need help applying standard layouts to master pages.

users
#1

Hello all,
     I'm trying to create a template which has 4 slide master:

1) a title master
2) a summary master
3) a two-columns image and text master
4) a standard text master.

To design the template, I tried to add 4 slide masters each with a custom layout.
The problem is that it seems I can't apply the default layouts to the slide masters.
The only one which is accepted is the one with a title header and a text area with bullets list.

Can you help me to define a template containing a full set of masters for every kind of slide i'm going to present?
Thank you in advance

#2

I know this fits into the 'Read the Manual', but have you read the Impress Guide. I'm sure it discusses things like this.
      Did you use View -> Master -> Slide Master to create your master slides? If so, did you have the Styles and Formatting window open to make changes in the master slides? This has two lists of styles: Graphics and Presentation. I have been able to make a wide variety of changes in master slides using them.

--Dan

#3

Additionally to the hint by Dan, you need to select always which master slide you want to use for a presentation slide. Open Tasks pane and in "Used in This Presentation" you find all the master slides you created and saved in your template. Thus for new presentation slide click at the required master slide and if needed also at the required Layout. Pretty easy and straight forward.

#4

Hi :slight_smile:

My favourite page for documentation is
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Publications
it contains links to 3rd party documentation, video tutorials and how-tos, old versions of documentation and best of all it has the pre-release versions for people to have a quick read through before those guides are linked to from the official site.  Unfortunately it is so packed with useful stuff that some people have difficulty understanding it.

So, the official page is deliberately kept as sparse as possible so that almost everyone is likely to be happy with one or the other but will probably have their own preference.  The official page is
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/documentation/

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

Thank you very much for your attention.
I'm sorry but I think I was not been clear in my help request.
The problem is this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9439473/problem.PNG

I can't apply a layout (not style) to a master slide.
The default layout for master slides has only two text objects, one for title and one for a bulleted list.
I want to apply a predefined style to have less or more text/graphics objects, resize or move them, and finally create one master slide per "type" on my template.
Then the idea is to apply the correct master on the presentation, according to the templated defined before.

I didn't find any reference to this kind of works on the impress manual, maybe i've not understood where i can find the way of proceed in the "working with slide masters" section. can you give me some start point?

Thank you in advance.

#6

Thank you very much for your attention.
I'm sorry but I think I was not been clear in my help request.
The problem is this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9439473/problem.PNG

I can't apply a layout (not style) to a master slide.
The default layout for master slides has only two text objects, one for
title and one for a bulleted list.
I want to apply a predefined style to have less or more text/graphics
objects, resize or move them, and finally create one master slide per
"type" on my template.
Then the idea is to apply the correct master on the presentation,
according to the templated defined before.

I didn't find any reference to this kind of works on the impress manual,
maybe i've not understood where i can find the way of proceed in the
"working with slide masters" section. can you give me some start point?

Hai Alessandro,

I am afraid what you want is not possible yet.

From page 16 of the LibreOffice 3.5 Impress Guide:

"The layouts included in Impress are shown here. You can choose the one
you want and use it as it is, or you can modify it to meet your own
requirements. However, it is not possible to save custom layouts."

For the moment you will have to make do with the 16 predefined layouts
that come with Impress. Can't you select one of those an adjust the
elements to you liking?

From page 27 of the LibreOffice 3.5 Impress Guide:

"Although Impress does not have the functionality to create new layouts,
it allows you to resize and move the layout elements."

Or does that not work either?

Grx HdV

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
Ages ago one of the devs or someone was asking if i could create some more layouts or something but i don't have skills in that area.  Is it possible to join the design-team and make a few more?  Are there Extensions that have extra layouts?  Doesn't OpenOffice have some more?
Apols and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#8

hi,
     thank you for your attention.
Well, i don't want to create or save a new custom layout, and i'd like to modify (in the sense of resize/move the default elements) them in my master slides.
In other words, as in the posted figure, i'd like to apply an existing layout different from the "default" one (i.e. the one you get when you start to create a new presentation) on a master slide.
However, even if the option is available, trying to apply any layout, the master slide's one does not change.

To be neater, now i can create a presentation and apply the layout i want as shown in the posted figure. It works.
However, this does not works for master view, then i always need to directly apply the layouts directly on the presentation, and therefore i need to resize and re-move default objects to fit my presentation needs.
My intention was to create a template which defines how to the layout elements should be, and then apply that slide master to the presentation slide i want.

Thank you in advance.

