If premade themes are something you’re likely to miss, there are lots of them freely available on the Internet. And, fortunately, Impress does a good job of importing PowerPoint template files too, which vastly increases the number available.
One good source of Impress templates and other OpenOffice.org add- ons is OOExtras (http://smalldataproblom.org/ooextras/). This site has a wide selection of templates available for download that are suitable for everything from business or class presentations to more fun projects. Most of the templates are formatted in the older sti.format, but these are still usable in the latest version of Impress. Download one of the files, click File --> Open, and navigate to the location of the file.
Because the file is a template, it will open up as though it were a new document ready to be used as the basis for your presentation. The OOExtras site is a community resource, so if you build a useful template (see the later section “Output”), you could upload it for others to use. You’ll also find a good selection of templates at the OpenOffice.org site itself. Just go to http://extensions.service.openoffice.org/ and click the Impress or Presentation tab. We’ll discuss additional templates. In order to add a PowerPoint theme to Impress, open it with File --> Open and select Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (*.pot) from the file type drop- down. Once the template has loaded, click File --> Templates --> Save and save the file to MyTemplates. Not only will it then be available in the Master Slides task pane, but it will also be selectable using the wizard that launches when creating a new presentation.
