Project templates
Overview
A project template is a ready-made shape for a whole project: milestones, tasks and an hours budget that come along when it is created.
The trick lies in the dates: due dates are stored relative to the project start, not as fixed dates. A template therefore does not go stale — it is calculated against the actual start on creation.
Boundary against task bundles: a template creates a new project; a bundle is loaded into an existing one.
Core tasks
Create a template. New template requires a name; project type, description, hours budget and brand are optional. The list shows template, type, brand, content — as a count of milestones and tasks — budget, version and active state.
Look inside before creating. Choose a template under New project and the dialog shows a preview of the resulting structure: the milestones with their offset from the start, below them the tasks (subtasks indented, with list and estimate), plus the task lists. Tasks without a milestone are collected under Without milestone.
Created in the background. The project exists at once; the background worker builds milestones, lists and tasks right afterwards — so large templates hold nobody up. Until then the project shows Project is being created from the template and refreshes itself. If creation fails for good, the project is kept, shows Creating from the template failed and offers Try again.
Versions instead of pushing changes. Every change to a template's milestones, lists or tasks raises its version (name, description, brand and the active switch do not count). Projects created from an older version stay unchanged — they are a snapshot. They do show the notice Template newer than this project with the difference, and whoever may edit the project can adopt what was added as a suggestion or dismiss the notice. That way an improved template reaches running projects without rebuilding them unasked.
Choose a brand or leave it open. Left empty, the template applies to every brand. That is usually right; a brand-bound template only pays off when the shape genuinely differs.
Add milestones and tasks. Both are maintained with due dates relative to the project start.
Create one from a running project. Instead of building a template from scratch, a proven project can be converted through As template — absolute dates are automatically turned into offsets from the project start. This is usually the faster and more honest route, because the template then reflects how the work was actually done.
Fields in detail
The What it does column answers what changes in the system — not what the field is called. The grey name behind the label is the API field: the same thing runs under that name through automation, import and AI tools.
Project template
| Field | Required | Values / format | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
Name name | yes | text, max. 255 characters | The name the template is offered under when creating a project. |
Description description | no | text | What the template is for. Helps a colleague pick the right one. |
Project type projectType | no | master data "project types" | Which type the created project gets — and with it its billing mode. |
Default budget (hours) defaultBudgetHours | no | 0 or more | What the created project's budget is pre-filled with. |
Milestones milestones | no | list of milestones | The milestones created along with it — with name, order and amount. Due dates are calculated relative to the project start, not copied as fixed dates. |
Task lists lists | no | list of task lists | The task lists of the created project — with name, colour and order. The template's tasks are filed by their position in this list; without task lists every task lands in the project's default list. |
Tasks tasks | no | list of tasks | The tasks created along with it — with title, list, priority and estimate. |
Brand brandId | no | one of your brands | Limits the template to one brand. |
Active active | no | yes/no | Off means no longer selectable. Projects already created are untouched — a template is a stamp, not a link. |
Version version | — | number, read-only | Rises with every change to the structure. Projects from an older version show "Template newer than this project". |
Settings & permissions
- Module
module.projects. - Permission
projects.config.manage. - The template's project type determines the billing defaults of the resulting project, see
- Deactivate rather than delete when a template is phased out — projects already created are
untouched.
FAQ & troubleshooting
The dates in the new project are wrong. They are calculated from the project start you entered. Without a start date there is no reference point.
The template does not appear when creating a project. Check the active state and the brand: a brand-bound template appears only there.
I want to add tasks to a running project. Templates are the wrong tool for that — use a task bundle.
The preview shows nothing. The template contains no milestones, lists or tasks — or you lack the read permission projects.project.view for this brand.
A project says "Template newer than this project" but nothing is new. Only details of existing entries changed (dates, estimates, descriptions). None of that is adopted — dismiss the notice.
The template no longer reflects how we work. Convert a current, well-run project through As template rather than patching up the old template.