General Approach for Template Use
 

While I await the answer to my earlier question on applying object size attribute to other objects...... a general approach question on Template Use.

While I think I understand the concept of application of different Diagram Styles to a given diagram, ie. application AFTER a diagram has been made, I really am not understanding the concept of a Template versus an existing Diagram. It seems to me that you can use either one as a starting point for a new diagram, the only difference between the two is:

1) A template is stored in a one of the special locations (e.g. Drawing, Brainstorming, etc.) where Omnigraffle puts them and

2) When you start a new diagram using a Template, the initial name of your new diagram is "Untitled" while using an existing diagram as a starting point does not rename it so, ie you should save it as a new name not to overwrite your previous diagram/document.

Otherwise, I really don't see the difference between using a document that contains a diagram and a template as the starting point for a new diagram except that the latter is stored as a template. Am I missing something?

On the other hand, you can't apply a diagram style from an existing document/diagram; it must be stored as a style.

Am I understanding this correctly?

Nick

A template is just a special kind of document.

Specifically, it opens up as "Untitled" so you can hit Save and give it a new name, without needing to worry about making changes, then hitting "Save" instead of "Save As" and putting all those changes into the original document.

For any given document, it's not that big a deal, but if your job involves making the same kind of document repeatedly, it can save you a lot of effort over time.