I have several machines with libreOffice. I would like to set the default styles of the page once and for all. Thus, I am modifying the default styles available writer to suit my requirements.
But how can I set them on all my machines? Is there a style file I can copy from the main machine into the other ones? So that I don’t have to modify the style one by one in all machines?
Defaults are basically hardcoded into the LibreOffice install, but you can override the defaults by enabling a “default template”, or you can use template files as starting points/shortcuts for different document types without first registering them.
Just double click the template file from your file manager. Instead of opening the file (as would happen with a document file) the app will create a new file based on the template (essentially a copy, unnamed and with status unsaved “New file”). Your template file will remain unchanged.
For extra safety you can have your template file write protected. It is not uncommon to do this by a network share, where template developer is allowed write access and other users hve only read access.
See the help system, section about template management.
Alternatively, use File>Templates>Save as Templates but it gets saved in one of the directories set at Tools>Options, LibreOffice>Paths (Templates line). By default it goes into the “internal” template directory which is usually hidden.
This is quick’n’dirty method. As far as your documents are expandable one-shot ones, not intended to be maintained and updated on the long run, this is good.
But, for reviewed and edited long-standing document, templates are usually also amended to improve formatting and layout. If you double-clicked on the template icon to create a new document, the relationship between the template and the document is lost as soon as it is created. Consequently, the document will not be automatically updated whenever the template changes.
For automatic update on template change, the template must be made known to Writer. This is done with File>Templates>Manage Templates.