Getting Started Guide

Chapter 3
Styles and Templates
Using consistent formatting in your documents
Copyright
This document is Copyright © 2021 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team.
Contributors are listed below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the
terms of either the GNU General Public License
([Link] version 3 or later, or the Creative
Commons Attribution License ([Link]
version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Jean Hollis Weber Kees Kriek

To previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber Kees Kriek Felipe Viggiano
Steve Fanning Olivier Hallot Dave Barton
Paul Figueiredo

Feedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to the
Documentation Team’s mailing list: documentation@[Link]

Note
Everything you send to a mailing list, including your email address and
any other personal information that is written in the message, is publicly
archived and cannot be deleted.

Publication date and software version

Published June 2024. Based on LibreOffice 7.1 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Using LibreOffice on macOS

Some keystrokes and menu items are different on macOS from those used in
Windows and Linux. The table below gives some common substitutions for the
instructions in this document. For a detailed list, see the application Help.

Windows or Linux macOS equivalent Effect

Tools > Options
LibreOffice > Preferences Access setup options
menu selection

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at [Link]

Right-click Control+click or right-click
depending on computer Open a context menu
setup
Ctrl (Control) ⌘ (Command) Used with other keys
F11 ⌘+T Open the Styles deck in the
Sidebar

Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates | 3

Contents
Copyright.......................................................................................................................... 2
Contributors................................................................................................................................2
Feedback....................................................................................................................................2
Publication date and software version........................................................................................2
Using LibreOffice on macOS......................................................................................................2
Introduction...................................................................................................................... 5
Using styles is highly recommended...........................................................................................5
What are styles?.............................................................................................................. 5
Types of styles in LibreOffice......................................................................................................6
Applying styles................................................................................................................ 6
Styles deck on the Sidebar.........................................................................................................7
Styles menu (Writer and Calc)....................................................................................................7
Set Paragraph Style list (Writer) and Apply Style list (Calc)........................................................8
Context (right-click) menu (Writer and Calc)...............................................................................8
Fill Format mode (Writer and Calc).............................................................................................8
Keyboard shortcuts.....................................................................................................................9
Modifying styles...............................................................................................................9
Changing a style using the Styles deck......................................................................................9
Updating a style from a selection.................................................................................10
Using AutoUpdate (Writer)........................................................................................................11
Creating new (custom) styles.......................................................................................11
Creating a new style using the Style dialog..............................................................................11
Creating a new style from a selection.......................................................................................11
Dragging and dropping to create a style...................................................................................12
Adding table styles in Writer.....................................................................................................12
Copying styles from a template or document (Writer)...............................................13
Renaming styles............................................................................................................ 14
Deleting styles................................................................................................................14
Using the Style Inspector (Writer)................................................................................14
What are templates? Why use them?..........................................................................14
Creating a document from a template..........................................................................15
Creating a template........................................................................................................16
Creating a template from a document.......................................................................................16
Creating a template using a wizard...........................................................................................17
Adding templates obtained from other sources.........................................................17
Installing templates...................................................................................................................18
Editing a template..........................................................................................................19
Updating a document from a changed template.......................................................................19
Changing the template assigned to a document........................................................20

4 | Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates

Setting a default template............................................................................................. 20
Setting a template as the default..............................................................................................20
Resetting the default template..................................................................................................20
Organizing templates.................................................................................................... 21
Creating a template category....................................................................................................21
Deleting a template category....................................................................................................21
Renaming a template category.................................................................................................22
Renaming a template................................................................................................................22
Moving a template.....................................................................................................................22
Deleting a template...................................................................................................................23
Exporting a template.................................................................................................................23
Other ways to manage templates.................................................................................24
Creating a document from a template.......................................................................................24
Creating a template from a document.......................................................................................24
Examples of style use................................................................................................... 24
Defining a different first page for a document...........................................................................24
Dividing a document into chapters............................................................................................25
Changing page orientation within a document..........................................................................25
Controlling page breaks automatically......................................................................................25
Compiling an automatic table of contents.................................................................................25
Defining a sequence of paragraph styles..................................................................................25

Chapter 3 Using Styles and Templates | 5

Introduction
There are two basic ways to format text and other elements. Understanding
these two alternatives is essential for unlocking the power of LibreOffice:
Direct (or manual) formatting
Applies formatting directly to specific paragraphs, characters, pages,
frames, lists, tables, cells, and other elements. For example, you can
select a word, then click on an icon on the Formatting toolbar or the
Sidebar to format the text as bold or italic.
Styles
Bundles formatting attributes under one name. For example, a paragraph
style defines numerous settings such as font type and size, whether
paragraphs should be indented, the space between lines, how paragraphs
should be aligned on the page, and many others.

