Content:
1. What Is a Card Template?
2. How to Create and Manage Card Templates?
3. How to Configure a Card Template?
4. How to Edit, Disable, or Delete a Template?
5. How to Apply a Template to Your Card?
6. How to Set up a Default Template for a Board?
1. What Is a Card Template?
Templates are applied to Kanban cards and initiatives. They let you quickly create complex card structures with predefined properties (card fields) and subtasks. This facilitates everyday work with the system and streamlines teams' processes.
You can use templates for tasks that follow a certain guideline or for processes with predefined requirements, e.g. creating a template with the same subtasks.
2. How to Create and Manage Card Templates?
Who can create a card template?
By default, Card Templates can be created and modified by Account Owners and Workspace Managers. This can be adjusted from the Security Control related to Card Templates under the "Card Controls" section.
The card control options define who in the account will be able to create, edit, and delete templates. This could be set to Account Owners/Admins*, Account Owners/Admins* and Workspace Managers, or everyone in the account (any user role).
* An Admin is a user who is not an Account Owner but has the “Manage Card Elements” admin privilege.
How to create a card template?
Card Templates can be created through the Account Administration Menu or you can save an already created card as a template through the Open Card Settings.
Creating a new template through the Account Administration Menu
Step 1: Go to the Account Administration Menu and select the "Card Templates" option under the Card Management Section.
Step 2: You will land on a page that displays all the available templates in the Kanbanize account. Click the “New Template” button to create a new card template.
Step 3: Enter the template name (1) and provide a description (2) (optional).
You will have to add all the Boards and Workspaces (3) where you want this template to be available in. If a template is not applicable to some of the boards on a Workspace, you can deselect them from the menu.
Important: If you create a new board in the respective Workspace, it will automatically obtain the existing templates if you have selected the whole Workspace.
Step 4: Under the Card Template you can see the “Click to Configure” text. The system will bring up a standard Kanban card. Select and save the properties that will be applicable for the cards for which the template will be used.
Step 5: Use the Advanced Settings to define the Card Template Availability Level in your account. You can select any of the following options:
- Оn-demand — When the Card Template gets created, every Workspace Manager could choose to add it to the boards they manage.
- Auto — When the Card Template is created, it will be automatically added to all new boards. It can be managed afterward, depending on user permissions in Card Controls settings.
- Global — When a Card Template is created, it will be automatically added to all boards and cannot be removed.
Step 6: The template you create will be added to the Templates dedicated panel. It instantly becomes available in the Templates field of all cards on the selected Boards.
Create a template from an already existing card
Step 1: Create the desired card that you want to make into a template. After you create it, you can save it as a template from here:
Step 2: After you click the Save as Template button, a menu will appear that will prompt you to enter the template name (1) and provide a description (2) (optional). You can add all boards (3) you want this template to be included in aside from the current one.
Important:
- When a card is created from the template, subtasks will be populated as unfinished and will be assigned to "None."
- When a card that has a multi-level hierarchy is saved as a template, only first-level parent and child card links will be populated when generating a card from this template.
- When a card is created from the template, all standard and custom fields will be included. If a custom field is not available on a board where the card is generated, the user will be prompted to add the missing custom fields on that board, provided that they have sufficient permissions to do so.
How to clone a Card Template?
When you open the Templates section from the Card Management tab, you will find a menu that opens up from the three-dot icon where you can choose to clone an already existing card template.
Upon selecting this option, a creation window will appear where the card template information is already populated from the cloned card template. You can make any necessary changes and save the cloned version as a new card template.
Note: If you do not change the name of the card template, it will be saved with the original name + copy at the end to distinguish between the original and the clone.
3. How to Configure a Card Template?
When the system brings up the blank Kanban card, select, fill, and save the properties that will be constant for the cards where the template will be applied. This will cut the time it takes to set up all the properties whenever a new card is created of the same type.
Here are the different types of configurations you can apply to a template:
- set up the title and description of the card
- decide on the priority of the card
- customize the color of the card
- add an external link
- select custom fields, relevant to the card
- add subtasks
- put in tags
- create and link a parent/child/relative/successor/predecessor card/outcomes*
- and add any other field that you consider appropriate
*Only applies for newly created cards - card links cannot be transferred when applying the card to an already existing card.
After finishing your configuration, click the "Save Template" button on the card, and the Template will be created.
4. How to Edit, Disable, or Delete a Template?
In order to modify an already existing template, use the three dots icon to the right of each template, and choose the respective desired action:
- Select the Edit option in order to edit the name, description, and boards on which the template is applied.
- Select Clone to copy an existing template.
- Select Disable in order to disable a field from all boards it is currently assigned to.
- To fully remove a specific template, choose the Delete option.
Note: If custom fields in the copied template are not present on the new board, the first time a card with this template is created on the new board, you will be prompted to enable the custom fields for the board or to use the template without them.
How to edit a template directly from the Kanban card?
In addition to the Account Administration menu, you can also edit a template directly from a card. To do that, go to the Card Settings menu and click on the templates icon. In the dropdown, click on the edit icon next to the template you want to modify.
5. How to Apply a Template to Your Card?
For the everyday work in the system, the templates you create become available as a selection in every card. To apply a template, use the template icon of a new or an existing card and select the template you want to apply from the dropdown list.
Every time you create a card and choose a template, the newly created card will get the properties that are selected during the initial template configuration.
When you apply the template to the card, you have the choice to either apply all predefined properties or remove some of them. Subtasks and custom fields will be merged with the existing ones (if applying the template to an existing card). If you want to preserve the current value of any of the card fields, unselect it from the fields list upon application.
Note: If the card size and/or the card deadline are configured using formulas on the board where the template is applied, these fields won't be available to select.
Click on "Apply" to load the template, and the card will convert to the desired complex structure.
6. How to Set up a Default Template for a Board?
Check out this short video on how to set up a default template, or follow the instructions below.
Users with the "Edit Board" permission can set up a default template for a board if the board is designed for processing a specific group of cards. As a result, every new card, created on the board/workflow/lane automatically gets the template's predefined design and structure.
Important: This configuration is a board-level setting and will affect all cards created on the board, by anyone with permission to create cards.
You can set up a default template from the Board sidebar located on the right side of the Kanbanize interface. Select the "Board Policies" icon and click on the default template option for the board/workflow/lane.
Use the "Default template" dropdown menu and select the template that you want to make the default one for the board. It will now show up in the board policies window as the default template and will be the template every new card on the board/workflow/lane is created from unless it is specifically changed by the user that is creating the card.
Alternatively, you can set up a default template from the Board Configuration section in the Edit Workflows page. From there, you have to select the Default templates from the menu and further narrow down the location where the cards with this template will be created using the Lane and Workflow location criteria.