Project templates help you reuse a repeatable process, including actions, subactions, sections, assignees, and other project details. Create a template from scratch or save an existing project as a template, then use it to create a new project or add work to an existing one.
How to create a new template
Open Project navigator and select the Templates tab.
Click Create project template.
In General, enter a template name, choose a color, and optionally add dates. Review the location and destination shown for your template.
Open Members. Choose who can access the template, who can apply it, and who can edit it. Review Notify users.
Open Layout and choose the default view: List, Status, Team, Calendar, Gantt, or Table.
Click Create template. Your template appears in the Templates tab.
Open the template and build out your process as you would a project. Add actions, subactions, sections, assignees, labels, and any start and due dates needed for your schedule.
Tip: Expand the settings sidebar to see section names, or use Next to move through the setup.
How to apply a template to a new project
Click Create project in Project navigator, or Create new project in the sidebar.
Choose Use a template.
In General, select your template. The selector includes Projects and Templates tabs.
Enter a name for the new project. Review its location, color, and dates.
Open Copy options and choose what to bring into the new project. For example, enable Assignees of actions to keep action assignments, or Dates of actions to copy action dates. Other available options include statuses, user permissions, links and attachments, custom fields, approvals, and app workflows.
If you are copying action dates, review Schedule copied dates from. See the scheduling section below.
Open Members and review who can access the new project. Complete any required custom fields if prompted.
Click Create project.
The example above switches Dates of actions off before creation. To bring action dates into your project, leave that option on.
You can also start from Project navigator → Templates: hover over a template and click Apply.
The new project uses the template's layout. You can edit the copied work and project settings to suit the new project.
How to apply a template to an existing project
Open the project that should receive the template.
Open More → Apply project template.
In General, choose the template.
Open Copy options. Review the full list and select the information you want to copy, such as assignees, user permissions, statuses, custom fields, labels, description, attachments, and scheduling options. Available options depend on your workspace features.
Click Apply project template.
The template's work is added to the existing project. List view sections and layout are always included, so review your selections before applying a template.
How to save an existing project as a template
Save as template creates a separate template. Your original project remains available.
Open the project you want to reuse.
Open More → Save as template.
In General, enter a name for the template and review its location, destination, color, and optional dates.
Open Copy options and choose which project details to include.
Open Members and review access, apply permissions, and edit permissions.
Click Create template.
Find the new template in Project navigator → Templates.
Template permissions
In Members, review these settings separately:
Share with: who can access the template.
Who can apply this template: project owner and members, or all workspace members.
Who can edit this template: any project member, or project owner and admins only.
Only the template owner or an admin can change template permission settings. When creating a project from a template, review the new project's Members settings before creating it.
Copying and scheduling action dates
Dates of actions controls whether action start and due dates are copied. Project dates and action dates are separate: setting dates on the project does not by itself give every undated action a schedule.
To schedule copied action dates from a specific project date:
Set the target project's start date or end date. For a new project, do this in General. For an existing project, set its dates before applying the template.
In Copy options, leave Dates of actions on.
Under Schedule copied dates from, choose Project start date to schedule forward, or Project end date to schedule backward.
The start-date option aligns the earliest dated action with the project's start date. The end-date option aligns the latest action due date with the project's end date. The corresponding project date must be set for its option to be available.
Your template needs dated actions for this to produce a dated schedule; the template itself does not need project-level dates when you explicitly choose a scheduling anchor. If you do not choose an anchor, scheduling depends on the template and target project dates.
When applying a template to an existing project, Durations of actions is also available. To use durations instead of copying the original action dates, turn Dates of actions off and Durations of actions on.
How template and project dates interact
These rules apply when you create a new project from a template, with Dates of actions on, and you do not choose an option under Schedule copied dates from. If you choose an option, it sets the schedule instead. See the scheduling section above.
When actions move, they all move together, so any gap between an action and the template's date stays. For example, a template has a due date of March 17, and its last action is due March 10. If the new project's due date is April 23, the last action is due April 16.
If Allow actions to be assigned on weekends is off in the template, actions that move land on working days, and gaps count working days. If a project date falls on a weekend, an action that would land on that date moves to the closest working day in the project. For example, with a Saturday due date, the last action is due on Friday. If the setting is on, dates move by calendar days, so actions can land on weekends.
If the template has no dates and the new project has:
No dates: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template.
Only a start date: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template.
Only a due date: The last action is due on the project due date.
A start date and a due date: The last action is due on the project due date.
If the template has only a due date and the new project has:
No dates: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template. The project has no due date.
Only a start date: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template. The project has no due date.
Only a due date: Actions move with the due date. If the template's last action is due on the template's due date, the last action is due on the project due date.
A start date and a due date: Actions move with the due date. If the template's last action is due on the template's due date, the last action is due on the project due date.
If the template has only a start date and the new project has:
No dates: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template.
Only a start date: Actions move with the start date. If the template's first action starts on the template's start date, the first action starts on the project start date.
Only a due date: The last action is due on the project due date.
A start date and a due date: The last action is due on the project due date.
If the template has a start date and a due date and the new project has:
No dates: Actions are scheduled exactly as they are in the template. The project has no due date.
Only a start date: The project gets a due date that keeps the template's length in calendar days. Actions move with that due date, so the first action may not start on the project start date. For example, a template runs March 2 to March 10. A new project with a start date of April 5 gets a due date of April 13.
Only a due date: Actions move with the due date. If the template's last action is due on the template's due date, the last action is due on the project due date.
A start date and a due date: Actions move with the due date. If the template's last action is due on the template's due date, the last action is due on the project due date.
If template has custom-ordered columns:
If the project template has custom-ordered columns, the project created from the template will have the same columns.
Default templates and layouts
A project created from a template inherits its layout, including custom column order. You can also configure a default project template for your workspace in Workspace Settings.