creating Template Folders:

In order to create a template folder in open office, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, Click on File --> Templates --> Organize.The Template Management window opens as shown in Diagram 7.
2. In the box on the left, click any folder.
3. Click the Commands button on the right hand side. The context menu appears as shown in Diagram 7.

Diagram 7

4. From the context menu, click on New. A new folder called Untitled appears as shown in Diagram 8.

Diagram 8

5. Enter the name for the new folder and press Enter. The renamed folder will be saved by Writer. A Template folder is successfully created in open office as shown in Diagram 9.
6. On clicking the Close, the Template Management window will close.

Diagram 9

Deleting Template folder:

In order to delete an OpenOffice template folder, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, Click on File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens.
2. In the box on the left, click the folder that you want to delete.
3. Click the Commands button. The context menu appears as shown in Diagram 10.

Diagram 10

4. From the context menu, Click on Delete. A dialog box appears that asks for confirmation of deletion as shown in Diagram 11.

Diagram 11

5. Click on “Yes”. The dialog box closes and the selected folder will be deleted from Template Management as shown in Diagram 12.

Diagram 12

Moving templates:

In order to move a template from one OpenOffice template folder to another, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, Click on File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens.
2. 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 as shown in Diagram 13.

Diagram 13

3. Click the template that you want to move and drag it to the desired folder. The Template would be successfully moved from one folder to another as shown in Diagram 14.

Diagram 14

Deleting Templates:

In order to delete a template from the Template Management, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, choose File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens.
2. 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.
3. Select the template that you want to delete.
4. Click the Commands button and the context menu appears as shown in Diagram 15.

Diagram 15

5. From the context menu, Click on Delete. A dialog box appears and asks for confirmation of deletion as shown in Diagram 16.

Diagram 16

6. Click on “Yes”. The dialog box closes. The selected template will be deleted from the Template Management as shown in Diagram 17.

Diagram 17

Importing templates:

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

In order to import a template into an OpenOffice template folder, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, Click on File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens.
2. In the box on the left, double-click the folder into which you want to import the template.
3. Click the Commands button. The context menu appears as shown in Diagram 18.

Diagram 18

4. From the context menu, Click on Import Template. The Open Templates window opens.
5. Find the template that you want to import and click Open as shown in Diagram 19.

Diagram 19

6. The Open Templates window closes and the template appears in the selected folder as shown in Diagram 20.

Diagram 20

Exporting templates:

In order to export a template to an OpenOffice template folder, follow these simple steps:

1. From the main menu, Click on File --> Templates --> Organize. The Template Management window opens.
2. 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.
3. Click the template that you want to export as shown in Diagram 21.

Diagram 21

4. Click the Commands button. The context menu opens.
5. From the context menu, Click on Export Template. The Save Templates window opens.
6. Find the folder into which you want to export the template to and click Save. Writer exports the template to the selected folder, and the Save Templates window closes.