[Solved] Default View Layout

[Hagar Delest]

Have looked through this forum and the Writers Guide but cannot find out how to change the default setting in View from Print Layout to Web Layout. Several years ago, I created an icon for Libre Writer in the top panel of Ubuntu (now using v 11.04). When I click on it, Libre 3.3.4 opens up a document that always is in Print Layout. I want documents to open in Web Layout. Yes, I can change any document by going to View and clicking Web Layout. But, I'd like to always open in Web Layout.

[Hagar Delest]

Not on my Ubuntu system right now but I think that the last view setting is used for the next session. Make sure that the last file you close is in web layout and see if it opens in web layout afterward.

[jerrydc]

Created and closed a file in Web Layout and exited Libre, but it opens blank files in Print Layout when I later open Libre.

Jerry

[kingfisher]

The window state is remembered and used here.

[jerrydc]

Sir or Madam: this a forum for beginners.

Jerry

[acknak]

The view mode (Print or Web) is stored as a setting in each document; when you open the document, the previous view setting is restored.

Same goes for templates: when you create a new document from a template, the view mode saved in the template is used for the new document as well.

If you create a template document that uses web view, then assign that template as the default template, then any time you start OOo and do File > New > Text Document, you'll get an empty document in web view.

See viewtopic.php?f=71&t=1161 for step-by-step

I don't know how the icon on your desktop works, so I can't make any suggestions how to make it start in web view, but the same principles apply there as well.

[jerrydc]

Thank you very much. Your instructions worked fine. I have a question, however, before marking my question well solved. Does the Load/Save category under Options have any bearing on the modifications I may have made to the operation of Libre? I made modifications, I think, so long ago I've forgotten what they are. Perhaps something I did set my Layout in stone. I'd be happy to send an image of my Options-Load/Save-General box if that is germane and if I could find out how to do it.

Jerry

[acknak]

The only thing I can think of is that you may have set the default text format to HTML document. I expect that would come up in web view by default, but I don't know for sure.

[jerrydc]

In Load/Save-General-Default file format ... I chose "1.2 extended (recommended)." In Document Type I chose "Text document," and in "Always save as," chose "ODF Text Document." If this has no bearing on my question and is what ought to be checked off, thanks again and will mark the thread solved unless you are in a position to do that.

Jerry

[acknak]

I believe those are the recommended settings.

It's also possible to start OOo directly into a new html/web document, which will also use the web layout. You may have used a desktop icon or menu item that started OOo that way, in which case, it would launch directly into an empty web view document, and no need for all the template stuff.

[jerrydc]

I'm sorry but I don't understand. When I opened 00o the first thing that always came up was a blank document in Print Layout. Didn't matter whether in a previous session I exited in Web Layout or Print Layout. Once in 00o, if I wanted to start another file and clicked on the New icon, a blank document came up in Print Layout. I am surprised that there is no simple way (at least by using GUI) to change the default setting.

Jerry

[acknak]

Yes, it's not hard to do, but it is not obvious and it really should be. It should be obvious and easy to say "make the current settings the default" but it's not. C'est la vie.

As I was experimenting, I remembered something, but if you were normally starting out by File > New, then what I said has no bearing on your situation. Just forget it; I didn't mean to muddy the waters.

[kingfisher]

Hi. I have opened Writer twice during this thread to check what happens. On each occasion the application has opened with a blank document in web layout. I have a template named wtext.ott which I must have made the default template.

For what it may be worth, I am attaching a snapshot of my "Load/Save General" settings. The version selection makes no difference. I'm still undecided as to what to do about that. I notice the "size optimisation" setting but have not researched the significance of that.

[acknak]

... I have a template named wtext.ott which I must have made the default template.

You can check what template was used to create a document by looking at File > Properties > General > Template: ... a blank there means OOo's built-in default was used.

... The version selection makes no difference. I'm still undecided as to what to do about that.

It does make a difference. For example, lists in a Writer document are saved with different properties. There are some features that require the newer ODF (extended document properties, for one).

... I notice the "size optimisation" setting but have not researched the significance of that.

It just means that the saved file will be slightly smaller. The only reason to turn it off is if you need to work with the file's raw xml.

[kingfisher]

Thanks for the information. I did indeed make the template the default. I changed to the earlier version of the odf format because of the recent announcement of a security patch required by the later version. Off topic, of course. I offered my snapshot just in case it helps the OP.

[claudiathompson]

THIS MADE IT EASY FOR ME

Re: Opening a new document with previous layout
Postby acknak » Fri Aug 21, 2015 1:29 pm

File > New > Text Document
View > Web Layout
File > Template > Save ... OK
Close the document
File > Template > Organize ...
Scroll down under "My Templates" (left panel) to select the new template
Commands > Set as Default Template

From then on, File > New > Text Document ... will use the new template, in web view. Note: it may not work if you start OO from the desktop.
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