Using styles is highly recommended

LibreOffice is a styles-based program. It may work somewhat differently from
other programs you are familiar with. Using styles effectively requires some
planning, but the time spent in planning can save time and effort over the
longer term.
Because styles apply whole groups of attributes at the same time, you can easily
format a document consistently and change the formatting of an entire
document with minimal effort. Styles are also used by LibreOffice for many
processes, even if you are not aware of them. For example, Writer relies on
heading styles (or other styles you specify) when it compiles a table of
contents. Some common uses of styles are given in “Other ways to manage
templates” on page 27.

Note
Direct formatting overrides styles. You cannot remove manual formatting by
applying a style to it. To remove direct formatting, select the text, right-
click, and choose Clear Direct Formatting in the context menu. Alternatively
you can clear direct formatting from selected text by pressing Ctrl+M
(Ctrl+Shift+M in Impress), by selecting Format > Clear Direct Formatting on the
Menu bar, by selecting the Clear Direct Formatting icon on Writer’s
Formatting toolbar, or by selecting the Clear Direct Formatting icon on Calc’s
Standard toolbar.

What are styles?

A style is a set of formats that you can apply to selected elements such as
pages, text, frames, cells, and others in a document to quickly set or change
their appearance. Applying a style often means applying a group of formats at
the same time.
Many people manually format paragraphs, words, tables, page layouts, and
other parts of their documents without paying any attention to styles. They are
accustomed to manually applying attributes such as the font family, font size,
and any formatting such as bold or italic.
Using styles means that instead of applying “font size 14pt, Times New Roman,
bold, centered” you can apply (for example) a “Title” style, because you have
defined the “Title” style to have those characteristics. In other words, using
styles means that you shift the emphasis from what the text (or page, or other
element) looks like, to what the text is.

Types of styles in LibreOffice

LibreOffice supports the following types of styles:

• Page styles include margins, headers and footers, borders and backgrounds. In
Calc, page styles also define the sequence for printing sheets.
• Paragraph styles control all aspects of a paragraph’s appearance, such as text
alignment, tab stops, line spacing, and borders, and can include character
formatting.
• Character styles affect selected text within a paragraph, such as the font and
size of text, or bold and italic formats.
• Table styles apply predefined formats to tables and table elements in a text
document.
• Frame styles are used to format graphic and text frames, including text wrap,
borders, backgrounds, and columns.
• List styles allow you to select, format, and position numbers or bullets in lists.
• Cell styles include fonts, alignment, borders, background, number formats (for
example, currency, date, number), and cell protection.
• Drawing styles in drawings and presentations include line, area, shadowing,
transparency, font, connectors, dimensioning, and other attributes.
• Presentation styles include attributes for font, indents, spacing, alignment, and
tabs.
Different styles are available in the various components of LibreOffice, as listed
in Table 1. Details are given in the user guide for each component.
LibreOffice comes with many predefined styles. You can use the styles as
provided, modify them, or create new ones, as described in this chapter.
Table 1. Styles available in LibreOffice components
Style Type Writer Calc Draw Impress
Page X X
Paragraph X
Character X
Frame X
List X
Table X
Cell X
Presentation X X
Drawing X X

Applying styles
LibreOffice provides several ways for you to select and apply styles:

• Styles deck on the Sidebar

• Styles menu on the Menu bar (Writer and Calc)
• Set Paragraph Style list (Writer) and Apply Style list (Calc) on the Formatting
toolbar
• Right-click context menu (Writer and Calc)
• Fill Format mode (Writer and Calc)
• Keyboard shortcuts

Styles deck on the Sidebar

The Styles deck includes the most complete set of tools for styles. To use it for
applying styles:
1) Select View > Styles or Styles > Manage Styles on the Menu bar, or press F11 (⌘+T
on macOS), or click the Styles tab on the Sidebar (View > Sidebar to open it).
The Styles deck optionally shows previews of the styles available. Figure 1
shows the panel for Writer, with Paragraph Styles visible and with previews off.
2) Select one of the icons at the top left of the Styles deck to display a list of styles
in that category.
3) To apply an existing style, position the cursor in the paragraph, frame, page,
word, or cell, and then double-click the name of the style in one of these lists. To
apply a character style to more than one word, select the characters first.

