Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

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djsmith911
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Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by djsmith911 »

I modified the styles in a document and upon closing, was not asked to save template, thus all my style modifications were lost. Could you add the "save template" dialog popup feature, if style or other data that is stored in the template get modified (like Word does)? Otherwise I have to open the template separately from the doc every time I want to change a style, or other template derived setting. Thanks!
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admin
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by admin »

When you modify the styles in the document, the "Modified" flag gets raised for that document. When you try to close it, Atlantis displays a message suggesting to save changes to the document file. So you always have an option to save changes.
djsmith911
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by djsmith911 »

No, I don't think you were following what I was saying. It did prompt me to save changes to the document which I did save. It did NOT prompt to save changes to the TEMPLATE, which is where those styles are stored, thus I lost all changes to the styles. They only way to save those changes is to open the document template separately and modify them. Kind of a hassle don't you think, when they actually get used, and are accessible to be modified in the document?
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by admin »

The only purpose of a document template in Atlantis is to provide its content when Atlantis creates a new document from that template. A newly created document in Atlantis is just a copy of the corresponding document template. Any Atlantis document has its own set of styles stored within the file of the document, not within any template file. When you make a change to the document's styles, there is no reason for Atlantis to make changes to any document template. After making changes to the styles of a document, you can simply press Ctrl+S to save changes to the document file.
rstroud
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by rstroud »

I think that what djsmith has in mind is that he starts with a template and adds to or modifies the template styles as he works on a document. I do this all the time. Often a new project needs to have its own styles, and you do not know what you need until you work on the project. Later on you want to create a similar document that uses the same styles as the previous document that you worked on.

The best way to handle this is to start a new document (preferably choose a template with very few styles). Then you want to import the styles from your previous document (think of it as your modified template).

To do this, use FILE > STYLES and select IMPORT. Choose the file that you have previously worked on.

Select all the styles that you want to import. Usually this is ALL of them. You can select them all or once or you can use Ctrl+Click to pick selectively.

Import the styles. Select YES for replacing Normal and all the other styles.

You now have a clean new document with all the styles that you have developed in the past.

When you have a document that has all the styles that you think you will possible need, you can import the styles into a clean document and save it as a template. Give it a memorable name.

Now you can use that template for any appropriate documents.

:)
djsmith911
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by djsmith911 »

To do this, use FILE > STYLES and select IMPORT. Choose the file that you have previously worked on.
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This would be an OK work-around IF I had that option. Is that new in the latest version (I'm using v. 4.1.6.1.)?

When I change styles in a doc, I would usually like those styles changed in the template I started the doc with too (isn't that the point of templates after all?), and so do other users, which is presumably why Microsoft made that the default behavior of Word. Does this unceremonious rejection of my idea by "admin" mean it's being circular filed or what?
rstroud
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by rstroud »

I did not give you the correct path for the feature. Sorry.

It should be MAIN MENU:

Format > Style

Sorry again. :(
djsmith911
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by djsmith911 »

I did not give you the correct path for the feature. Sorry.

It should be MAIN MENU:

Format > Style
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Hi, I figured that out after I posted my reply.

What I end up doing is loading the custom template and following that process to update it, so I can get the same styles in all future docs using that template. I really don't think that having to remember which doc had all the latest changes I want to styles is a very viable system. I don't want to keep harping on this but I'm not sure if Admin got my point before disappearing from the conversation. Do they ever acknowledge that any input is valid or is this just a waste of time making suggestions here, that you've seen?
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Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by admin »

Sorry, but I thought I had explained everything.
Possibly you still do not fully understand how document templates work in Atlantis. Document templates in Atlantis do not work in the way they do in MS Word. So you might have wrong expectations. A document template in Atlantis just provides content for new documents. And that is it. You make a change to a new document in Atlantis, and that change gets saved to the document's file, not to the template's file. So when you modify a document in Atlantis, you modify only that document. No template is affected by those modifications. Every document in Atlantis has its own set of paragraph styles. If something is wrong with the styles in a document, it is a problem with this document, not with any template.
djsmith911
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Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2022 12:36 pm

Re: Add dialog to save template if styles or other template meta-data or modified

Post by djsmith911 »

Possibly you still do not fully understand how document templates work in Atlantis. Document templates in Atlantis do not work in the way they do in MS Word.
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Hi,

No, I do understand because there is nothing to understand. It is very simple. That is why I am asking for the new feature of Atlantis. Maybe you could just forward my request to the developer instead of thinking that this is a dumb user issue? Is this not where I make NEW FEATURE requests or is there some other place I should make my request?
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