Setting a default template

Getting Started with OpenOffice.org 3

Chapter 3. Using Styles and Templates

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• Applying styles
• Modifying styles
• Creating new (custom) styles
• Copying and moving styles
• Deleting styles
• Using a template to create a document
• Creating a template
• Editing a template
• Adding templates using the Extension Manager
• Setting a default template
• Associating a document with a different template
• Organizing templates
• Examples of style use

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If you create a document by choosing File > New > Text Document (or Spreadsheet, Presentation, or Drawing) from the main menu, OOo creates the document from the Default template for that type of document. 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, as long as it is in one of the folders displayed in the Template Management window.

To set a custom template as the default:

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 containing the template that you want to set as the default, then select the template.
3. Click the Commands button.
4. From the drop-down menu, choose Set As Default Template.

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

Although many important settings can be changed in the Options dialog (see Chapter 2), for example default fonts and page size, more advanced settings (such as page margins) can only be changed by replacing the default template with a new one.

Resetting the default template

To re-enable OOo’s Default template for a document type as the default:

1. In the Template Management window, in the box on the left, click any folder.
2. Click the Commands button and choose Reset Default Template from the drop-down menu.

The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New, the document will be created from OOo’s Default template for that document type.