Tip
At the bottom of the Styles deck is a drop-down list where you can select
what styles will be listed in the Styles panel. In Figure 1 the list shows All
Styles defined for the document. It could show Applied Styles (only the styles
used in the document) or other groups of styles, for example Custom Styles.
 Figure 1: The Styles deck for Writer, showing paragraph styles
and filter

Styles menu (Writer and Calc)

In Writer, the Styles menu has the most commonly used paragraph, character,
and list styles for text documents, as well as entries for style management. The
Styles menu does not have styles for frames, pages, or tables.
To apply a paragraph style, position the cursor anywhere in the paragraph, and
then select one of the paragraph styles in the Styles menu. To apply a
character style to several characters or more than one word, select the
characters first and apply the character style from the menu.
In Calc, the Styles menu has cell styles and style management entries. To apply
a cell style, select the cell or group of cells to be formatted, and then select the
required style.

Set Paragraph Style list (Writer) and Apply Style list

(Calc)
In Writer, after you have used a paragraph style at least once in a document,
the style name appears in the Set Paragraph Style list at the left-hand end of the
Formatting toolbar.
In Calc, after you have used a cell style at least once in a spreadsheet, the
style name appears in the Apply Style list at the left-hand end of the Formatting
toolbar. If the Apply Style list is not visible, you can enable it using one of the
methods given in “Customizing toolbars” in Chapter 1, Introducing LibreOffice.
You can open this list and click the style you want, or you can use the up and
down arrow keys to move through the list and then press Enter to apply the
highlighted style.
 Tip
Select More Styles at the bottom of the list to open the Styles deck on the
Sidebar.

Figure 2: The Set Paragraph

Style list in Writer

Context (right-click) menu (Writer and Calc)

In Writer, right-click anywhere in a paragraph to open the context menu;
choose Paragraph. Or, right-click in a word and choose Character in the context
menu. In Calc, right-click in a cell and choose Styles in the context menu.
In each case, the submenu includes some commonly used styles. You can add
styles to this submenu; see Chapter 14, Customizing LibreOffice.

Fill Format mode (Writer and Calc)

You can use Fill Format mode to apply a style to many different areas quickly
without having to go back to the Styles deck and double-click every time. This
method is quite useful when you need to format many scattered paragraphs,
cells, or other items with the same style.
1) Open the Styles deck on the Sidebar and select the style you want to apply.
2) Click the Fill Format Mode icon at the top of the Styles deck.
3) To apply a paragraph, page, frame, or cell style, hover the mouse over the
paragraph, page, frame, or cell and click.
To apply a character style, hold down the mouse button while selecting the
characters.
Clicking on a word applies the character style to that word.
4) Repeat step 3 until you have applied that style everywhere you desire.
5) To quit Fill Format mode, click the Fill Format Mode icon again or press the Esc
key.

Keyboard shortcuts
Some keyboard shortcuts for applying styles are predefined. For example, in
Writer Ctrl+0 applies the Text Body style, Ctrl+1 applies the Heading 1 style, and
Ctrl+2 applies the Heading 2 style. You can modify these shortcuts and create
your own; see Chapter 14, Customizing LibreOffice, for more details.

Modifying styles
LibreOffice includes some predefined styles, but you can also create custom
styles (see page 13). You can modify both predefined and custom styles in
several ways:

• Change a style using the Styles deck on the Sidebar

• Update a style from a selection
• Use Auto Update (paragraph and frame styles only)
• Load styles from another document or template

Note
Any changes you make to a style are effective only in the current
document. To change styles in more than one document, you need to
change the template or load styles from one document to another.

Changing a style using the Styles deck

To change an existing style using the Styles deck on the Sidebar, right-click on
the required style and select Modify in the context menu.
A Style dialog is displayed with title, content, and layout dependent on the type
of style selected. Each variant of the dialog has several tabs. See the chapters
on styles in the component user guides for more information.

Tip
You can also access the relevant Style dialogs through the Set Paragraph
Style (Writer) and Apply Style (Calc) lists. Click the arrow at the right of the
entry for the style to be modified and select Edit Style in the context menu.
You can access the appropriate Style dialog for the style of the current
selection by going to Styles > Edit Style on the Menu bar.

Updating a style from a selection

To update a style from a selection:
1) Open the Styles deck on the Sidebar.
2) In the document, select an item that has the format you want to adopt as a
style.
 Caution
When updating a paragraph style, make sure that the selected paragraph
contains unique properties. If it mixes font sizes or font styles, those mixed
properties will remain the same as before.

