To use LO in a corporate environment, it would be useful if LO could read templates in a remote (network shared) folder, where we could keep all the corporate templates centralized and updated, without having to copy all the files to the user machine. In LO 3.3.1 on Windows XP, if I create an anchor in the default template folder to a remote folder full of templates, LO ignores the anchor and only reads templates on the default folder.
[This is an automated message.] This bug was filed before the changes to Bugzilla on 2011-10-16. Thus it started right out as NEW without ever being explicitly confirmed. The bug is changed to state NEEDINFO for this reason. To move this bug from NEEDINFO back to NEW please check if the bug still persists with the 3.5.0 beta1 or beta2 prereleases. Details on how to test the 3.5.0 beta1 can be found at: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugHunting_Session_3.5.0.-1 more detail on this bulk operation: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/RFC-Operation-Spamzilla-tp3607474p3607474.html
This issue remains unresolved in LibreOffice 3.5.0 (tested and confirmed with beta2 prerelease).
Just stumbled over this bug, I think it needs clarification. There is some kind of misconception around concerning links in Windows. In Unix based systems we have hard links (every directory entry is one) and soft links (transparent to applications, as application really see the linked file or folder. Windows has both kinds of links too, or to be exact, NTFS. But they are little known, and seldom used (except for Microsoft, who makes heavy use of it). Hardlinks are only possible within the same file system (as in every other OS) and only for files, not for directories. In contrast, soft links are only for directories and can span different file systems. They are known as junctions or reparse point. What Windows users usually know are shortcuts, files with the invisible .lnk extension. Those are neither soft nor hard links but hints for the Explorer (and only for this program) which directory or file should be opened. They are not even transparent for the Explorer itself, as shortcuts to directories are not shown in tree view. Apart from the Explorer, shortcuts are meaningless. And by the way: file open dialogs are in reality Explorer calls in most programs, so they can handle shortcuts. So what do you mean when you say you created an "anchor"? Did you create a reparse point and it did not work? Or did you just create a shortcut and wondered, that no program except Explorer handles it?
You can just use a network share as one of template directories.
In accordance with comment #4 I am setting this old bug to RESOLVED as NOTABUG. To be clear Tools > Options... > LibreOffice > Paths > click on Templates entry > click the Edit... button offers the ability to add additional locations (including network shares). This functionality has been available since at least v3.5.