A template is a document containing only the styles—and content— that you want to appear in every document of that type. When a document is created or opened with the template, the styles are automatically applied to that document. Templates greatly enhance the use of LibreOffice by simplifying formatting tasks for a variety of different types of documents.
For example, in a word processor, you can write letters, memos, and reports, all of which look different and require different styles. Or, for example, for spreadsheets, you could use different cell styles or headings for certain types of spreadsheets. If you use templates for each of your document types, the styles you need for each document are always readily available.
LibreOffice comes with a set of predefined templates. You can also find additional templates on the Internet, for example at http://templates.libreoffice.org. For details, see Section 9.10, “For More Information”.
Creating your own templates requires some planning. You need to determine how you want the document to look, so you can create the styles you need in that template.
A detailed explanation of templates is beyond the scope of this section. Procedure 9.6, “Creating LibreOffice Templates” only shows how to generate a template from an existing document.
Procedure 9.6: Creating LibreOffice Templates
For text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings, you can create a template from an existing document as follows:
Start LibreOffice and open or create a document that contains the styles and content that you want to re-use for other documents of that type.
Click File › Templates › Save as Template.
Choose a directory to save the image in by double-clicking one of the directory icons.
If you are in a subdirectory and want to go up again, use the path bar displayed above the directories.
From the toolbar, choose Save.
Specify a name for the template.
Click OK.
Note: Converting Microsoft Word Templates
You can convert Microsoft Word templates like you would convert any other Word document. For more information, see Section 9.4.2, “Converting Documents to the OpenDocument Format”.