# Templates
Templates let you capture a group of shapes, relationships, and text — with all their styling intact — so you can re-use the whole arrangement on future boards without rebuilding it from scratch. Think of them as stencils for entire composed pieces, not individual shapes.
Use templates for:
* Repeating diagram layouts (e.g. a standard capability-with-applications block)
* Branded title pages (logo + diagram name + author + version)
* Analysis frameworks (PESTLE, SWOT, stakeholder canvases)
* Team-standard patterns your organization applies often
## Template Scopes
Every template belongs to one of three scopes, controlling who can see and use it:
| Scope | Who Can Use It | Who Can Create / Promote It |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------ |
| **Personal** | Only you | Anyone (Editor role is enough) |
| **Teamspace** | Everyone editing boards in the parent teamspace | Teamspace Admins |
| **Global** | Every user across every teamspace | YouDesign Models Admins |
New templates are **Personal by default**. Elevation to Teamspace or Global happens via the Move action (see below).
## Where Templates Live
Open the **Diagramming** panel in the left sidebar and expand the **Templates** section. Templates appear grouped by scope (Global, Teamspace, Personal), each with a preview tile.
>
Click a template to place a copy on the canvas — same click/drag behavior as shapes.
## Creating a Template
Once you've built something you want to reuse:
1. **Select** the shapes, relationships, and text you want in the template. Use a lasso selection or Shift-click multiple shapes.
2. Click the **⋯ (More options)** menu on the selection toolbar.
3. Choose **Create template**.
4. In the dialog that opens:
* Give the template a **Name**.
* Add a **Description** (helps you and teammates recognize it later).
5. Click **Apply**.
The template is saved to your **Personal** scope and immediately appears in the Templates panel.
## Promoting to Teamspace or Global
A Personal template becomes a Teamspace or Global template through the **Move** action:
1. Expand the **Templates** section in the Diagramming panel.
2. Hover your Personal template — a **⋯ (more options)** button appears.
3. Click **Move** → pick the target scope:
* **Teamspace** — requires **Teamspace Admin** role
* **Global** — requires **YouDesign Admin** role
4. The template moves into the selected scope and is immediately visible to the new audience.
If you don't have the required role, the Move option for that scope is hidden.
## Using a Template
1. Expand **Templates** in the Diagramming panel.
2. Click or drag a template onto the canvas.
3. The grouped set of shapes, relationships, and text is added as a normal editable selection — you can move, resize, restyle, or break it apart just like manually-drawn content.
Template instances are **independent copies** — editing a template on the canvas doesn't affect the template definition, and updating the template later doesn't retroactively change existing boards.
## Editing or Deleting a Template
Hover a template in the Templates panel and click **⋯** to access:
* **Move** (to promote or re-scope)
* **Delete** — removes the template definition. Existing instances on boards are not affected.
Renaming is currently done via the same flow as creation — delete and re-create, or contact an admin if the template is Global/Teamspace and you need a rename.
## Working with Templates at Scale
* **Keep a naming convention.** Prefix by purpose: `Arch — …`, `Process — …`, `Title — …`. Makes the Templates panel easy to scan as the list grows.
* **Promote sparingly.** A Global template affects every user; check with stakeholders before promoting.
* **Version in the name.** If you update a template that downstream users might still be using, give the new one a `v2` suffix rather than replacing in place.
* **Don't over-template.** For a shape you'll reuse often with just a color variation, [Favorites](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/favorites.md) is a faster tool than Templates.
## Limits & Gotchas
* **Personal templates live with your user account.** Deleting your account removes them — migrate important templates to Teamspace scope first.
* **Moving a Personal template to Global is a one-way action in the UI.** To bring it back, an admin has to re-Move it (or delete and recreate).
* **Templates capture styling and content, not data bindings.** If a template includes a Data Hub shape, the copy placed on a new board will be an empty (unbound) shape of the same type, not bound to the same record.
* **Templates are migrated via XML**, like other configuration. See [Migrating Configuration](/models/get-the-app/migrating-configuration.md).
## Related
* [Favorites](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/favorites.md) — single-shape reuse instead of grouped templates
* [Shapes](/models/work-in-the-app/editor/shapes.md) — the building blocks inside a template
* [Access Rights and Roles](/models/admin/access-rights-and-roles.md) — role requirements for Move actions
* [Migrating Configuration](/models/get-the-app/migrating-configuration.md) — moving templates between instances
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