A useful project template gives your team a repeatable plan without locking every new project into the same dates or people. Use this checklist to prepare your template before applying it to new work.
Need to create or apply a template first? Follow the Project templates guide.
1. Build a reusable action plan
Add the actions and subactions your team usually needs, and organize them into clear sections. Include instructions, checklists, and other details that will save time each time you reuse the template.
If you want to reuse a schedule, add realistic start and due dates to the template’s actions. Add dependencies where one action depends on another. These give the next project a starting plan to review and adjust.
2. Choose how dates should carry over
When creating a project from your template, review the new project’s dates in General. Then open Copy options and decide whether to copy Dates of actions.
With action dates enabled, use Schedule copied dates from to choose how the plan fits the new project:
Project start date: schedule forward from the new project’s start date.
Project end date: schedule backward from the new project’s end date.
Set the corresponding date in General to enable that choice. The start-date option aligns the earliest dated action with the project start; the end-date option aligns the latest action due date with the project end.
Your template does not need project-level start or end dates when you explicitly select one of these scheduling options. It does need dated actions to produce a dated schedule. Adding project dates alone does not give undated actions start and due dates.
When applying a template to an existing project, you can also use Durations of actions with Dates of actions turned off. Review the resulting schedule before your team starts work. For the full date-copying instructions, see Project templates.
3. Use placeholders for roles that change
If different people take on the same roles from project to project, assign template actions to placeholder resources. For example, use a Designer placeholder instead of assigning every template action to a specific designer.
Add the placeholders to the template before assigning actions to them. When you use the template for a new project, replace those placeholders with the people doing the work. Keep Assignees of actions enabled in Copy options if you want those assignments to carry over.
[GIF 2 — In a demo template, add a placeholder resource to the template, then assign an action to it. Keep the placeholder’s role name visible. Replace the old placeholder-settings GIF.]
4. Apply labels consistently
Use labels to categorize work by team, deliverable, or initiative. Add the relevant labels to your template’s actions so each new project starts with a consistent structure.
Review the template’s available labels and remove choices that do not belong in the repeatable process. When applying a template to an existing project, review the Labels option in Copy options.
5. Review access and template permissions
Choose who needs access to the template. If a whole department uses the same process, adding a Hive Team can make membership easier to maintain than selecting people individually.
Review these settings in Members:
Share with: who can access the template.
Who can apply this template: who can use it to start work.
Who can edit this template: who can change the reusable plan.
Check the new project’s Members settings each time you use the template, especially when the project involves a different team or client.
6. Test the template before sharing it
Create a test project from the template and check the result:
Are the actions, sections, and labels useful for the next project?
Did the dates land where you expected?
Are assignments and placeholder resources correct?
Does the project have the right members and permissions?
Are the layout and scheduling settings appropriate?
Review Copy options before creating the project. Select the information you need, such as assignees, action dates, links and attachments, custom fields, or app workflows where available.
Make improvements to the template before your team uses it again. If your workspace routinely starts with the same template, you can configure a default project template in Workspace Settings.