Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 52783
change templates for a document
Last modified: 2017-05-20 11:05:09 UTC
I'll describe this as an "enhancement" because I'm not describing a current feature not working, though I think it's really a defect, due to the broken behaviour described later. There should be somewhere in OpenOffice.org to: 1) See what template a document is associated with, and 2) Change what template a document is associated with. Changing the template should reload the styles, just as if one had edited the current template, reloaded the document and clicked "Yes" (to the question about updating styles). Note that this would fix the following somewhat broken behaviour: - Make a new document based on some template and save it. If you don't have any templates you'll need to make one first. - Change the template in some way and save it. - Close and re-open the document. - Answer "No" to the question about updating styles. Your document is now disociated from the template. There is no way to re-associate it. You would be able to fix this, of course, if you could just access the document's template settings and "switch" back to the old template again... One can work around this by creating a new document linked with the template and copying all the material from the original into it, but that's plain ugly. Colin.
Reassigned to requirements.
The behaviour described by chiggs is really annoying, especially if you encounter it for the first time. There is no indication given by Writer concerning the consequences of answering no to the question about updating styles. This is an odd behaviour, no new user would presume that this will disassociate the document and it's template once and for all. See also this commentary by someone else: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=20789
This would be a big deal, for example, for writers submitting to publishers. Each publisher has different formatting guidelines. Easily switching templates this way would allow writers to create templates based on each of their markets' guidelines, and easily switch between them. It would also help in cases where comanies share documents and reformat them with their own branding. Actually, I can think of several more uses for this.
Styles & templates is a powerfull tool in OOo. Writers that will become accustomed with the use of them will make more consistent documents, it will be easier to change text presentation overall by a simple modification of templates and styles The use of them should be made more intuitive, transparant and easy.
Changing target to 2.x. It could be done for Writer in 2.3 but at least currently Calc and Draw/Impress don't offer an API to load styles. Depending on the effort to implement it and the available resources we could consider to move the target to 2.3.
That would be great (do it for 2.3). Every time I read this desire it concerned the writer module. So I think, if it could just be realized for this module, that would help a lot of useres even though we'd have to wait for a further implemenation in the other modules. best regards
I have wrapped the functionality in a small extension: http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/templatechanger this should do the job as requested, but is (imo) just a workaround. The correct way (at least a I see it) was to integrate this functionality in the "Load Styles" dialog. (Open Styles and Formatting window, click on the icon on the upper right, select Load Styles.) All the requested functionality is already there (load styles from a template) with more usefull options. Only one thing is mising "associate document with template" - it should be enough to add this option to the dialog.
*** Issue 83597 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
target 3.0
*** Issue 74861 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
As this enhancement would require some UI I'm afraid we have to move it to the next release. Setting 3.1 instead of 3.x to enhance its visibility in the issue reviews.
But import styles doesn't import the chapter format. Please check #55777[1]. [1] http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=55777
You might consider the following design as a supplement and/or temporary alternative to the richer design given above. This should be quick and easy to specify and implement; it does no loading, but makes the auto-update setting visible and changeable. The template name is displayed on the General tab of the File > Properties dialog. On the right-hand end of the line, add something like the following: Auto-update: Yes o o No featuring two grouped radio buttons, set from the settings, and user-selectable. The new setting would take effect the next time the document is loaded.
I'm voting that this is an important feature. The way I (and many other users) work is to start typing out my document. When the content gets into its final or nearly final form, then I want to put in the styles and formatting. Maybe someone has been creating a template or working on it separately while I'm creating the content. Style and content are separate. It's like in HTML, I can select and swap around CSS at any point in the process. It might be easier to put it in at the end so I can focus on the content. Right now, in OO, once I have created a document without a template selected, it's too late to apply a template. I have to paste the entire document into a template document. Content+structure should be separate from style. The template should be as easy to swap as linking a CSS file into an HTML file. A word processor isn't a typewriter, and the lack of template management as a first-class feature is really hurting OO for use in business setting. This seems like a trivial feature to add and I hope OO will take it seriously.
This is not, in my view, trivial. When some one else creates the content and I need to edit and format, assigning a template to an existing document is easier and quicker and more logical than opening a template and replacing everything in it and then going through each item and setting the appropriate style, especially with custom styles. Given the existence of an extension (Template Changer) for 3.x, it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to ask for it to be updated and integrated into 4.x
(In reply to pmneve from comment #15) > Given the existence of an extension (Template Changer) for 3.x, it doesn't > seem too much of a stretch to ask for it to be updated and integrated into > 4.x This extension is dedicated to people who need this feature. So if you want it, install it. No need to embed in core app. Just 17 votes shows that is not a priority for end-users since 2005.
Integrating it into Oo is not a necessity. Somehow getting the extension fixed to support 4.x is the real need. I know 17 is not a large number, but those of who would use it are 'power' users and using Oo because it is a viable alternative to MS Office. Even though Office does have more flexible (although convoluted) template handling, I'd rather not go back to it. I'll try to contact the author of Template Changer and see what his situation is. I'll also try to see if I might be able to assist in bringing the extension up to date. All that aside, Oo is a really excellent package and my thanks to all who contribute to it.
Reset assigne to the default "issues@openoffice.apache.org".