Introduction to Templates

Learn the fundamentals behind Templates

Brendan Owens avatar
Written by Brendan Owens
Updated over a week ago

1. What is a Template?

A template is a set of one or more Layer categories that are saved as a group to be applied (copied into) another Layer project.

2. What are the Templates that appear under the “Templates” tab on my home screen?

The templates under the Templates tab on your home screen are the templates that you have the ability to open, view, and edit (based on your permissions for that individual template). This means that these templates were either:

  • Created by you (you are the Owner).

  • Created by someone else on your team who added you to the template with either a Viewer/Editor/Contributor permission.

The list of templates on your home screen is not the complete list of templates that are available to use within your company.

The complete list of templates in your company is accessible by clicking on the Create Project + button and selecting the Company.

3. What are the different kinds of Templates?

There are two kinds of templates:

  • Layer Templates: Templates built by the Layer team for public use by anyone when creating a new project or adding new categories to a project.

  • Company Templates: Templates created by Layer users for internal use among their own company. These may include templates for company best practices, common project structures, etc.

4. What is included in a Template?

For each category, the following items are always included in a template:

  • The category fields.

  • The category’s saved views (the saved view configuration/filters/sorting).

  • Any automations (Revit sync parameters) that are set up for the category.

  • The Currency & Date configuration for the project.

If the checkbox is selected to Include Elements & Data when creating a new template, then the following items are included:

  • The elements in the category, which include:

    • Any files associated with each element

    • Any notes associated with each element

    • Any tasks associated with each element

The following items are NEVER included in templates:

  • Files that are not associated with any elements in the project

  • Notes that are not associated with any elements in the project

  • Tasks that are not associated with any elements in the project

  • Activity log items

  • Revit model files or the elements from a Revit model

    (Tip: the category fields from a Revit category can be included in a template, but never the actual Revit elements)


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