LibreOffice Writer Template
A design template for writing technical documentation with LibreOffice Writer.
The design looks the same on Mac OSX, Linux, and Windows as all fonts, colors, etc. are available on all platforms.
All of the styles included in this template are listed below. I did not customize every possible style as I updated the ones that I use when writing technical documentation. Further, I am not a designer. I'm 100% confident that a professional designer make a more attractive template, so please don't hate on my design skills. :)
This repo will not get many pushes as there's little reason to constantly update a template.
Tested on:
- LibreOffice: 4.2
- Ubuntu Linux 14.04, Mac OSX 10.10 (Yosemite), Windows 7
Example file
View Example file.pdf to see the template's theme.
The example file has a large amount of formatting on a single page, so it's a lot more colorful than an actual documentation file contains (which as more black).
Installation
Installing the template involves downloading the .ott
file then saving the
template to your templates
directory. The final step is to copy the table
styles file to the LibreOffice config
directory.
Template file
Setting up the template file involves the same steps on Mac, Linux and Windows.
- Download the Tech Docs Template.ott file to
your
Downloads
folder. - Navigate to your
Downloads
folder, then double-click theTech Docs Template.ott
file to open it in Writer. - Select
File
, selectTemplates
, clickSave As Template...
. - In the Template Manager dialog box:
- Double-click
My Templates
. - Click
Save
. - Enter a template name of
Tech Docs Template
(or some other name that you'd like to use for this template). - Click
OK
.
- Double-click
Table AutoFormat file
Close LibreOffice if it's open.
Install on Mac
- Download the autotbl.fmt file to your
Downloads
folder. - Open a terminal an run the following commands:
# Backup your existing autotbl.fmt file
cp ~/Library/Application\ Support/LibreOffice/4/user/config/autotbl.fmt ~/Library/Application\ Support/LibreOffice/4/user/config/autotbl.fmt-bk
cp ~/Downloads/autotbl.fmt ~/Library/Application\ Support/LibreOffice/4/user/config/autotbl.fmt
Install on Linux
- Download the autotbl.fmt file to your
Downloads
folder. - Open a terminal an run the following commands:
# Backup your existing autotbl.fmt file
cp ~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/config/autotbl.fmt ~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/config/autotbl.fmt-bk
cp ~/Downloads/autotbl.fmt ~/.config/libreoffice/4/user/config
Install on Windows 7
Note: I'm unable to get the table AutoFormat file to work on Windows.
- Download the autotbl.fmt file to your
Downloads
folder. - Open Windows Explorer and navigate to
C:/Users/<user name>/AppData/Roaming/LibreOffice/4/user/config
. - Make a copy of
autotbl.fmt
. - Copy the new
autotbl.fmt
file that you downloaded from theDownloads
folder to the LibreOfficeconfig
folder:
C:/Users/<user name>/AppData/Roaming/LibreOffice/4/user/config
.
Getting started
Create new document
Let's start by creating a new document based on our template.
- Open LibreOffice Writer.
- Select
File
, selectNew
, clickTemplates
. - In the Template Manager dialog box:
- Select the
Templates
tab. - Double-click
My Templates
. - Double-click the
Tech Docs Template
file.
- Select the
Update the title property
- Select
File
, clickProperties
. - Select the
Description
tab. - Change the
Title
field. The title is inserted into the footer of every page. - Click
OK
.
Template styles
Paragraph styles
Default font style
Default Style
: The default font style that is used as the basis for other styles. Also used as the default style in the document.Text Body
: Similar toDefault Style
.
Headings
Title
: Document title at the top of 1st page.Heading 1
: Level 1 heading. Typically used as a section heading.Heading 2
: Level 2 heading. Typically used as a sub-section heading.Heading 3
: Level 3 heading.Heading 4
: Level 4 heading.Heading 5
: Level 5 heading.
Blockquotes
Information
: Emphasize key points that the reader should learn. Blue.Alert
: Highlight warnings and other danger areas. Red.Hint
: Provide the reader with tips and tricks. Green.
Code blocks
Code
: Highlight large code blocks.
Table fonts
Table Heading
: Provides a bold, centered font for table column or row headings.Table Contents
: Default font for values places within a table.
Image subtitle
Caption -> Image
: Small font size to write captions below an inserted image.
Character styles
Inline Code
: Inline code is used to hightlight code placed in the middle of a normal sentence such asy = x - 1
.
Frame styles
Graphics -> Image
: Centers an image and prevents text wrapping.
Table AutoFormat styles
Table
: Default table style for this template.
How to apply the various styles
Mouse over the icons in the Styles and Formatting pane to view the text tip.
Paragraph styles
- Press
F11
to open the Styles and Formatting pane. - Click the
Paragraph Styles
icon in the Styles and Formatting pane. - Select the text you want to format, then double-click the style you want to apply.
Character styles
- Press
F11
to open the Styles and Formatting pane. - Click the
Character Styles
icon in the Styles and Formatting pane. - Select the text you want to format, then double-click the style you want to apply.
Frame styles
- Select
Insert
, selectImage
, clickFrom File...
. - Select an image, then click
OK
. - In the Writer document, select the newly inserted image.
- In the Styles and Formatting pane, click the
Frame Styles
icon. - Double-click
Image
. (Hint: IfImage
is not visible, then expandGraphics
)
Table AutoFormat styles
- Press
Ctrl + F12
(orCmd + F12
on Mac) to open the Insert Table dialog box. - Press the
AutoFormat
button. - Select
Table
, clickOK
. - Change any other table settings you want to change, then click
Insert
.