3) On the Styles deck, select the style to update, then click on the arrow next to
the Styles actions icon and select Update Selected Style (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Updating a style from a selection

Tip
Other ways to modify the current style include pressing Ctrl+Shift+F11
(Writer), selecting Styles > Update Selected Style on the Menu bar (Writer and
Calc), or clicking the Update Selected Style icon on the Formatting toolbar
(Writer).

You can also modify a style through the Set Paragraph Style (Writer) and
Apply Style (Calc) lists. Click the arrow at the right of the entry for the style
to be modified and select Update to Match Selection in the drop-down menu
(Figure 4).

Figure 4: Modifying a style from the Set Paragraph

Style list

Using AutoUpdate (Writer)

AutoUpdate applies to paragraph and frame styles only. If the AutoUpdate
option is selected on the Organizer page of the Paragraph Style or Frame Style
dialog, applying direct formatting to a paragraph or frame using this style in
the document automatically updates the style itself.

Tip
If you are in the habit of manually overriding styles in your document, be
sure that AutoUpdate is not enabled.

Creating new (custom) styles

You may want to add some new styles. You can do this by using the Style
dialog, or the New Style from Selection tool, or by dragging and dropping, as
explained below.

Creating a new style using the Style dialog

To create a new style using the Style dialog, open the Styles deck on the
Sidebar and select the category of the style you wish to create by clicking one
of the icons at the top of the deck. Then right-click on any style name and
select New in the context menu.
The new style will inherit characteristics from the style that you selected. If you
later change the base style (for example, by changing the font from Times to
Helvetica), all the linked styles will change as well. Sometimes this is exactly
what you want; other times you do not want the changes to apply to all the
linked styles. You can change any of those characteristics using the Style
dialog.
The dialogs and choices are the same for defining new styles and for modifying
existing styles. See the chapters on styles in the user guides for details.

Creating a new style from a selection

You can create a new style by copying an existing manual format. This new
style applies only to this document; it will not be saved in the template.
1) Open the Styles deck on the Sidebar and choose the category of style you want
to create.
2) In the document, select the item you want to save as a style.
3) On the Styles deck, click on the Styles actions icon and click the New Style from
Selection menu item in Writer or the New Style from Selection icon in Calc, Draw,
and Impress.
4) In the Create Style dialog, type a name for the new style. The list shows the
names of existing custom styles of the selected category. Click OK to save the
new style.
 Figure 5: Naming a new style created from a
selection

Tip
You can also create a new style from a selection by pressing Shift+F11
(Writer), by selecting Styles > New Style from Selection (Writer, Calc), or by
clicking the New Style from Selection icon on the Formatting toolbar (Writer).

Dragging and dropping to create a style

You can drag and drop a selection into the Styles deck to create a new style.
The element to drag depends upon the LibreOffice application.
Writer
Select some text and drag it to the Styles deck to open the Create Style
dialog. If Paragraph Styles are active, the paragraph style will be added to
the list. If Character Styles are active, the character style will be added to
the list.
Calc
Drag a cell selection to the Styles deck to open the Create Style dialog and
create a cell style. (Click and then Shift+Click to select the cell.)

Adding table styles in Writer

Table styles are stored in the LibreOffice user profile, and are available to all
Writer documents. You can define new table styles following these steps:
1) Create a table and apply formatting for cells, backgrounds, borders, and more.
2) Select the whole table.
3) Drag the table and drop it in the Table Styles category of the Styles deck on the
Sidebar.
Alternatively:
1) Create a table and apply formatting for cells, backgrounds, borders, and more.
2) Click in the table and select Table > AutoFormat Styles on the Menu bar. On the
AutoFormat dialog (Figure 6), click the Add button.
3) In the pop-up dialog, enter a name for the new table style, and then click OK.
 4) The new table style is now listed in the left pane of the AutoFormat dialog. Click
OK again to close the dialog.
The new table style can be applied to tables as described in “Applying styles”
on page 8.

Figure 6: Table AutoFormat dialog

Copying styles from a template or document

(Writer)
In Writer, you can copy styles into a document by loading them from a
template or from another document:
1) Open the document you want to copy styles into.
2) On the Styles deck, click the Style actions icon, and then select Load Styles.
3) On the Load Styles dialog (Figure 7), find the template from which to copy
styles. To copy styles from a document that is not a template, click the From File
button to open a file selection dialog and locate the required document.
4) Select the categories of styles to copy from the checkboxes at the bottom of the
Load Styles dialog.
5) Select Overwrite if you want to replace styles in the original document that have
the same name as styles in the document from which you are importing styles.
If this box is not selected, you will only copy styles whose names are not used in
the original document.
6) Click OK to copy the styles.
 Figure 7: Copying styles from a template into the open document

Tip
You can also access the Load Styles dialog by selecting Styles > Load Styles
on the Menu bar.

