---
title: How to set up record templates
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/objects/record-templates
description: Save a half-filled record, with its owner and status, so your team can start the same kind of record without retyping it.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# How to set up record templates



A **record template** is a record of one of your own **Objects** that starts half filled in. An
admin makes templates on the Object's **Templates** tab in **Settings › Objects**, and your team
picks one from the **New** button on the Object's list. See <Ref to="objects" /> for what an
Object is.

At Fairgreen Golf Co., most Repairs are warranty repairs: the same fault type, the same owner in
the warehouse team, and the status Received. A **Warranty repair** template fills all three, so
logging one takes the customer's name and nothing else.

## Before you start [#before-you-start]

Making and changing templates needs the **Define Objects** row on **Settings › Permissions**,
which admins hold by default. Templates belong to your own Objects only.

Using a template needs the same Create permission as any new record, such as **Repairs ·
Create**. See <Ref to="objects/permissions" />.

## How do you make a template? [#how-do-you-make-a-template]

Open **Settings › Objects**, click the Object, and open its **Templates** tab. Press **New
template**.

1. Type a **Template name**, such as Warranty repair. This is what people pick from the **New**
   button.
2. Fill in the fields the template should start with. Leave a field empty to leave it empty on
   the new record.
3. Pick an **Owner** and a **Status** if every record from this template starts with the same
   ones.
4. Press **Save template**.

Nothing is required in a template, even a field the record itself requires. The required check
happens when somebody saves the record.

## Which fields can a template fill? [#which-fields-can-a-template-fill]

Most of them. A few are left out, and the editor names them under "Not offered here", because
Tideswell fills them in or they are added after the record exists:

* Fields that work themselves out, and **Reference number** fields.
* **File** fields, since files are attached to a record that already exists.
* Fields that cannot be typed into.

The **Status** list offers only the statuses a record can start in. A status that can only be
reached from another status, set with **Can be entered from**, is left out. See
<Ref to="objects/stages" />.

## How does your team use a template? [#how-does-your-team-use-a-template]

Press the **New** button on the Object's list, such as **New Repair**. Once the Object has a
template, the button opens a menu: **Blank**, then each template by name.

Picking a template opens the usual new-record form with the template's values already in it. Change
anything, then save it as an ordinary record. Nothing is written until you save, and the record
does not stay linked to the template.

## What if part of a template no longer fits? [#what-if-part-of-a-template-no-longer-fits]

Tideswell leaves that part out and says so. If a field was archived or changed type since the
template was saved, the form opens with a note, "Some of this template was left out:", followed by
what and why.

The template's own row on the **Templates** tab shows the same note under "Left out when this
template is used:". Open it, check it, and press **Save template**; the editor warns "Saving will
leave these out for good:" first.

## How do you change or delete a template? [#how-do-you-change-or-delete-a-template]

Press **Edit** on its row to change it, or **Delete** to remove it. The delete confirmation says
that records already made from it stay exactly as they are.

## Can any new record start with an owner and a status? [#can-any-new-record-start-with-an-owner-and-a-status]

Yes. The new-record form has **Owner** and **Status** whether you start from a template or from
**Blank**. **Owner** starts empty and **Status** reads **No status**, unless a template filled
them. See <Ref to="records/stages-and-owner" /> for what each means.
