How to Create and Apply a Page Template

In addition to being able to save templates for visualizations and advanced analysis outputs, you can also save templates for entire Pages or groups of outputs on Pages. Page templates are useful when you want to recreate a Page with the same outputs in terms of the same look and feel and position on a page. Also, when you create a page template, backgrounds, images, text boxes, etc., as found on the layout in the Page Master, are included as well.

If you are looking to customize the style of your document, in general, you will use the Page Master. If you are looking to create a template for specific calculated outputs (tables, visualizations, etc.) on a Page as well as their settings (i.e., colors, formatting, table styles, etc.), use the page templating system as described in this article. See the Technical Details below for more information.

This article walks through two methods of creating templates from a page:

Method 1: Save and Insert a Page Template From the Report Tree - template an entire Page

Method 2: Save and Insert a Template of Grouped Items From a Page - template part of a Page

Requirements

• When using Method 1 to template an entire page, the template will also include the page layout and title (if present), and adopt the contents of the Page Master associated with the templated page layout in the document inserted into.
• Items being saved as a template must not be in an error state.
• All Properties  settings are saved in the template, excluding any data-related inputs (including filters and weight).
• You must either select one or more Pages or multiple outputs on the same Page to save as a template.

Example

On our Page, we have a customized column and a pie chart showing demographic results.

Under Appearance > Layout > Page layout in Properties , we have this set to Title Only.

Method 1: Save and Insert a Page Template from the Report Tree

1. Right-click the Page in the Report that includes the outputs you would like to save and select Save as Template.

2. Set the name of the template and press Save.

3. In your Report tree, click + > Template where you would like to insert your Page template.

4. Select the template you would like to add from the sortable and searchable form.

5. Click Insert.

6. A new Page will be created below with all the templated objects and page layout included.

7. For any output that points to a table or other data source, you will need to select the appropriate inputs under Properties  > Data > Data Source.

Note: templates created from this method can only be inserted from the Report tree.

Method 2: Save and Insert a Template of Grouped Items from a Page

1. Select the outputs on your Page that you want to use as a template.

2. Right-click and select Save as Template.

3. Set the name of the template and press Save.

4. Go to the Page in this document or another document where you would like to insert these outputs.

5. From the toolbar, click Template .

6. Select the template you would like to add from the list.

7. Click Insert.

8. Click or draw an outline on your page where you would like the outputs to appear. 

9. For any output that points to a table or other data source, you will need to select the appropriate input under Data > Data Source in Properties .

Note: templates created from this method can only be inserted from the toolbar.

Technical Details

The key differences between creating a page template via layouts in the Page Master vs the templating system are:

1. Page Master layouts can't include calculated outputs like tables, visualizations, and analyses. They only include purely design features such as placeholders, static text, controls, page numbers, shapes, and images.
2. The templating system works across all documents, whereas Page Master layouts are accessible only within an individual Document (though they can be pasted to others).

These templates are saved in the Displayr Cloud Drive and can be accessed by clicking the User Initials icon at the top right corner and selecting Displayr Cloud Drive.

Templates saved from the Report tree will end in page.QTemplate, while templates saved from multiple selected items on a Page will end in group.QTemplate:

Note, if you place your template files within folders in your Cloud Drive, when you bring up the importing template dialog, you will additionally need to select the relevant folder.

See Also

How to Create and Apply a Visualization Template

How to Save and Apply a Customized Analysis Output as a Template

How to Save and Apply a Variable Set Template