Renaming styles
You can rename custom styles, but not the styles supplied with LibreOffice. To
do so, go to the Styles panel on the Sidebar and click the icon for the type of
style you want to rename. Right-click on the style and select Modify in the
context menu to open the Styles dialog. On the Organizer tab, rename the style
and click OK.

Deleting styles
You cannot delete any of LibreOffice’s predefined styles from a document or
template, even if they are not in use.
You can delete any user-defined (custom) styles; but before you do, you should
make sure the styles are not in use in the current document.
To delete any unwanted styles, on the Styles deck select each one to be
deleted (hold down the Control key while selecting multiple styles), and then
right-click on a selected style and select Delete in the context menu.
If the style is not in use, it is deleted immediately without confirmation. If the
style is in use, you receive a warning message asking you to confirm deletion.
Select Yes to continue with the deletion.

Caution
If you delete a style that is in use, all objects with that style will return to
the default style.
Using the Style Inspector (Writer)
The Style Inspector (Figure 8) is located on the Sidebar in Writer. It displays all
the attributes of the styles (paragraph and character) and any direct formatting
present in the paragraph or word where the cursor is located. For more
information, see the Writer Guide.

Figure 8: Style Inspector example

What are templates? Why use them?

A template is a model document that you use to create other documents. For
example, you can create a template for business reports that has your
company’s logo on the first page. New documents created from this template
will always have your company’s logo on the first page.
Templates can contain anything that regular documents can contain, such as
text, graphics, a set of styles, and user-specific setup information such as
measurement units, language, the default printer, and toolbar and menu
customization.
All documents in LibreOffice are based on templates. You can create, or
download and install, as many templates as you wish, and you can specify a
template as the default for each type of document (text, spreadsheet, drawing,
presentation). If you do not choose a template when you start a new document,
then the new document is based on the default template for that type of
document. If you have not specified a default template, LibreOffice uses the
blank template for that type of document that is installed with LibreOffice. See
“Setting a default template” on page 24 for more information.
In Writer, you can create templates for master documents as well as for
ordinary documents.
Creating a document from a template
A new installation of LibreOffice may not include many templates, but you can
create your own (see “Creating a template” on page 19) or install templates
obtained from other sources (see “Adding templates obtained from other
sources” on page 21).
To create a document from a template:
1) Select File > New > Templates on the Menu bar, or select File > Templates >
Manage Templates on the Menu bar, or press Ctrl+Shift+N, or click on the small
arrow next to the New icon on the Standard toolbar and select Templates in the
drop-down menu, or select Templates > Manage Templates in the Start Center.
The Templates dialog opens.
2) In the Filter lists at the top of the Templates dialog, you can select the type and
category of template you want to use. The relevant templates are listed on the
dialog (as shown in Figure 9).
3) Select the required template and click Open, or double-click on the selected
template. A new document based on the template opens in LibreOffice.
The template the document is based upon is listed in File > Properties > General.
The connection between the template and the document remains until the
template is modified and, the next time that the document is opened, you
choose not to update it to match the template.

Tip
You can also create a document from a template by double-clicking the
template in the system's file explorer window. However, the template is
then not associated with the document. See “Other ways to manage templates”
on page 27.

Tip
In the Start Center, you can click on the Templates button to view the
available templates without opening the Templates dialog. Click on the
required template to create a new document.
 Figure 9: Templates dialog, showing context menu for a selected
template

Creating a template
You can create templates by saving a document as a template or (in Writer) by
using a wizard.

Creating a template from a document

In addition to formatting, any settings that can be added to or modified in a
document can be saved within a template. For example, you can also save
printer settings; general behaviors set from Tools > Options, such as paths and
colors; and menu and toolbar customizations.
Templates can also contain predefined text, saving you from having to type it
every time you create a new document. For example, a letter template may
contain your name, address, and salutation.
To create a template from a document:
1) Open a new or existing document of the type you want to make into a template
(text document, spreadsheet, drawing, or presentation).
2) Add any content that you want to appear in any document you create from the
new template, for example company logo, copyright statement, and so on.
3) Create or modify any styles that you want to use in the new template.
4) On the Menu bar, choose File > Templates > Save as Template. The Save As
Template dialog (Figure 10) opens, displaying the existing categories and a
name box.
 5) Optionally select a Template category, such as My Templates or Business
Correspondence. You can also set this template as a default template at this time
or do it later.
6) Click Save. The template is saved and the dialog closes.

