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This page refers to the latest nv_custom_export release. You can open it with Help > nv_custom_export Online help.
The plugin replaces the default templates for the Final manuscript document export with custom templates that can be provided either locally (per project), or globally (for all projects) by the user.
Important
The nv_custom_export plugin processes text files to generate code according to the OpenDocument XML file format. I highly recommend that you familiarize yourself with this XML format before creating your own templates. If you do something wrong, novelibre may generate a text document that cannot be opened by OpenOffice/LibreOffice. In an emergency, simply delete your self-generated template files or uninstall the nv_custom_export plugin via the Plugin manager.
The best way to get started is to experiment with the examples provided (see below).
Configuration is done by providing your custom template files either globally or locally in a template folder. If there is no template folder at all, the novelibre default templates are applied.
Optional global templates are applied to all of your novelibre projects that have no local templates (see below).
Place a subfolder named nv_custom_export in your novelibre installation directory.
It contains all template files to be applied.
The best way is to copy the provided sample template files (see below) and customize
them with a text editor according to your needs.
Optional local templates are used prior to global templates, if any.
Place a subfolder named nv_custom_export in your project directory.
It contains all template files to be applied to this project.
The best way is to copy the provided sample template files (see below) and customize
them with a text editor according to your needs.
The installation includes a directory named nv_custom_export_sample containing several
subdirectories with example templates for different purposes.
Please refer to the included README files for documentation.
Hint
If you insert metadata such as date, time, location, or viewpoint,
you best use heading page styles that are not used by novelibre
by default, i.e. Heading 5, Heading 6, Heading 7, etc.
To adjust the appearance and the spacing above and below
the paragraphs, you might want to set a custom ODT export
document template
and edit the paragraph styles there.
header.txt (document header)part_template.txt (part header; applied to all “normal” parts)chapter_template.txt (chapter header; applied to all “normal” chapters)part_end_template.txt (part footer; applied to all “normal” parts)chapter_end_template.txt (chapter footer; applied to all “normal” chapters)section_template.txt (applied to “normal” sections within “normal” chapters)appended_section_template.txt (optional; applied to “normal” sections that are appended to the previous one)first_section_template.txt (optional; applied to “normal” sections at the beginning of the chapter)section_divider.txt (lead sections, beginning from the second in chapter)There are two options:
$Placeholder - If the placeholder is followed by a character that
is clearly recognizable as a separator, e.g. a blank.${Placeholder} - If the placeholder is followed by a character
that is not recognizable as a separator.$Title - Project title$Desc - Project description consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$AuthorName - Author's name$Language - Language code acc. to ISO 639-1$Country - Country code acc. to ISO 3166-2$CustomPlotProgress - Custom “Plot progress” field title$CustomCharacterization - Custom “Characterization” field title$CustomWorldBuilding - Custom “World building” field title$CustomGoal - Custom “Goal” field title$CustomConflict - Custom “Conflict” field title$CustomOutcome - Custom “Outcome” field title$CustomChrBio - Custom character “Bio” field title$CustomChrGoals - Custom character “Goals” field title$Filters - Information about the use of filters, if any$ID - Chapter ID,$ChapterNumber - Chapter number (in sort order),$Title - Chapter title$Desc - Chapter description consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$Epigraph - Epigraph consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$EpigraphSrc - Epigraph source$Notes - Chapter notes consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$ProjectName - URL-coded file name without suffix and extension$ProjectPath - URL-coded fpath to the project directory$Language - Language code acc. to ISO 639-1$Country - Country code acc. to ISO 3166-2$ManuscriptSuffix - File name suffix of the manuscript$ID - Section ID,$SectionNumber - Section number (in sort order),$Title - Section title$Desc - Section description consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$WordCount - Section word count$WordsTotal - Accumulated word count including the current section$Status - Section status (Outline, Draft etc.)$SectionContent - Section content consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$Date - Specific section date (YYYY-MM-DD)$Time - Time section begins: (hh:mm)$OdsTime - Time section begins: (PThhHmmMssS)$Day - Day section begins$ScDate - Date or day (localized)$DateYear - Year$DateMonth - Month (number)$DateDay - Day (number)$DateWeekday - Day of the week (name)$MonthName - Month (name)$LastsDays - Amount of time section lasts: days$LastsHours - Amount of time section lasts: hours$LastsMinutes - Amount of time section lasts: minutesDuration - Combination of days and hours and minutes$Scene - The sections's kind of scene, if any$Goal - The section protagonist's goal consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$Conflict - The section conflict consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$Outcome - The section outcome consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$Tags - Comma-separated list of section tags$Characters - Comma-separated list of characters assigned to the
section$Viewpoint - Viewpoint character$Locations - Comma-separated list of locations assigned to the
section$Items - Comma-separated list of items assigned to the section$Notes - Section notes consisting of ready-formatted paragraphs$ProjectName - URL-coded file name without suffix and extension$ProjectPath - URL-coded fpath to the project directory$Language - Language code acc. to ISO 639-1$Country - Country code acc. to ISO 3166-2$ManuscriptSuffix - File name suffix of the manuscript$SectionsSuffix - File name suffix of the section descriptions$CustomPlotProgress - Custom “Plot progress” field title$CustomCharacterization - Custom “Characterization” field title$CustomWorldBuilding - Custom “World building” field title$CustomGoal - Custom “Goal” field title$CustomConflict - Custom “Conflict” field title$CustomOutcome - Custom “Outcome” field titleCopyright (c) 2025 by Peter Triesberger. All rights reserved.