How to create a blank template

About this article

This article will explain how to create a blank template. The explanation shows how to create a blank template in Word, but creating a blank template in PowerPoint or Excel basically works the same way.

Prerequisites

Library and at least one Dynamics module enabled
Templafy Desktop and Office VSTO add-in installed
Tenant admin/owner access or Space owner access

Getting started

When you start Word then the Start screen is shown:

This shows the option Create a blank <company name> document (Start from an empty template).
Do not use this option if you want to create a new template! This is because when you click the button Templafy will generate a document and you cannot create a template of a generated document (if you open Template Designer you'll get an error message).

So instead when you want to create a template always select MS Themes on the left and then Blank document. This will open the default 'Document1' from Word:

Also do not use the option Blank Document in the ribbon as this will also generate a document and you cannot create a template of it:

Creating a template

With the default 'Document1' from Word open you can start creating the blank template. You can create a simple template that for example only has a different font and font size then the default 'Calibri 11' from Word, but you can also make a more advanced template by adding Dynamics.

Modify the style

If you for example want to use a different font, font size, line spacing and space before or after a paragraph then you can change the properties in the Modify Style form in Word:

When a user creates a document the defined style will be applied:

Explanation about modifying the style is beyond this help topic. See the help from Microsoft Word.

Add Dynamics to show a default value

You can use Dynamics for example if you want to display a default value for the classification of the document, but want to allow the user to change the value. For example:

In the Admin Center create a data source named Labels with these values in the Name column:
In Template Designer create a Dropdown form field with the name 'Classification' and link it to the Labels data source and the Name column. Select 'Internal' as Default value. The result looks like this:
Click Add to form.
In the footer type a placeholder text for the classification (e.g. '[Classification]'). Select the placeholder.
On the Template tab click Form responses, expand Classification and select Name.
Click Add to template. The result looks like this:
Save the template and upload it in the Admin Center in the Library configuration as blank document.

When a user creates a blank document the result in the footer looks like this:

If a user starts the blank document from the Start screen using Create a blank <company name> document or from the ribbon using Blank Document then the Dynamic form will not be displayed, but the default values will be filled in automatically. The user can change the (default) answers afterwards by clicking Update document.
A blank document can also be started from the Composer. In this case the Dynamic form will be displayed.
Required form fields, text element insertion, slide insertion, Ticks() and the date function Now() are not supported in blank documents.

Add Dynamics to show a logo

Dynamics can also be used to show a logo. Of course you can just insert a logo (image), but then the document will always show the same logo. Using Dynamics you can automatically insert a specific logo, for example depending on the location set in the user profile. This is explained in the article about how to set the image header of a document.

The image header field is not available in PowerPoint and Excel.

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