[Solved] Edit *.ott impossible

[morphingstar]

There use to be a choice whether an *.ott file would open as *.otd or *.ott (open / edit). This choice vanished. My templates are not in an OO-folder, but elsewhere on same disk. This problem is new, did not exist few month ago. what's up?
When I start OO it indicated a new version to be available, clicking to download/update leads to the message "not available - or similar". Just to mention it.
I am really concerned about the failing access to display *.ott.

[keme]

There use to be a choice whether an *.ott file would open as *.otd or *.ott (open / edit). This choice vanished. My templates are not in an OO-folder, but elsewhere on same disk. This problem is new, did not exist few month ago. what's up?

When opening from the system file manager window (Windows explorer, MacOS "Finder", etc.), I can right click a template entry to get its context menu, where "New" is default (same as doubleclick) but "Open" allows you to directly open the template file for editing.

When opening from Writer (whether using system or OpenOffice/LibreOffice file manager dialogs) the "Open" button performs the "New" action. I was not aware of this, as I usually work on file level from the "explorer" (file manager standalone) window. Logically (to me at least), the "File - Open" would open the template file for edit. Having the option to create a new file from template should reside in the "File - New" menu branch. Alas, it is not so, and changing this would probably confuse a majority of the users of the suite (someone editing a template by accident) which is probably why it works like it does. Still, an option should be provided (perhaps hidden or with some security question) to actually edit the template, when the selection is indeed a template file.

The behavior seems to be identical with LibreOffice and OpenOffice, and also whether you use open/save dialogs from the system or from the suite. Optimally it is probably left as it is, for more advanced users to deal with it in one way or other. I'd say that working with templates is in the "moderately advanced" category.

Solution (One way)
If you can work from the file manager, use the right click - "Open" to open your templates for editing.

Workaround (Other way)
If you need to work from within Writer, it looks like you have toaddress your issue in a "roundabout" fashion: "File - save as ...", then change file type to "template", select your template file again and confirm overwrite.

When I start OO it indicated a new version to be available, clicking to download/update leads to the message "not available - or similar". Just to mention it.

I never got the integrated update system to work. I just revert to download the full install from the web page.

[FJCC]

I hope I'm not muddying the water here through a misunderstanding. I thought the way to edit a template is through the menu File -> Templates -> Edit. I agree it isn't obvious, but it makes sense to me that you access the template through File -> Templates and you get documents based on the template through File -> New or File -> Open.

[RoryOF]

I agree with FJCC; I found /File /Templates /Edit allows editing and Saving of a template as a template.

[keme]

I hope I'm not muddying the water here through a misunderstanding. I thought the way to edit a template is through the menu File -> Templates -> Edit. I agree it isn't obvious, but it makes sense to me that you access the template through File -> Templates and you get documents based on the template through File -> New or File -> Open.

I agree with FJCC; I found /File /Templates /Edit allows editing and Saving of a template as a template.

Agreed too! Which reminded me of the (somewhat unrelated) PERL motto, "There's more than one way to do it." I have used that menu option before, and forgot all about it. Growing old, I guess. Must try to be less "trigger-happy" and research better. Thanks for the reminder!

That templates file dialog will default to the OO templates directory, which the OP says is not the folder used. You can still browse to your other location, anywhere in the file system.

If you go there a lot, to save the browsing steps you can make the Templates - Edit dialog default to your own templates folder: Go to menu item Tools - Options, expand the OpenOffice branch and select Paths. Add your path in the "templates" section and use the "radio button" on the left to set it as default.

[Bill]

When I start OO it indicated a new version to be available, clicking to download/update leads to the message "not available - or similar". Just to mention it.

This was a known bug which was fixed in a later version of AOO. If you download and install the latest version, the automatic check for updates should work properly.

[morphingstar]

Lots of useful answer, many thanks to all. In my memory, clicking a *.ott would offer a New (an *.odt) and an Edit (*.ott). I have lots of "home made" templates moved from older computers to the present, about since 2014. The LO and OO installation defines the path of included templates. For me this was impractical because of the large qty of such. That is why I have my designs in a different path on a different partition. It has become troublesome to open OO template standard and redirect the path each time. Hence I changed to open *.ott from the file manager. That is where I missed the EDIT, which led to my question. I think I received all the answers I need. I shall try the methods and if these work for me I shall come back to mark "Solved".