Create reusable templates

Standardize how records start and how documents come out — build item templates, design document templates with live placeholders, and maintain macros that keep repeated content consistent.

Templates capture a reusable starting point, so your team standardizes structure once instead of recreating it on every record and every document. This guide builds the three pieces that work together: an item template for new records, a document template for generated output, and the macros that keep repeated content consistent across both. For the concepts, see Item & document templates and the Macro library.

Create an item template

An item template is a prefilled starting point for a particular item type — so a new record opens from a sensible skeleton rather than a blank form.

Before you start Open Administration and go to Item & document templates. You'll need administrator access, and the item type should already exist.

Create a new item template and choose the item type it applies to.
Give it a clear name, and define its default content — for example a description template that lays out the sections every record of this kind should start with.
Enable the template so it's offered when people create that type of record.

Result New records of that type begin from a consistent, complete structure. See Item & document templates.

Build a document template

A document template defines the structure of a generated document — its sections and the live data that fills it — so exported output is consistent and submission-ready.

Create a document template and lay out its sections in the order the document should read.
Set the headers and footers that should appear on every page.
Drop in placeholders where live data belongs — the available placeholders are surfaced as you build, so you can pick the right merge points.
Save the template so it's available when documents are generated.

Result Generated documents come out in a consistent, professional form with the right data merged in. This feeds the output described in Reports.

Maintain reusable snippets with macros

A macro is a reusable snippet of text or values you maintain in the macro library — define it once and reuse it wherever the same content belongs.

Open the macro library and create a macro for content that repeats — a standard clause, a unit, a recurring value.
Use the macro in your templates and records instead of retyping the content.
When the content changes, update the macro once and every use stays consistent.

Result Repeated content stays identical everywhere it appears, and a single edit updates it across the board. See Macro library.

Note Disabling a template retires it for new records without touching the records already created from it — so you can evolve your standards over time while preserving the history of everything built under the old ones.

Where to go next

For report-specific templates and who’s allowed to run and see reports, see Report templates & permissions. To standardize how work is reviewed and approved, see Review center.