basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Everything related to our flagship word processor.
Post Reply
Yohanan
Posts: 91
Joined: 2017-12-21 04:36:37

basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by Yohanan »

Hi everybody, I finally decided to work with Nisus which is the most flexible for my kind of writing. But for the last months I just corrected in every doc. to get the stayles I needed for I was unable to get style sheet which would keep being there when I need it.
I redefined the Nisus New File.dot as well as the Normal document.dot in the Templates file, within the file: "Nisus Project" and just created a new document from these (tried both after the following failure). It just kept to take back to a "Normal" Style with Century Schoolbook which I have no idea where it could be stored in Nisus.
There must be something very elementary I am missing here from the outset of working with Nisus. How could I get some stable, reliable style sheet so that I have not every time to correct through the menus inside each document I edit or create ?
Thanks for any help. (The Nisus Pro Guide is very perplexing for it sends you from one place to another, too flexible to serve as an introduction guide for a beginner.)
Yohanan
User avatar
phspaelti
Posts: 1313
Joined: 2007-02-07 00:58:12
Location: Japan

Re: basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by phspaelti »

Hello Yohanan,
nice to hear that you chose to work with NIsus Writer.
Yohanan wrote: 2018-08-06 07:48:37 I redefined the Nisus New File.dot as well as the Normal document.dot in the Templates file, within the file: "Nisus Project" and just created a new document from these (tried both after the following failure). It just kept to take back to a "Normal" Style with Century Schoolbook which I have no idea where it could be stored in Nisus.
To redefine the NIsus New File I think you should use the NIsus Preferences.
  • Go to "Nisus Writer Pro > Preferences > New File"
  • Choose the "Format" tab. This should look like this:
    Nisus_New_File.png
    Nisus_New_File.png (85.76 KiB) Viewed 9621 times
  • Choose the "Normal" style
  • Set the font as you would like
philip
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by adryan »

G’day, Yohanan et al

Perhaps a brief overview of options might be of some help here.

Philip has described one way of setting up the Nisus New File template. This is the file that opens whenever you use File > New (or Cmd-N). The Preferences approach allows you to customize the Nisus New File in certain ways, but you can go even further if you wish. For example, you can add content (such as text) or other styles.

In order to create such an enhanced Nisus New File template, open a New File and edit it as desired. To manipulate the styles, go to View > Style Sheet and/or use the Styles Palette. Whenever you create a new style or import an existing one, it is important to check that all its parameters are appropriate for the current document. In particular, pay special attention to the “Based on” and “Next Style” options for Paragraph Styles. If your template incorporates multiple paragraphs (including empty ones), ensure that the style for each paragraph is the style that is appropriate for that paragraph. It is as well to be aware, too, that inattention to these matters can lead to perplexing and frustrating phenomena. For example, you might alter the font size in a paragraph in a document, hit the return key to start a new paragraph, and then find that your new font size does not carry over to the new paragraph as you might have expected: examination of the Style Sheet should reveal the reason why.

When you are ready to save the file, File > Save As in Document Manager… > Templates. Choose as the filename “Nisus New File.dot” and hit the Save button. You will be asked whether you want to replace the existing “Nisus New File” template, so go ahead and replace it if that is what you want.

In general, you probably don’t want to overspecify your Nisus New File template. Remember that this file will open every time you ask for a new file. It is often better to have different (perhaps highly specified) templates for different projects or purposes. To create such a template, open a new file (which by default will be a Nisus New File) and proceed as in the previous paragraph, but this time save the file with some other name (eg, “Mars Project.dot” or “Invitation.dot”). To open a new file using such a template, File > Open from Document Manager > Templates > (choose file). (This assumes you have saved the template in the Document Manager, but you can save it elsewhere if you wish.) The styles you chose when creating the template should “stick” and be available in any document you open from that template file. You can add, alter or delete styles from such a document as desired: this should not affect the template.

Another option is to save a “template” file as an RTF file (or whatever editable format you like) and then open a duplicate of it whenever you want to work on a new document based on that file.

Or you could open an RTF file (say), edit it, and then save the edited document under a different filename.

I hope this is of some help.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
Yohanan
Posts: 91
Joined: 2017-12-21 04:36:37

Re: basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by Yohanan »

Thank you very much for your answers to both of you. All this I had already done more than once. What is very troubling is the number of files this creates in the Nisus Project Folder, some of them are to be found in Nisus Project/Glossaries/Templates (yes. . .) like this:
Screen Shot 2018-08-11 at 09.10.49.png
Screen Shot 2018-08-11 at 09.10.49.png (98.96 KiB) Viewed 9574 times
and some other in the Nisus Project/Templates. I just have done a New Fils again and it appears there, but besides some strange new other templates named : Nisus New File.dot.sb-a5627702-HNcyqR.

A probably related problem is with the glossaries, I thought I had lost my first defines entries, which is the case in some docs. but in some documents they do function - I mean when entering the short form and clicking on the tab to get the whole of the entry.

