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Installing Keynote Template

  • May 1, 2019
  • 15 replies
  • 34 views
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My company recently updated their Keynote template. I used Jamf Composer to create a snapshot package where I used the Keynote app to manually save the theme as a template. I saved it as a DMG, and applied it to a policy that Fills existing users. It does exactly what I expect, placing the .kth file in the user Keynote directory (~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Keynote/Data/Library/Application Support/User Templates). However, upon opening Keynote.app, the theme does not appear in the Theme Chooser.

The final strange detail is that on the same computer I've been testing the policy on, if I create a new user before running the policy that has never opened Keynote before, the template does appear in the Theme Chooser on that second account, but will still not appear in Keynote on the first account.

I'm very new to this so please don't hesitate to suggest that I've made a mistake that seems dumb or obvious to you, it's entirely possible. I'll take any and all advice and appreciate it!

    15 replies

    M
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    • murphym
    • New Contributor
    • 2 replies
    • May 24, 2019

    I'm also running into this issue and wondering if something changed in the new Keynote Version 9 as it used to work just fine in version 8. If the template file is installed by script or manually into that User Templates folder Keynote does not add the theme tab like it used to. But if you double click a template file and opt to add it to the theme chooser it will add it to the folder and make the tab visible. Maybe there is a plist somewhere to toggle that tab?

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    • pmcavey
    • New Contributor
    • 7 replies
    • June 27, 2019

    Any update on this issue?

    R
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    • ryanlower
    • Author
    • New Contributor
    • 3 replies
    • July 9, 2019

    I've not been able to find a solution that works without user interaction, and instead ended up writing a script that puts the keynote template file into /users/shared and then opens the file with keynote, so that the user is prompted to "add to theme chooser". Since I obviously don't want this happening randomly and confusing people, it's also meant that I compromised and am using self-service for the initial deployment so that the user expects the interaction.

    The good news is that it also seems like the only thing that keynote needs to maintain the link between the theme chooser window and the .kth file stored in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Keynote/Data/Library/Application Support/User Templates is a consistent filename (not a plist or UUID or something). So, after a one time installation of the keynote theme file that requires user interaction, I can now update it as a background process.

    I'm definitely open to hearing from anyone who has come up with a better solution!

    S
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    • s_hass
    • New Contributor
    • 3 replies
    • August 2, 2019

    i have the following solution:

    Every template in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Keynote/Data/Library/Application Support/User Templates creates an entry in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Keynote/Data/Library/Application Support/com.apple.iWork.CloudKitStorage/com.apple.iWork.TSKCloudKitPrivateZone.db
    (and also a numeric file in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.iWork.Keynote/Data/Library/Application Support/com.apple.iWork.CloudKitStorage/data)

    You need to delete these .db-file after adding the new .kth-files.
    After restarting Keynote the db.-file will be recreated and the new templates appear in the Theme Chooser.

    By doing this another new numeric file is generated in the "data"-Folder for every template.
    In order to prevent the creation of thousands of numeric files you could also clear the whole "com.apple.iWork.CloudKitStorage"-folder

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    • b_schueder
    • New Contributor
    • 2 replies
    • September 4, 2019

    Yeah! Thanks! It works for me :-)

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    • b_schueder
    • New Contributor
    • 2 replies
    • May 15, 2020

    In Keynote 10 something seems to have changed again. Since then, our themes that we have distributed are no longer displayed. How about you? Do you have the same problem and does anyone have a solution?

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    • jmbwell
    • New Contributor
    • 6 replies
    • May 26, 2020

    Same problem, no solution.

    M
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    • mikewright77
    • New Contributor
    • 4 replies
    • June 22, 2020

    Add another one to this list - deleting the .db file no longer repopulates the 'My Themes' section in Keynote 10.

    Has anyone managed to find another method to programmatically add Themes to the Chooser?

    K
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    • kenchan0130
    • New Contributor
    • 1 reply
    • January 14, 2021

    We have created a solution to this issue.

    https://github.com/kenchan0130/keynote-template-deployment

    erik-stam
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    • erik-stam
    • New Contributor
    • 1 reply
    • February 24, 2021

    @kenchan0130 Thanks for creating the script, works like a charm!!

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    • Philein
    • Contributor
    • 27 replies
    • May 14, 2021

    @kenchan0130 could you please explain me how to pass all the parameters in jamf? If i understand correctly parameters from 1 to 3 are reserved by jamf...

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    • Philein
    • Contributor
    • 27 replies
    • April 5, 2022

    We have created a solution to this issue.

    https://github.com/kenchan0130/keynote-template-deployment


    it gives us this error:

     

    curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

     

    What could be wrong?

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    • Philein
    • Contributor
    • 27 replies
    • April 5, 2022

    it gives us this error:

     

    curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL

     

    What could be wrong?

    J
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    • James_h
    • New Contributor
    • 8 replies
    • May 13, 2022

    Same thing for me with the URL. I get the error but only when I have the 3rd box set to "current" user. When it is set to "all" users the URL is accepted but nothing gets installed. This does not seem to work correctly. Also is required to change all the $1 $2 $3 to $4 $5 $6. Would be cool if it worked or if the creator could pop in about the URL error.

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    • marc_beuvin
    • New Contributor
    • 4 replies
    • November 18, 2022

    I had also this "curl: (3) URL using bad/illegal format or missing URL" error.


    This was due to the fact I was using local file and there was a space in the path. So add %20 for every space in the path :

    file:///Users/Shared/Keynote%20theme/theme.kth

    I also had to change the line 149 in the script :

    149     LOCAL_USER_GROUP_NAME=$(stat -f "%Sg" "${LOCAL_USER_HOME_DIRECTORY}")

    And replace it with

    149     LOCAL_USER_GROUP_NAME=$(id -g ${LOCAL_USER})

    Now I use the script in a postinstall script of a Composer's package


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