[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 133661] New: New document created using Explorer New context menu (ShellNew) must match LibreOffice's new document settings

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=133661

            Bug ID: 133661
           Summary: New document created using Explorer New context menu
                    (ShellNew) must match LibreOffice's new document
                    settings
           Product: LibreOffice
           Version: unspecified
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: medium
         Component: LibreOffice
          Assignee: libreoffice-bugs at lists.freedesktop.org
          Reporter: mikekaganski at hotmail.com
            Blocks: 103303

Currently we use a fixed "templates" (actually documents) in
instdir/share/template/shellnew to create new documents using shell's "New"
context menu on Windows - it takes the path to the source document from
registry (FileName value in e.g.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.odt\LibreOffice.WriterDocument.1\ShellNew) and copies it to
the destination.

Some problems with this approach are:

1. The templates are in instdir, which is not modifiable by user without admin
rights;
2. If user modifies the path to the templates, it is re-written at each LO
update (bug 94857);
3. The template is a document with all the usual properties (styles, formats,
languages, creation dates, editing times, ...) that don't match the settings
defined in LibreOffice for new documents (default fonts or custom templates,
locale-dependent options like default page format, localized style names etc.)
(bug 35912, bug 48344, bug 90286, bug 91172, bug 120141, bug 122190).

There are some possible ways to improve the situation:

1. Try to improve the templates themselves. E.g., find out what might be
removed from the ODF package to still be a valid ODF, yet not include the
information that must be set to default when opened in LibreOffice. That might
be possible for some properties; yet for sure, that wouldn't be possible for
all of them, and in any case, it won't allow to reset to settings of *default
custom template* configured by user.
2. Add a special setting into app-specific settings in settings.xml, which
would tell LibreOffice to reset everything to defaults on open (and drop the
setting, naturally). Possibly the best option.
3. Implement tdf#124877 (a command-line argument to create new empty
documents), and use it in the ShellNew's Command value [1]. That would mean
that when user clicks the context menu, LibreOffice process starts, loads the
required module (e.g. Writer) to create the document, saves it to the specified
location, and exits. Too much overhead IMO.
4. Implement tdf#123476 (consider file extension when opening 0-byte files to
create new files of proper type), and use it not only for MS Office document
types (compatibility hack), but also for ODF extensions. Would be non-standard,
but *presumably* OK since intended for immediate opening with LibreOffice,
which would convert that into proper documents on save.

I suppose that any of those approaches would not only fix problem #3, but also
eliminate the *need* to modify templates (problem #1) or configure non-standard
paths in ShellNew, thus obsoleting bug 94857 (problem #2).

[1] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/shell/context


Referenced Bugs:

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=103303
[Bug 103303] [META] Desktop integration bugs and enhancements
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