Templates

What are templates?

Templates let you save information once and reuse it across projects — making your workflow faster and your output more consistent. In Geometra, there are four template types, each interconnected to support standardization at different levels. Use whichever combination suits your way of working.

The four template types are:

• Structures
• Control folders
• Objects
• Rows

The templates follow a hierarchy from the bottom up — Rows, Objects, Control Folders, and Structures at the top. Keeping this hierarchy in mind when setting up your templates is important, as each level builds on the one below.

Structure Templates

Structure templates define how your folders are organised. Use them to create a consistent folder layout — including control folders — so that objects and quantities are always arranged in the same predefined order across your projects.

You can apply a structure template to an entire estimate at once, or insert it into a manually created folder. For example, if your project consists of several identical building blocks, you can apply the same structure template to each one. The template then brings in the same predefined building components — exterior walls, interior walls, staircases, and so on — into every block automatically.

Structures can be categorised to help you keep track of what each one refers to. There are two types: one for Drive and one for Estimate.

Control Folders

A control folder forces every object placed inside it to conform to a predefined object template — automatically and without exception. For example, a control folder named "3-strip Oak Parquet" can be set to convert any Area object placed in it to the corresponding object template, regardless of the object's previous content or properties.

Objects inside a control folder cannot be edited freely, which prevents unintended changes. You can still set the status of objects or rows, and adjust the quantity formula on the rows of a controlled object. Control folders can be categorised to help you track their purpose easily.

Object templates

Object templates work like a personal toolbox for the things you mark out on drawings. When you place an object using a template, it automatically takes on the predefined properties and rows associated with that template.

You can create and categorise your object templates however works best for you — by trade, task, or material type, for example — making them easy to find and apply.

Each object template stores all the properties you would normally set when placing an object on a drawing. You can also attach row templates to an object template, so that the same rows are applied consistently across multiple object types.

Object templates can be built from scratch, or saved directly from an object you've already created in a project. You can also replace existing objects with a template, which will overwrite all of that object's data with the template's data.

Row Templates

Row templates are always created within a category, so it's worth defining your categories clearly from the start. A logical approach is to organise them by type of work — such as laying parquet flooring or assembling interior walls — or by trade, such as flooring installer, painter, or carpenter.

Row templates can be applied freely to any object, or linked to specific object templates for consistent reuse. The same row template can be linked to multiple different object templates.

Note that you must create row templates before you can add rows to object templates.

Just like object templates, rows you've already created in a project can be saved as templates for future reuse.

Creating Templates

For structures, control folders, and objects, you can create both categories and new templates using the two buttons in the toolbar: New Category and New Template.

You can also save structures, objects, and rows as templates directly from the estimate view. When you do, you'll be prompted to select a category to save them in.

Structures can additionally be saved from Drive, in the same way as from the estimate view.

For your organisation and beyond

All templates you create are available to everyone in your organisation, regardless of team or department. This enables consistent standardization across the whole company — but it also means you should be careful when modifying templates, as changes may affect work done by your colleagues.

To share templates with users outside your organisation, use Control Codes. A Control Code captures a snapshot of a template that you can send to someone else. They can recreate the template — along with all its associated data — simply by pasting the code into the template import function.

Read more about how to export and print in Geometra

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