updated my template, but documents based on it don't change?

[Steve-o]

I use OpenOffice on two Windows 7 machines. Here is my situation:

I want to have a handful of document templates that cover most of the types of document I compose and work on. (Lesson plan, class handout, memo, etc..)

I want to be able to make a change to the template file and have that change automatically cascade into all documents based on that template the next time I open them.

I've read the Creating a new default template tutorial before but that does not cover what I want. I don't want a single default template. I want a handful of them, and I want my documents to remember what template they came from and update themselves when their template changes.

1. Is this possible to do in OpenOffice?
2. If it is possible in OpenOffice, does the template have to reside in the My Templates location like mentioned in the tutorial, or can I put it in someplace more meaningful and convenient (like say in my cloud-synced Dropbox folder)? I don't mind adding a registry entry or editing a config file if adding a path somewhere will allow it.
3. If it's not possible in OpenOffice, does anyone happen to know if this functionality is possible with MS Word's handling of templates?

I saw a mention of an extension called Template Changer but from the description it sounds like I would have to manually update the styles in my documents when their template has changed.

Any suggestions or information would be appreciated.

--Steve-o

[thomasjk]

Try the Template Changer Extension http://extensions.openoffice.org/en/project/templatechanger . It is designed to do what you want.