Editing a 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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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:

1. From the main menu, choose File > Templates > Organize. The Template Management dialog opens.
2. 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.
3. Click the template that you want to edit.
4. Click the Commands button and choose Edit from the drop-down menu.
5. Edit the template just as you would any other document. To save your changes, choose File > Save from the main menu.

File:TemplateMgt.png

Template management dialog.

Updating a document from a changed template

The next time you open a document that was created from the changed template, the following message appears.

File:TemplMsg3.png

Update styles message.

Click Update Styles to apply the template’s changed styles to the document. Click Keep Old Styles if you do not want to apply the template’s changed styles to the document. Whichever option you choose, the message box closes and the document opens in OOo.

If you choose Keep Old Styles in the message box shown above, that message will not appear again the next time you open the document after changing the template it is based on. You will not get another chance to update the styles from the template, although you can use the macro given in the Note below to re-enable this feature. If you are using Writer, you can also use the Template Changer extension to reactivate the template.

To re-enable updating from a template: Use Tools > Macros > Organize Macros > OpenOffice.org Basic. Select the document from the list, click the expansion symbol (+ or triangle), and select Standard. If Standard has an expansion symbol beside it, click that and select a module. If the Edit button is active, click it. If the Edit button is not active, click New. In the Basic window, enter the following: Sub FixDocV3 ' set UpdateFromTemplate oDocSettings = ThisComponent.createInstance( "com.sun.star.document.Settings" ) oDocSettings.UpdateFromTemplate = True End Sub 'FixDocV3 Click the Run BASIC icon, then close the Basic window. Save the document. Next time when you open this document you will have the update from template feature back.