Duplicating text across pages easily

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GHAO
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 02, 2020 5:27 pm

Duplicating text across pages easily

Post by GHAO »

Hello,

I'm creating the front cover for my self-published sheet music and have a document with 30 pages all of the same style - composer, title of piece, logo, and instrument name. The instrument name is the only thing that changes on each of the 30 pages. My plan is to copy this document roughly a hundred times and in each document change the name of the composer and title of piece (with the instrument names staying the same).

When I do this, is there a way for me to change the contents of two text boxes (containing the composer's name and the title of the piece) so that it automatically changes on the following 29 pages as well?

In music publishing software, I can use a wildcard that looks like /n/$NAME or something which searches for the title of the piece from the data embedded in the file so that I can populate the title wherever it is needed, with the ability to change it once and see the change replicated across the document.

Bonus points if I can automatically add a number based on the page number in the document (ie "26/31 Tuba" where 26/31 is generated automatically and "Tuba" is my own addition).

If it matters, I'm on Windows 10 and OpenOffice 4.1.3
Openoffice 4.1.3 on Windows 10
GHAO
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat May 02, 2020 5:27 pm

Re: Duplicating text across pages easily

Post by GHAO »

So I figured Find and Replace would be best for what I want - I can change all the text in one go rather than blindly copy-pasting all day.

For my second question, I've discovered Fields can be used to generate a page number and document page number so this works for me too.

Still interested in learning if wildcards are a thing and are possible in Draw.
Openoffice 4.1.3 on Windows 10
FJCC
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Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:08 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Re: Duplicating text across pages easily

Post by FJCC »

I do not use Draw, so I can only vaguely suggest that you look at using the Master Slide. Select the menu View -> Master. Anything yo put on that page will appear on every page. You can insert a page number field and it will increment correctly on each page. Your logo could also be placed on that page. For each document, you could edit the composer and the title on the Master. When you are done with the changes, click the Close Master View on the Master toolbar.
OpenOffice 4.1 on Windows 10 and Linux Mint
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