I have the impression all my problems are related to a very basic one about the place where things should go.

I also want sometimes to add a new paragraph style on the basis of a form of text I have determined, but then it tends to simply replace the above "Normal" style on which is should only be defined with the new added formatting.
adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by adryan »

G’day, Yohanan et al

Things have indeed gone astray with your file locations. I would suggest you reconstruct the Document Manager from scratch.

It seems that all the folders in your screenshot are contained in a folder you have named Nisus Project. I suggest you first save a copy of this folder in a safe place, just in case of mishap.

The default location of the Document Manager files is in a folder called Nisus Documents inside your (main) Documents folder. You should be able to change the name and location of this Nisus Documents folder, but I would tend to stick with the default arrangement, at least until you have everything working properly.

You want the following arrangement:–

Users > (your main Home folder) > Documents > Nisus Documents

Within this last folder you want the following folders:–

Glossaries
Macros
Style Library
Templates

You do in fact have this arrangement in the leftmost pane of your screenshot, but somehow you have got similarly named folders located inside the topmost Glossaries folder. It is not clear how deeply some folders may be nested.

I would create four new empty folders as suggested above. Then transfer files and/or folders from your Nisus Project folder to these new folders as appropriate. (For example, the Macros folder will contain a number of subfolders.) With the possible exception of the Macros folder, work with the contents of folders rather than with the folders themselves. For example, you would not want to drag the Glossaries folder from the middle pane into the leftmost pane and choose to replace the latter with the former! Look inside the folders, just in case your have further nesting. Be careful when resolving duplicates: you usually want the latest versions. Only put one Nisus New File.dot file in your new Templates folder.

Having rationalized your folder structure, work through the Nisus Writer Preferences panes and make sure all locations there (eg, for Document Manager and Nisus New File) correspond to your new folder structure.

Now quit Nisus Writer and restart your computer, just so they can contemplate the error of their ways. Then launch Nisus Writer, open a New file, and make sure your Nisus New File template is set up the way you want it (with styles and such).

Things should now work properly. If they don’t, consider trashing Nisus Preferences (and relaunching the application) and/or reinstalling Nisus Writer.

There remains the question of how your folder structure got messed up in the first place. I’m afraid I can’t think of an obvious answer to this. If the problem recurs, despite the measures suggested in the previous paragraph, try using Onyx to give your system a good clean-out. If that fails, you may need to consider reinstalling your operating system.

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
Þorvarður
Posts: 410
Joined: 2012-12-19 05:02:52

Re: basic knowledge of Nisus templates

Post by Þorvarður »

Hello everybody,
this is a reply to Yohanan's last three posts in the thread "How do I apply a template to an existing document (RTF)" <viewtopic.php?p=31056#p31056>
Both threads are tackling the same issue, so from now on it's best to keep the discussion in one thread only. :-)
Yohanan wrote: 2018-08-12 05:20:12there is a bug on the page regarding the inserting of a [screen]shot. It says file too large (which is certainly not).
A file bigger than 100 KB or multiple files that add up to 100 KB or more are rejected. In this case, you can open the screenshot(s) in Preview and reduce the size by exporting it/them in a smaller JPEG format. You are right, Yohanan, the forum's attachment feature is not working correctly. I already pointed that out in a recent post. I can't post more than 2 screenshots at a time, and sometimes one of these screenshots disappears so I have to start all over again. See an additional post here: <viewtopic.php?f=26&t=7160>
Martin, if you are reading this, please see if this can be fixed.
I just found that there are three Templates folders in three folders within my Nisus Project main folder […] Should I erase some ?
Your folder structure is mixed up, and that seems to be causing the problem. The good news is, this isn't hard to fix. If we had more screenshots from you, we might be able to fix this right away. But we don't, so I suggest you do the following:
1) If you have a Time Machine backup, you could go back in time until the day you installed Nisus for the first time. That would show you the original folder structure. While still in Time Machine, you could click on the Restore button and, when asked, make sure you click on *keep both*. That would restore the original folder structure, while keeping your present folders in tact. You could then in Finder manually replace the new files with your old ones. This requires that you know how to use Time Machine and are comfortable with working in Finder.
2) Or you copy all your Nisus stuff to a USB-stick before you delete all traces of it from your hard disk. Then reinstall the application and carefully add your old files to the new folders.

Maybe your problem started when you were playing with the Document Manager and things got out of control somehow. I strongly recommend NOT to use the Document Manager in the beginning. Use the Finder instead to organize your files. Don't use the Document Manager until everything is running smoothly and you have become more experienced as a Nisus user. There are users, by the way, who never use the Document Manager.

Is there a way of having this Nisus New File opening when opening Nisus Pro? Right now I get something akin to the template, but with some other specifications.
Yes, assuming the folder structure has been fixed. See screenshot below.
1.png
1.png (59.42 KiB) Viewed 9521 times
Post Reply