Create a new document template with Template Manager

Overview

Create a new document template with no components or design elements built in. This is helpful if you want to create a new template from the ground up and need a clear template to work with.

To create a new document template:

• Step 1: Set up the template type

• Step 2: Set up the template details

• Step 3: Set up the template design

• Step 4: Save your document template

Things to know

• When a document template is saved and published, you can rename the template but you cannot change the template type.

• Pre-designed templates can't be edited. Instead, you can duplicate the pre-designed template and edit the duplicated version.

• Certain template types require specific components to be included in the template design. A warning message displays if your template does not include the required component.

• The Template Type you select when creating the document template determines what components are available for placement in your document template. For example, a template type of Invoice displays invoice-related components, such as invoice totals, billing address, and invoice payments.

• You can edit certain component labels to display the text of your choice. For example, in the Document Name component, you can modify the Invoice and Invoice Date labels.

• The AI-powered components in Template Manager can suggest improvements for headings and text to enhance the clarity and structure of the document. You can also add AI-generated images based on your content and template design. For more, see Manage document template components in Template Manager.

• When a template is set as the default for a template type, it cannot be removed. To change it, create another document template and set that as the default.

Step 1: Set up the template type

1. Go to the top toolbar bar and click Settings .

2. In the side panel, click Operations > Document Templates.

3. Click Create Template > Create New. The Create template screen opens. 

4. For the Template name, enter a unique, brief, and descriptive name.        

   Note: The template's name is important as you will use it to reference the template in future flows, such as Invoices or Service Agreements. If the template is editable, you can rename it later on.

5. Select a Template type from the dropdown.        

   Note: The template type determines what components are available for placement in your document template. For example, a template type of Invoice displays invoice-related components, such as invoice totals, billing address, and invoice payments.

6. When you're finished, click Next. A new screen opens.

Step 2: Set up the template details

In the Template Details section, define how you want your document to look when printed:

• PDF Header: Select an available header template if needed. It appears as a header on all pages of the documents generated using this template. For more, see Template headers and footers.

• PDF Footer: Select an available footer template if needed. It appears as a footer on all pages of the document generated using this template. For more, see Template headers and footers.

• Paper size: Select the template's paper size.

• Page margin: Set the page margins for your document template. Margins are in millimeters (mm).

• Orientation: Select the page orientation for your document template.

Step 3: Set up the template design

The Template Design section contains design elements that let you customize the look of your document. Apply branding guidelines and ensure you're maintaining a consistent look and feel across all your documents.

Add components to your template

1. In the side menu, click Content. A list of available components opens.

2. Drag and drop the component you want to add to the template area.

Note: You must drag and drop the component to a content block, indicated by a blue box, on the template.

Tip: You can Duplicate or Delete the component by select it on the template.

Tip: Enhance your document templates with our AI-powered components that offer suggestions for improving headings and text. Generate relevant images to match your template, making the content more visually appealing. For more, see Manage document template components in Template Manager.

Create a custom component

Certain components let you customize their appearance and the content displayed on your template. For example, the Chargeable Materials component displays a list of chargeable materials including date, quantity, price, and material description. You can customize this component to display or hide certain content, such as the date and price. You can even indicate whether you want to aggregate the content to only display the totals.

To customize a component:

1. Select a component on the template. A list of options appears on a side menu.

2. Click Hide to hide specific content. 

3. Click Edit to edit the column label:        

   1. Modify the Field Label to display the text of your choice.

   2. Customize Label and Value styles including the text style, font appearance, and color.

4. If applicable, use the Aggregate toggle to display content in aggregated format.

Note: The component description is created and edited by ServiceTitan.

Define a general design

You can define the general design elements of your document, such as:

• Background color or image

• Content width

• Content alignment

• Font family

• Hyperlink color and effect

To set up the general design of your template:

1. Go to the navigation bar and click Settings .

2. In the side panel, click Operations > Document Templates.

3. Search for the template you want to edit and click More > Edit. A new screen opens.

4. In the side menu, click Body. A list of design options displays.

5. Set the design options to the desired look:        

   1. Background Color: Select the background color of the document. You can select from the color picker tool or enter a hex/RGB color code.

   2. Background Image: Upload an image file to be used as the document background or enter a URL for the image.

   3. Content Width: Set how wide you want the content to appear on the document.

   4. Content Alignment: Select how you want your content aligned on the document.

   5. Font Family: Select which font family you want to use for your document.

   6. Links: Define how you want your hyperlinks to look. 

Organize content and text blocks

When designing a template, you can indicate areas on the document to help you designate and organize the content for your template. You can determine whether these areas are content blocks or text blocks.

To add content or text blocks to your template:

1. In the side menu, click Blocks.

2. Click and drag a content or text block from the list of options on the side panel to the template.

After designating areas on your template for content with content or text blocks, you can move those blocks around your template by selecting and dragging the Move arrow on the block.

Content blocks

Content blocks are areas on the template that you can designate for specific components. These are indicated by blue boxes on your template. You can quickly add components to the content blocks by selecting the content block and clicking Add Content.

For each content block, you can define column and row properties such as the number of columns, borders, padding, background color, and more.

Text blocks

Text blocks are areas you can designate specifically for text-only content. For each text block, you can apply design elements to the text such as font, color, alignment, formatting styles, and more.

Step 4: Save your document template

When you're done designing your template, you can:

• Click Preview   to review your changes in real time in the editor before saving.

• Click Publish and Preview to download the PDF version of your document template and view it in a printed version.

• Click Save Draft to save a draft version of your document template. This lets you save the progress you've made on your template so you can come back to it later and continue working on it.

• Click Save and Publish to save the template and make it immediately available for use.

Template headers and footers

You can design templates to serve as a header and footer for your documents. Headers and footers appear on every page of your document.

Create a header or footer template

To create a header or footer template:

1. Create a new template or duplicate and edit an existing template.

2. Name this template so it's quickly identified as a template for a header or a footer.

Apply header or footer to a template

To apply a header or footer template to a new or existing template:

1. Create a new template or open an existing template.

2. In the Template Details section:        

   1. Select a template from the PDF Header dropdown to assign a header template.

   2. Select a template from the PDF Footer dropdown to assign a footer template.

Want to learn more?

• See Copy and customize invoice print templates

• See Import and Export document templates with Template Manager