Title says it all, really. I’ve got a document and I want to know what template was used to create it. I can’t see any way of doing this - is it possible and if so, how?
I’ve tagged this for ‘writer’, but I suppose it applies to any document for which a template exists.
Try File>Properties menu and then the “General” tab.
Whether that helps with a foreign template is questionable.
But you can see the document, which is a reflection of the template in the basic structure.
In addition to @Hrbrgr’s answer, I want to point out that you’ll get this information only if your document was created with File>New>Templates.
If you “simply” double-clicked on a template file or you opened a template file, you created an “independent” document. The link with the template is lost.
Thanks @Hrbrgr and @ajlittoz . File>Properties didn’t work, so I assume that it was created from an existing template. When I’ve changed a style in one document, and then opened a second document which used the same template, I’m sure I’ve seen messages asking me if I want to use the updated style in the second document. So I think that the information must be there somewhere. Leaves me a bit puzzled as in general I use pre-existing templates.
This works only if you always work from the File>Document Templates menu.
With foreign templates I would exclude it.
This happens only after initial File>Open>Templates. There is no link between “ordinary”, i.e. non-template, documents.
Template relationship is stored in the meta-data section of the underlying XML. But if you didn’t follow the rules about templates (which must be “registered” with LO), this information is not written to meta-data.
In case there a “glitch” in File>Properties (you never know for sure with software), save your document as .fodt (for Writer documents) and look at it with a text editor. The information is located “near” the beginning.
I’m a bit disorganised as to how I use templates and forget how I created documents - hence my original question. I’d assumed that if I change (or add) a style to a document, this information was changed in the file’s template. It seems that this isn’t the case and that this info is only stored within the file.
You cannot change a template in an existing document. You can only modify a document and save it as a template again.
Document Templates in Writer
English documentation
Thanks @ajlittoz - I’m a bit hazy about templates, and don’t understand the bit about ‘registration’ - that word doesn’t seem to appear in the relevant help files. I’ve had a look at the .fodt and found what seems to be the template name, so at least that’s sorted.
And also thanks to @Hrbrgr - I don’t want to save a whole document as a template - just the changes to styles that I made. I guess that the easiest way is to load the template, change the style from Load Styles, and save the template.
You register a template with File>Templates>Manage Templates when you import it with the Manage menu. But, beware! This moves the template file into the LO template folder. So either you create a “secondary” template folder inside your home directory with Tools>Options, LibreOffice>Paths so that your template remains “ordinarily” accessible, or you duplicate the template file before registering it but this complicates further updates to it (because you need to re-register the template).
Why would you “Load Styles” if you’re already editing the template?
Thanks @ajlittoz - registering a template doesn’t sound like a good idea.
I want to copy styles into the template from a document in which I added a few new ones so that I can use the styles in other documents How do I do this without loading the template and loading the style from the document?
How do I do this …
See my comment above “Transfer Styles in Writer”.
Try to read.
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Thanks again @Hrbrgr I missed those links - did you edit your comment after I’d read it? They look really useful.
But it is the only way to “integrate” your templates with LO so that the automatic update (with question) can occur.
OK, I see your workflow. Personally, I avoid this because you can inadvertently damage your template styles or copy excess one-of-a-kind styles which are supposed to be specific to the document (as an example, I have a master + subdocs where some styles in the subdocs are overridden to facilitate subdoc composition; these subdoc styles should not be copied into the template lest it destroys formatting and layout out the print-ready master).
…did you edit your comment after I’d read it?
I do not know when you read.
Creating a comment or a reply, sometimes means adding several additions.
But the links don’t stick directly to the cursor, I have to search them out first too.
OIC. I think the problem was that by the time the links had been added to the comment, it had scrolled out of the window so I never saw them.
Thanks @ajlittoz I’m going to have to think about this. I think I’ve got enough information to work out how to do what I want. I’ve not used templates much before (as you probably realised).