Similar to inserting pdf pages into a pdf, how do I build an .odt doc from other existing .odt docs? In this case, the .odt docs are/might be different margins, formatting, etc…
Something about styles, sections, etc.
PS I’ve cataloged the different styles of the different .odt docs but don’t understand how to combine them other than assuming different types of breaks, etc…
Ultimately, I want to combine a bunch of .odt docs and use search/find to globally update names, dates, etc…
You can’t, unless you create a PDF first, and insert as images.
Your question is a bit obscure. Writer provides a “binding” feature with master documents referencing sub-documents. However, the goal is generally to uniformise layout so that all parts look homogeneous. You can eventually have different appearance but this costs you multiplication of styles, which quickly becomes unmanageable.
Give us more details about your “ultimate” task of updating names, dates, … This could perhaps be achieved with variables and “properties”. Name your OS and LO version.
I don’t see a direct possibility for this. You could try to script this for one file, then use the macro for all files…
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You could also file a request for enhancement of the Search and replace at Bugzilla (I use replace in all open files often in Notepad++), but this is no quick “solution”.
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I’m usually using fields for your task, but I never tried to put them in after creation, so this doesn’t help for you…
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An idea could be to modify the xml directly after saving as .fodt
ajlittoz,
Thank you so much for getting back to me… (and thanks for the other responses:)
I have basically the latest Win 10 and Libre Office 7.5.4.2 (X86_64)
I have about a dozen .odt writer documents with somewhat different formatting, i.e., margins mostly… And I want to combine them into one document so that I can update the name, dates and other pertinent and redundant information to cause a set of writer documents to become customized for one client. And then update another set of “Master?” documents for another client with dates, pertinent and redundant information, etc.
I originally assumed through a set of breaks in this “master” document, I can establish different margins and other minor changes, and in another set of breaks, establish another set of margins, etc. I don’t quite understand sections, or the properties of the different break options (other than page break) but believe I am starting to understand Styles…
I’ve established what I need as far as margins… Note: these are (friendly:) legal documents and moving margins around might be possible (a lot of work on this end to reformat docs) but I wish to keep the margins as they are if possible.
In searching, I’ve seen the term master documents and the idea of inserting text… but hope to set up 13 “sub-documents” with different margins, etc.
I know just enough about Styles to establish margins (though I didn’t save them properly and they need to be saved again). This is what I have so far… I do have a bit of header and footer requirements as well.
Page margins for individual pages and their order.
1.00, .50, .50, .50
.79, .79, .70, .70
.79, .79, .79, .79
.79, .79, .79, .79
.79, .79, .79, .79
.70, .70, .50, .23
.79, .79, .79, .79
1.00, 1.00, .90, .71
.70, .70, .30, .50
.50, .50, .40, .50
.50, .50, .40, .50
1.20, 1.20, .78, .78
.70, .70, .50, .70
I appreciate any help and appreciate the forum and information shared!
Thanks!
If the “name”, “date” and a few other data are common to a whole set of documents, you could try to define these data as File>Properties, Custom Properties items. The value of these items (they are pairs of key-value) can be inserted anywhere with fields. This could simplify your update procedure where you only change the value in your custom properties and the whole document is automatically updated.
If some documents are common between clients, except for “name”, “date”, “address”, …, the common document can be used without any change because the actual value is dynamically inserted by the field. This requires some design thought and the use of the master feature: the properties are defined in the master (one per client) and all referenced sub-documents access the master properties.
Regarding your margins, having many different margins in a single “bound” document does not look professional. It can be done, of course, but I don’t recommend it. Unless some pages are really “special”, such as diagrams interspersed with text pages. Usually this sums up to a few specific page styles, but not as many as in your description. Perhaps, your initial documents need some tidy up.
But, this is very the master-subdocument comes in handy. You need not change the sub-docs individually. If they use specific page styles, all you have to do is create a page style of the same name in the master. Styles in the master replace those in the sub-doc if they have the same name (styles not existing in the master are imported from the sub-docs). This behaviour allows to have two different layouts: one in the sub-doc for editing, one in the master for publishing.
A few remarks
-
sections
The Writer concept of section does not cover the same as in Word. In Writer, a section is a part of a page with a different number of columns (simplified definition so that you understand the idea). A section does not change the active page style. In Word, a section is approximately equivalent to a page style.
Don’t work with sections if you have no compelling need. -
"I am starting to understand Styles…"
When working with styles, refrain from using direct formatting (DF) because DF hides style action and many new users don’t understand why changing styles has no effect: simply DF overrides them.
Remember that styles encompass paragraph, character (for bold, italic, …), page, frame (for images and side blocks of text; – hard to tame) and list (in fact only for formatting the number or bullet).
The most efficient way of using styles is what I call semantic styling where the styles (and their names) don’t describe the visual attributes but their significance for you, the author. Since visual attributes are rather limited, two significances may be decorated the same. However, style-wise, they are separate and you can act on one independently from the other.
As an example, if your margins have some real significance in the document, then the corresponding pages must be configured with separate page styles. - last, but this is humour, latest
The “latest” notion is relative. You say you have the latest Win 10 but the current version in shops is Win 11. Also, my LO here is 7.6.4.1 but soon 24.02.x will be released (with a change in numbering philosophy). Depending on the debugging pace, there might be an interim 7.6.4.2 or 7.6.5.x.
ajlittoz,
Thank you so much for the information and humour… I have the latest Win10 and now the “latest” Libre Office 7.6.4.1 I hope to have an alternative to Win 11 when it comes time…
I will continue to try to sort out Styles as it relates to the master-subdocument… As I continue to make little headway, I am considering reformatting my docs to the same formatting… but these documents are not bound together… They are different segments of a trust, i.e., the main trust document, Minutes are quite different to get them on a single page, there is a welcome letter, prep pages, Resolutions, etc. There are good reasons to get certain docs on a single page. I assume I can then print the whole thing or print the pages I want as I wish… but that is still an unknown…
I appreciate the help. I will continue by searching for master and subdocuments and trial and error… Question: Can I save Styles other than what seems to be within the document I create them for?
Remove text from the document (unless you want bits of it as “standard” initial contents) and File>Templates>Save as Template. This creates an .ott file containing styles and text you kept. This is called a template.
There are two ways of using it:
- double-clink on the icon or
File>Open
You get a new independent .odt document (styles + initial contents). “Independent” here means that the new document is no longer related to the template. Whatever happens to the template will not affect the document. -
file>New>Templates
This is possible only after you have registered your template withFile>Templates>Manage Templatesto add it to the list of LO-known templates. It can even be made the default template. In this case, the document remains related to the template. When you reopen your document after a change to the template, you are asked if you want to update the styles in the document, thus keeping your template-based document always consistent with your style set formatting.
1 Like
Great help and a big insight! I will see what I can do with what I have learned…
Thanks so much!
Namasté