Comment 2 for bug 285998

I am a relatively new Ubuntu user and have the same problem. I deleted my Templates folder, thinking it was superfluous like the Music, Video, etc. folders, but as I began to use Ubuntu I realized that a document template feature existed in the right-click menu and I wanted use it. My first instinct was to search in the templates right-click menu for assistance, but none was found. My next action was to check the Help and Support manual, which specifies that you simply have to create documents in $HOME/Templates. I tried recreating the Templates folder and putting a document in it with no result. If I was a novice to computers, this would be my "I need to reinstall my OS" or "I need to call my computer savvy nephew" moment. Since I am no novice, I checked out Ubuntu's bug system and lo' and behold several bug reports on this issue exist accompanied by a solution for those with a smidge of Linux skills.

I think this is a problem that an ordinary person could be expected to accidentally cause by fiddling with their home directory (after all, for many new users that folder is a sandbox). To me the best solution is to implement an 'assistance' option in the right click templates menu for someone to reestablish their templates directory in the event that XDG_TEMPLATES_DIR="$HOME/". This would help both computer novice and Ubuntu newcommer alike. Of course, this may not be simple from a programming viewpoint, so my solution may not be feasible as the code stands.

In the short term, help offered when using Go->Templates may be of use, but I believe that most users will not look here as, from experience, I have found that few users even realize there is a "Go" menu in Windows, much less in Ubuntu.