Figure 10: Save As Template

dialog

Creating a template using a wizard

You can use wizards to create templates for letters, faxes, and agendas.
1) On the Menu bar, choose File > Wizards > [type of template required] (Figure 11).
2) Follow the instructions on the pages of the wizard. This process is slightly
different for each type of template, but the format is similar.

Figure 11: Creating a template using a

wizard
3) In the last section of the wizard, you can specify the template name that will
show in the Templates dialog, and also the name and location for saving the
template. The two names can be different but this may later cause confusion.
The default location is your user templates directory, but you can choose a
different location.
4) To set the file name or change the directory, select the Path button (the three
dots to the right of the location). The Save As dialog opens. Make your
selections and click Save to close the dialog.
 5) Finally, you can choose whether to create a new document from the template
immediately, or manually change the template. Click Finish to save the
template.

Adding templates obtained from other

sources
LibreOffice refers to sources for templates as repositories. A repository can be
local (a directory on your computer to which you have downloaded templates)
or remote (a URL from which you can download templates).
To get to the official LibreOffice template repository, type
[Link] in your browser’s address bar or click the Get
more extensions online... link in the Extension Manager, described in Chapter 14,
Customizing LibreOffice. This opens the Extensions web page (Figure 12). In the
Search section, click the Templates tag filter. You can narrow your search by also
choosing other tag filters. such as Writer.
After setting the filters, click the Search button. In the search results, find the
required template and click on its name to display a page with details; click the
Download button to put the template anywhere on your computer. Proceed to
“Installing templates” on page 22.

Figure 12: Searching for templates in the repository

You can also use the Extensions button in the lower left of the Templates dialog,
as shown in Figure 13, to open an Extensions: Templates dialog, where you can
scroll through a list of extensions. In this version of LibreOffice, there is no easy
way to filter this list, so you may prefer to go directly to the web page, as
described above.

Figure 13: Getting more templates for LibreOffice

On other websites, you may find collections of templates that have been
packaged into extension (.OXT) files.

Installing templates
You can install templates using either the Templates dialog or the Extension
Manager dialog.
To install templates using the Templates dialog:

1) Download the template or package and save it anywhere on your computer.

2) In the Templates dialog, click the Import button on the bottom right (Figure 13).
The Select Category dialog appears.
3) Select the category where you want to import the template and click OK. A
standard file browser window opens.
4) Find and select the template that you want to import and click Open. The file
browser window closes and the template is imported and appears in the
selected category.
To install templates using the Extension Manager:
1) Download the template or package and save it anywhere on your computer.
2) In LibreOffice, select Tools > Extension Manager on the Menu bar. In the
Extension Manager dialog, click Add to open a file browser window.
3) Find and select the template or package of templates you want to install and
click Open. The package begins installing. You may be asked to accept a license
agreement.
4) When the package installation is complete, restart LibreOffice. The templates
are available for use through the Templates dialog and the extension is listed in
the Extension Manager.
See Chapter 14, Customizing LibreOffice, for more information about the
Extension Manager.

Tip
You can manually copy new templates into the template folders. The
location varies with your computer’s operating system. To learn where the
template folders are stored on your computer, go to Tools > Options >
LibreOffice > Paths. You can also add new template folders in other
locations; see Chapter 2, Setting up LibreOffice, for more information.

Editing a template
You can edit a template’s styles and content, and then, if you wish, you can
reapply the template’s styles to documents that were created from that
template. You cannot reapply content. To edit a template:
1) Open the Templates dialog, as described in step 1) of “Creating a document
from a template” on page 18.
 2) In the Templates dialog, find the template that you want to edit. Right-click on it
and then click Edit in the context menu (Figure 9). The template opens in
LibreOffice.
3) Edit the template and save your changes as you would for any other document.

Updating a document from a changed template

If you make any changes to a template and its styles, the next time you open a
document that was created from the template before the changes, a
confirmation message is displayed.
To update the document:
1) Click Update Styles to apply the changed styles in the template to the
document.
2) Select Keep Old Styles if you do not want to apply the changed styles in the
template to the document (but see the Caution notice below).

Caution
If you choose Keep Old Styles, the document is no longer connected to the
template, even though the template is still listed under File > Properties >
General. To connect the document to the template again, use the procedure
described in “Changing the template assigned to a document” below.

Changing the template assigned to a

document
At times you might want to associate a document with a different template, or perhaps you’re
working with a document that did not start from a template or one that has become detached from
its template.

