[Tutorial] Creating a new default template

[Lazy-legs]

If you want every new document to have user-defined settings, you must create a new template and set it as default.

1. Create a new document, add or modify styles, and change other settings as you desire.
2. From the File menu, choose Templates -> Save.
3. Give the template a name.
4. Select a category in the Categories list (for example, My Templates).
5. Click OK to save the template.
6. Choose File -> Templates -> Organize.
7. In the Categories list, double-click on the My Templates folder.
8. Right-click on the template you want to use and choose Set as Default Template from the menu.
9. Click the Close button.

[Hagar Delest]

Just some precisions:

• A default template can be set for any OOo component (Writer, Calc, Impress).
• If you want OOo to check if the template has been changed since you last edited the document you're opening, the template had to be saved with the method above (if it's located in a different place, OOo can't check).

Keywords (used so that this thread comes up in the new users searches in the forum):
custom template default margin margins change text font fonts format formatting paragraph spacing

[Hagar Delest]

In Windows, if you want to create documents with the right click menu in your file browser (Explorer), then you have to follow the following steps. The New document feature is indeed an Operating System feature that can't reflect the changes made in the OpenOffice configuration after installation.

• Create a new document from within AOO (will be based on your default template)
• save it as soffice.odt, overwriting the file (if already existing) in the folder (you may have to do that as administrator):
  
  • C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Templates for Windows before Vista
  • C:\Users\All Users\Templates or C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Templates in Windows Vista and versions above.