OpenOffice.org — Creating and Setting a Default Template

If you find yourself frequently using the same or similar layout for new files in OpenOffice Writer, you may find it easier to create a new default template that incorporates the changes you usually do by hand, automatically. This is a simple way to save you time, especially for the more sophisticated layouts you may utilize. To change the default template for text documents in Writer, first create a blank document with all of the formatting that you'd like the template to have. Next, go to File > Templates > Save, make sure "My Templates" is selected under Templates > Categories, and then give the template a name under "New template" and press OK. This just saved your template in the default template folder, which you can specify in Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org > Paths. To make this template the default template, go to File > Templates > Organize, double-click "My Templates", right-click the template you just saved, and finally click "Set As Default Template". Click close, and you're done! Every time you open Writer or choose "New" from the toolbar, the new document will automatically use your template. To reset the default template, go to File > Templates > Organize, double-click "My Templates", right-click the template that's currently the default, hover over "Reset Default Template", and choose "Text Document". If you'd like instead to choose which template to use when first creating a new document, simply go to File > New > Templates and Documents, or you can add a button to the Standard toolbar that does the same thing. To do so, click the down arrow on the far right of the Standard toolbar, click “Customize Toolbar”, and under Toolbar Content > Commands, check “New Document from Template”. When you click on this button, you will get to choose which template to use for the new document you create. Keep in mind that all template files (*.ott, etc.) should be closed while you make these changes. Also take note that with the default “New” button, if you make a selection from its down arrow, whichever selection you make will become the new default selection whenever you click the actual “New” button. For example, if I click the down arrow to the right of “New” and select “Spreadsheet”, the “New” button will now show the spreadsheet icon to demonstrate that if I press “New”, a new spreadsheet will be created (rather than a text document, for instance) since I last selected “Spreadsheet” from the down arrow. This information is current, as of OpenOffice.org version 2.3.1 on Windows Vista. To find out which version you're using, go to Help > About OpenOffice.org. Some steps may be different in OpenOffice.org for other operating systems, such as Linux.