You can change the template assigned to a document, or reconnect a document to a template, in
two ways: manually or using the Template Changer extension to LibreOffice.

• To change or reassign a template manually, first create a new, blank document

from the required template, as described on page 18. Then copy the contents
of the old document into the new document.
• To use the Template Changer extension, first you need to download and install
it, then restart LibreOffice to activate it. After that, you can open the document
and use File > Templates > Change template (current document) on the Menu bar.

Note
Changing or updating a template affects only the formatting used in styles. It
does not affect any content. You may also need to manually update
content, for example a logo, copyright notice, or the layout of a copyright
page.
Setting a default template
If you create a Writer, Calc, Impress, or Draw document by choosing File > New
> [Type of Document] on the Menu bar, or by selecting one of the buttons in the
Create area of the Start Center, LibreOffice creates the document from the
default template for that type of document. You can, however, change the
default whenever you choose.

Setting a template as the default

Most default settings, such as page size and page margins, can be changed in
Tools > Options, but those changes apply only to the document you are working
on. To make those changes the default settings for that document type, you
need to replace the default template with a new one.
You can set any template displayed in the Templates dialog to be the default for
that document type:
1) Open the Templates dialog, as described in step 1) of “Creating a document
from a template” on page 18.
2) In the Templates dialog, open the category containing the template that you
want to set as the default, then select the template.
3) Right-click on the selected template and click Set as Default in the context menu
(Figure 9). An icon marks the template as the default.
The next time that you create a document of that type by choosing File > New
(or equivalent), the document will be created from this template.

Resetting the default template

To re-enable LibreOffice’s original default template for a document type as the
default for that type:
1) In the Templates dialog, click the Settings button on the bottom left (Figure 14).
2) Point to Reset Default Template in the drop-down menu, and click Text Document
(or other required template type). These choices do not appear unless a custom
template has been set as the default, as described in the previous section.

Figure 14: Resetting the default template for text

documents
You can also reset the default template as follows:
1) Go to the Templates dialog and open the category containing the template you
set as default. It is indicated by a green check mark.
2) Right-click on this template and select Reset Default in the context menu.
The next time that you create a document by choosing File > New (or
equivalent), the document will be created from the original default template for
the document type.

Organizing templates
LibreOffice can manage only those templates that are in its template folders
(categories), although you can create a document from a template that is not
in one of these folders. You can create new template categories and use them
to organize your templates. For example, you might have one template
category for report templates and another for letter templates. You can also
import and export templates.
To begin, open the Templates dialog as described in step 1) of “Creating a
document from a template” on page 18.

Creating a template category

To create a template category:
1) Click the Settings icon in the lower left of the Templates dialog.
2) Click New Category on the context menu (Figure 15).
3) In the pop-up dialog, type a name for the new category and click OK. The new
category now appears in the list of categories.

Figure 15: Creating a new

template category

Deleting a template category

You cannot delete template categories supplied with LibreOffice. Nor can you
delete any categories added by the Extension Manager unless you first remove
the extension that installed them.
However, you can delete a category that you created. Open the Templates
dialog, click the Settings icon and select Delete Category in the pop-up menu
(Figure 15). On the Delete Category dialog, select the category to be deleted
and click OK. When a message box appears asking you to confirm the deletion,
click Yes. If you attempt to delete a supplied cateogry, you will receive an error
message and the category will not be deleted.

Renaming a template category

You cannot rename template categories supplied with LibreOffice. You can only
rename categories that you created.
Open the Templates dialog, select the category in the Filter list at the top, then
click the Settings icon and select Rename Category in the pop-up menu. In the
Rename Category dialog, type the new name and click OK. If you attempt to rename a
supplied cateogry, you will receive an error message and the category will not
be renamed.

Renaming a template
You cannot rename templatees supplied with LibreOffice. You can only rename a
template that you have created or imported.
Open the Templates dialog, find and select the template you want to rename,
then right-click on the template and select Rename in the context menu. In the
small dialog that opens, type a name in the Enter New Name text box and click
OK. If you attempt to rename a supplied template, you will receive an error message and the
template will not be renamed.

This action changes the Title on the Description tab of the template’s document properties. It does
not change the file name of the template.

Moving a template
To move a template from one template category to another, select it in the
Templates dialog, and click the Move button near the bottom of the dialog. In
the Select Category dialog (Figure 16), select the destination category and click
OK. The selected template is moved to the folder. You can also create a new
category into which to move the template.

