KB User's Guide - Documents Tab - Template Creation via a New Document Set to "Template" Type
The Template feature allows authors to make one, or multiple documents, all having a uniform appearance. A well pre-formatted template can prescribe very specific content, structure, formatting and prompt for minimal requirements. They provide reproducible consistency and continuity of style and are time-saving in that users personalize a standard, ready-made document.
Create a Template
Creating a document template is the same as creating a regular document except that the Type field is set to Template.
- In the KB Admin Tools, click on the Documents tab.
- Click on the New Doc link on the left navigation menu.
- At a minimum, you must enter content into the title, keywords, summary, and body fields. The content entered into the Title field will show up as the name of the template.
You may also enter content into additional fields as desired. Similarly, if there are certain settings you would like have set for all documents created from the template, you may select them in the template, and they will be retained in documents created from the template. For example, you may pre-select a page header, certain topics, SiteAccess, etc. - Set the Type dropdown (found next to the SeeAlso, Up, Previous, and Next fields) to "Template".
- Click the Save change button to create the template, or submit the document as In Progress.
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Note: We recommend saving templates as In Progress, even if the template is in its final form. If it is set to Active, the published version may be found by users , which may be confusing.
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Apply Template to a New Document
When you click on the New Doc link in the Documents tab, you will be led to a screen called Creating a New Document.
If you have not created a Template yet, you will see No templates defined or available in the Template dropdown menu.
The image below shows the Creating a New Document screen. The Template field only has one option in the dropdown menu, "No templates defined or available".
However, if you have created a template, you can access it by clicking on the down arrow next to the Template field dropdown menu. Choose the appropriate template.
While the screen still says Creating a New Document, the fields that were pre-formatted with data in the template you selected will automatically populate the fields of the New Document.
Best Practices: click on the Save Change button or the Submit button to assign this New Document its own, unique Document ID number immediately. Once the New Document is saved, using either method, the screen will now read, Editing Document XXXXXX. (e.g. the New Document will prominently display the Document ID number).
Continue to edit the document as per your KB Site's workflow.
- Note: When a document is created from a template using this method, the Activation time and date stamp will reflect the current time and date and not the time and date that the template was created. The Expiration date will reflect the date your KB Site Admin has set in the Default doc expiration period, which is usually set to 1 year.