[LyX] Installing New Document Layouts and Classes

LyX is my favourite tool for LaTeX processor. The one problem I encounter anytime with fresh-installed Lyx is the layout and document class. This method has been tested on LyX 2.2 and 2.3; I am not certain about this issue being automated in the future version.

Here goes:

Suppose you are trying to install ACM sig-alternate template.

1. Download LyX layout file, unfortunately I do not know any official source for this and found only ones which contributed by the community. Do a search with “LyX sig-alternate layout”. This one works
   [Download sig-alternate.layout]
   Credit to JackKelly.
2. Download LaTeX template package from ACM SIG Proceedings Templates
   [Download ZIP file]
3. Browse to your LyX installation directory, assume C:\Program Files\LyX 2.3
4. Go to Resources and layouts and put sig-alternate.layout here
5. Create a directory under your Tex distribution, assume that we are talking about MikTeX for Windows:
   C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.9\tex\latex\sig-alternate
   The name sig-alternate is important as the name has to match between LyX layout and LaTeX distribution database.
6. Extract the ZIP file into the aforementioned directory. You only need CLS, STY, and BIB files in this directory though.
7. At MikTeX Settings (or Console), run Update/Research Filename Database (FNDB). The name of the command menu varies by MikTeX version. This database is important for LyX to discover new template.
8. At LyX, run Tools and Reconfigure
9. Restart LyX
10. That’s it!