Figure 16: Moving templates to another category

Deleting a template
You cannot delete templates supplied with LibreOffice. Nor can you delete any
templates installed by the Extension Manager except by removing the
extension that installed them.
However, you can delete templates that you have created or imported:
1) In the Filter drop-down lists at the top of the Templates dialog, select the
category that contains the template you want to delete.
2) Select the template to delete.
3) Right-click on the template to open the context menu and click Delete (Figure 9).
4) A message box appears and asks you to confirm the deletion. Click Yes. If you
attempt to delete a supplied template, you will receive an error message and the
template will not be deleted.

Tip
You can also press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete the selected
template in the Templates dialog.

Exporting a template
To export a template from a template category to another location in your
computer or network:
1) In the Templates dialog, select the template that you want to export.
2) Click the Export button in the bottom right of the dialog. A file browser window
opens.
3) Find the folder where you want to export the template and select Select Folder
or OK.
4) Click OK on the displayed information dialog.

Note
Exporting a template does not remove it from the Templates dialog. The
action places a copy of the template in the location you specify.

Other ways to manage templates

You can create and use templates stored anywhere on your computer, without
using the Templates dialog. However, some results are different from those
described earlier in this chapter.

Creating a document from a template

You can create a document from a template by double-clicking the template in your
computer’s file browser window.

The resulting document is not associated with (linked to) the template from
which it was created. The template is not listed in the document ’s properties
and any changes to the template cannot be directly applied to the document.
For many purposes, such as writing a letter, this may be what you want.

Creating a template from a document

You can create a template from a document using File > Save As and selecting
the relevant template file type, then saving it anywhere you want, for example
in a project folder.
The resulting template will not be visible in the Templates dialog, unless you
import it or add the project folder to the locations shown for templates on the
LibreOffice – Paths page of the Tools > Options dialog (see “Paths” in Chapter 2, Setting
Up LibreOffice).

Examples of style use

The following examples of common use of page and paragraph styles are taken
from Writer. There are many other ways to use styles; see the guides for the
various components for details.

Defining a different first page for a document

Many documents, such as letters and reports, have a first page that is different
from the other pages in the document. For example, the first page of a
letterhead typically has a different header, or the first page of a report might
have no header or footer, while the other pages do. With LibreOffice, you can
define the page style for the first page and specify the style for the following
pages to be applied automatically.
As an example, we can use the First Page and Default Style page styles that
come with LibreOffice. Figure 17 shows what we want to happen: the first page
is to be followed by the default page, and all the following pages are to be in
the default page style. Details are in Chapter 5, Formatting Pages: Basics, in
the Writer Guide.

Figure 17: Flow of page styles

Dividing a document into chapters
In a similar way, you can divide a document into chapters. Each chapter might
start with the First Page style, with the following pages using the Default Style
page style, as above. At the end of the chapter, insert a manual page break
and specify the next page to have the First Page style to start the next chapter,
as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18: Dividing a document into chapters using page styles

Changing page orientation within a document

A Writer document can contain pages in more than one orientation. A common
scenario is to have a landscape page in the middle of a document, where the
other pages are in a portrait orientation. This setup can also be created with
page breaks and page styles.
To insert a landscape page in the middle of your document, position the cursor
at the point where you want to start the new (landscape) page. Click Insert >
More Breaks > Manual Break on the Menu bar. In the Insert Break dialog, select
Page Break under Type, and select a page style with landscape orientation in
the Page Style list. Click OK to insert the page. To go back to the portrait page
style, insert another page break and select the portrait page style you are
using (which may be Default Page Style, if you haven’t selected or created a
different one). See the Writer Guide for more information.

Controlling page breaks automatically

Writer automatically flows text from one page to the next. If you do not like the
default settings, you can change them. For example, you can require a
paragraph to start on a new page or column and specify the style of the new
page. A typical use is for chapter titles to always start on a new right-hand
(odd-numbered) page.

Compiling an automatic table of contents

To compile an automatic table of contents, first apply styles to the headings
you want to appear in the contents list, then use Tools > Chapter Numbering to
tell Writer which styles go with which level in the table of contents. By default,
tables of contents use Heading styles, but you can use whatever combination
of styles you prefer. See Chapter 4 in this guide for more information.
Defining a sequence of paragraph styles
You can set up one paragraph style so that when you press Enter at the end of
that paragraph, the following paragraph automatically has the style you wish
applied to it. For example, you could define a Heading 1 paragraph to be
followed by a Text Body paragraph. A more complex example would be: Title
followed by Author followed by Abstract followed by Heading 1 followed by Text
Body. By setting up these sequences, you can usually avoid having to apply
styles manually.