#9

Please tell me what you want to have in each of the 4 slide masters you listed. This might help me to make some suggestions later in the form of a short presentation. Specifically, I'm interested in the layout for each master slide. Also, what default layouts do you want to apply to each of these master slides?
      There can be some confusion about slide masters. There are three terms that are used interchangeable: slide master, master side, and master page.
      When modifying a master slide, you can't directly apply default layouts to it. (You have already discovered this.) But what you can do is to use the tools in the toolbars to create layouts that match the default layouts. It takes more time than just clicking one of the default layouts.

--Dan

#10

Hello Dan,
     thank you for your attention.
I'll try to indicate the layout I want to apply with a (row,column) index, because i don't know the actual layouts' names.
I suppose the layouts on the task pane are organized in two columns and many rows.
This is what i'm trying to obtain:

slide master 1 (i.e. title master) = layout(3,2) with vertically resized text box (i.e. the title), 0 fields, 4 text boxes with fixed text around the title (1 above and 3 below).
slide master 2 (i.e. summary) = default layout(2,1)
silde master 3 (i.e. 2-columns image and text) = layout(4,1) with horizontally resized right box to half of the slide width
silde master 4 (i.e. standard text master) = layout(1,2) with left-aligned text and no bulleted lists.

You said:

But what you can do is to use the tools in the toolbars to create layouts that match the default layouts. It takes more time than just clicking one of the default layouts.

My problem is the text inside will be fixed, while i'd want to be able to apply a template to a "style-empty" (white) presentation.
In other words, suppose to create a presentation with default layouts but with no theme: it is substantially white with some images and unformatted text.
Then, my wish is to be able to apply to every "type" of slide the corresponding slide template (i.e. master slide or slide master or master page).
I don't understand how to achieve this with default tools.
Could you be more explicit, please?

Thank you in advance.

#11

I understand now Alessandro's situation - at least I assume.

I also had the same problem when I created my own template - and still have for next templates I need to make. I wanted to have a title master and 1 slide master.

The master view allows currently only 1 master layout (title, content). Using this I could create my own kind of title master, however it is not very good and rather cumbersome to make.

Therefore I also would appreciate if master slides could have at least a proper title slide layout. better and easier to work with.

If Dan could take such and enhancement request to the dev-team I appreciate this a lot..

#12

Hi :slight_smile:
To make a feature request just post as a bug-report
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Bug_Report
BUT one of the drop-downs has an option "Feature request" or "wish-list" to make it clear exactly what it is.

Also it's possible for a non-Dan to join the design team and work on this sort of thing. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#13

In the past, the layout slides had tips so you would know how to use them. Without this, it becomes difficult to know whether you are using the proper one or not.
      Here are my descriptions of them. Text box means a box that will accept text or one of the items shown in the image in the middle of the box Row 1 left to right: Blank slide, Title and subtitle. Row 2: Title and text box, Title and 2 text boxes. Row 3: Title, Subtitle. Row 4: Title with 2 text boxes in left column and 1 text box in right column, and Title with 1 text box in left column and 2 text boxes in right column. Row 5: Title with 2 text boxes in first row and 1 text box in second row, and Title with two rows of text boxes (one box in each row). Row 6: Title with 4 text boxes arranged in 2x2, and Title with 6 text boxes arranged in 3 columns by 2 rows.
      You are right. Impress will not let you create the layout you want using slide masters. What you can do is create the 4 slides you want to use and same them as a template. Using this you can create a new presentation containing the 4 slides. To create a new slide, copy the slide whose layout you want to use and then paste it. So, they provide you with the layouts you want to use for your slides.
      For the first slide layout (3,2) is not the one you want to use. I used layout (5,1). If you click the border of one of the boxes, green handles appear. Use them to change the size of the box. You can also move the box using the arrow keys. You can also copy and paste boxes.
      For the second slide, your choice of layouts is fine.
      For the third slide, you only need to click the border of the right text box to make the green handles appear. Use the cursor to drag a green handle to change the size of the box. (I reduced the size of both boxes in the left column, moved the right box and changed its width.)
      For the fourth slide, do you want the Title at the top and a text box below it? (layout [2,1] has the Title at the top and Subtitle below it.) really do not understand the difference from what you want for the Summary slide and what you want in this slide. Both have the Title at the top and a text box below it.
       I have attached a slide template that I think may come close to what you want. (People on the list: you will not receive this template because it will be stripped before sending this email to you. The person I CC'd will receive it since I'm sending it directly to him.)
      I have removed the bullets for all of the text boxes. To do this, I opened the Styles and Formatting window using the F11 key. Then I clicked on the phrase 'Click to add text'. A gray box surrounds the Outline 1 style. Right click it and select Modify from the pop up menu. Click the Custom tab. Change the Numbering dropdown list from Bullet to None. Click OK.

--Dan