I think the real issue is that you are expecting behaviour like Microsoft apps not realising that you are using Linux. Linux is not Windows: https://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm
Also, WordPad didn’t save a standard .txt format even though it may look like it did. It did exactly what Inkscape does. It saves files with the standard file name but it adds a little code so that when reopened, you can still see all your layers organised the way you want.
Not all apps do this.
PS: The first sentence and the link above is not to scold/bash you. It is to help you set proper expectations. Read it when you have the time.
Ok, valid points everyone, I understand all that.
(although it still doesn’t explain why it worked for a while with .txt)
Then please please tell me there is an option somewhere I can edit to make it so when I use the context menu to right click>create text file in file managers such as Double Commander(specially this one) or Dolphin that file is automatically created as a .abw file instead of .txt.
Because I seriously don’t want to have to open the start menu and launch abi from there and go through all that every time I wanna create a text file, and it doesn’t seem to work if I right click>create and just rename it to .abw.
Just tested it — works immediately. No need to close your file manager, refresh your cache, log out, restart, or anything.
EDIT: LIES! You will need to reopen Dolphin. I tested it in Nemo. Didn’t need to reopen it.
EDIT 2: Even more lies! Even after reopening Dolphin, it doesn’t work. In fact, Dolphin doesn’t show any of my Templates. Maybe Dolphin only sees templates from some specific Dolphin Templates folder?
EDIT 3: Found it! username/local/share/templates
Oh yeah, forgot about krunner. Not ideal, but if it’s not possible to replace the context menu choice then I guess krunner would be better then nothing. Thanks.
Ok, looool, while you figure out all the lies I’m gonna go google what templates are and how they work in linux cause I don’t even know what you are talking about.
I’ve figured it out, I think. But you can do your search all the same.
* Open Dolphin * Navigate to /local/share/templates → You may need to create this folder. * Right-click and select “Create New” * Select “Empty file…” * Name it something like “abiword_temp.abw”
Now you should be able to create templates in that format.
Scratch all of that…
Here are the instructions (from AI obviously):
Dolphin Templates Folder KDE
According to the search results, Dolphin, the file manager in KDE, does not directly use the ~/Templates folder. Instead, it has its own template system and folder structure.
Key Points:
Dolphin’s Template Folder: The template files are located in /usr/share/templates/ and ~/.local/share/templates/. These folders contain .desktop files that describe the templates and .source subfolders with the actual template files.
Adding Custom Templates: To add your own custom templates, you need to create a .desktop file in ~/.local/share/templates/ and a corresponding template file in ~/.local/share/templates/.source/.
No Direct Support for ~/Templates Folder: Dolphin does not directly support the ~/Templates folder, which is used by some GNOME file managers like Nautilus.
Add-ons and Services: There are add-ons and services available for Dolphin that can provide template functionality, such as the “Templates” service found in Dolphin’s settings.
Example: To create a custom template for a Freeplane file, you would:
Create a file named FreeplaneFile.desktop in ~/.local/share/templates/ with the following content:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Template
Name=Freeplane File
Comment=Create a new Freeplane file
Exec=kf5-freeplane --new
Place an empty Freeplane file named freeplane.mm in ~/.local/share/templates/.source/.
Conclusion: While Dolphin does not directly support the ~/Templates folder, you can still customize its template system by creating your own .desktop files and template files in the designated folders. Additionally, there are add-ons and services available to enhance Dolphin’s template functionality.
Ok, thank you everyone I am gonna check out and try to figure out how to adapt all that for Double Commander(that is my main file manager) tomorrow. Now it’s time for a movie then bed. Good night all.
1. Dolphin:
After reading all that I decided to start with Dolphin and I created the proper(I hope) files in ~/.local/share/templates/ and ~/.local/share/templates/.source/.
Then(as I understood it) I went to /usr/share/templates/ where I was expecting to find some desktop files already created by Dolphin that I have to edit and point them to the new files I created above?
Or at least I tried, thing is I don’t have any template folder in /usr/share… So I created one and simply copied the files and folder I created in .local/share into it.
After all that when I right click>Create new in Dolphin I do see a new “Abiword File” option with some very weird behavior:
normally when you create a new file with the other regular options Dolphin has you get a normal dialog box like this
with the new Abiword File option however I get this
but fine whatever I renamed it and clicked ok(when naming it you have to specify the .extension too, otherwise it will create a new file that has no extension though it still opens with Abiword), and that does create a new abiword file in the folder you are in
however when I go to open this new file instead of getting a regular empty abiword document it contains the things I entered in the desktop file, aka:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Template
Name=Abiword File
Comment=Create a new Abiword file
Exec=kf5-abiword --new
So yeah, there you have it. Feel free to have a nice, long laugh and tell me how much I’ve screwed things up.
2. Double Commander:
Like I said this is the main file manager program that I use where I’d really like to make this work.
In it I already had this in it’s options
but it doesn’t work cause it just creates a .txt file that opens with abiword(and even if I give it .abw extension when creating it, it still doesn’ work), so I figured I’d ask on their forums too see if there is anything I can enter in the “Additional parameters” box to make it create a .abw file instead of .txt
But while I’m waiting on some replies over there if anyone here happens to know/suspect what I should enter pretty please share.
The only thing I was able to find on google is this DC documentation, but it doesn’t answer my question…
Hmmm, that does seem to work, but once again(me beeing me ) with some very wierd behavior…:
I set that parameter then try to create a new file;
it doesn’t automatically set the .abw extension itself and it doesn’t matter if I manually set it to .abw or .txt myself because
in eighter case a new file is create and abiword launches, I edit stuff and add bold, colors, etc. then I click X to close it and the little window asking me if I wanna save appears;
I click yes, and instead of saving the changes to the file and closing the giant “Save as” window appears…;
on this step it doesn’t matter if: I save it as a new file with .abw | I select and overwrite the initial file that I created as .abw | I select and overwrite the initial file that I created as .txt!!!
(although in the last scenario this extra box does pop up, and I click yes)
in eighter of those cases it saves it with the formatting correctly there and if I edit the file and add more stuff/change formatting it saves properly, loooool
oh, and any further edits will save normally directly to the file when I click X and doesn’t show the “Save As” window again.
For the “Editor” section in Double Commander, it’s asking you for a simple text editor, not a rich text editor. I imagine this is why it had trouble at first.
Not a bad thing. You may learn a thing or two and become more independent.
Since having AI create a YouTube to FreeTube script for a forum member, I now have anywhere between 3–6 scripts running on my device that make my workflow easier.
I was averse to using AI for things like that before, but because the script couldn’t cause issues with a user’s system, I tried, it worked, and I learned more about scripting.
Yep. Like converting all my Openbox shortcuts to work in sxhkd.
That would’ve been a somewhat tedious task for Openbox-specific commands, but by making AI do it for me, I just need to check if it was done correctly, then implement it.
So instead of using over 10 minutes, I only used less than 3. → Think of and write a good prompt, wait a few seconds, review the output, implement it, done.
) with some very wierd behavior…:
