This is a "classic" post but important and useful. See also info on styles .
Let's say you have the following:
- A bunch of styles you need to have when you create a document.
- Some canned text, like your signature or a graphic logo, that you
use in a lot of documents
- Or you just have to make sure that all your white papers or customer contracts or brochures follow certain formatting standards
You are an excellent candidate for using templates. Templates are
documents that store styles, text, graphics, general
formatting—whatever you want. You create a document, save it as a
template in the Template Place, then point to that template when you
want to create a new document using what it's got.
Making a Template
Open a new document.
Put in it what you want in the template. Styles, graphics, text of
every kind and variety. Whatever.
Then choose File > Templates > Save.
Specify My Templates unless you have another idea for a category.
(To create a new category, click the Organizer button, select a
category in the button that appears, right-click on it and choose
New. An untitled category will appear. IMMEDIATELY start typing the
name of your new category. Click somewhere else in the category list
when you're done typing. Click Close.)
Type the name of your template like Meeting Minutes.
Click OK.
Now you've got a template.
Using a Template
You need to create a new document using that template.
Choose File > New > Templates and Documents.
Select the Template icon on the left.
Open the category you chose like My Templates. You'll see your
template.
Click Open and you'll have a new untitled document based on that
template.
The Coolest Part—Making That Template Come Up When You Create
Any New Document
Choosing File > New > Templates and Documents is fine but
what if that's your template you use all the time? You can make it
come up when you just choose File > New > [type of document] by
setting it as the default template.
Choose File > Templates > Organize.
Open the category your template is in, in the left side.
Right-click on the template and choose Set as Default Template.
Click Close. You're done! Choose File > New > [type of
document] and you'll see the effect.
To switch back to the normal original boring blank document,
repeat the steps but this time choose Reset Default Template >
[type of document]
Pointing to an Existing Directory of Templates
If you have a bunch of templates, Microsoft or OpenOffice.org, set up OpenOffice.org to know where they are. Then you can get to them as above by choosing File > New > Templates and Documents.
Converting, If You Want to Point to Microsoft Format Templates
First, if they're in Microsoft format, you need to convert them to OpenOffice format. Choose File > Wizards > Document Converter. Follow the wizard through to create a converted set of copies of the templates.
Step 1.
Step 2, then just follow the wizard as prompted.
Pointing to Templates to Use
Now, choose Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths. Select the Templates line.
Click Edit, then click Add, and add the path to the templates you want to point to. (Click this image to see a larger version if you like.)
Click OK, and OK, and OK again.
Now you'll see the templates when you choose File > New > Templates and Documents.