What are (Content) Templates and Symbols?
The most important advantage of a “Template” or a “Symbol” is that you can save certain elements that you have customized and re-use them later, on the same page, or on different pages, without having to customize them all over again.
What is the difference between them?
If you are not sure whether you should save your element as a “Template” or a “Symbol”, check out the differences between them:
Although, both of them are saved the same way, the difference lies within the way you can use them on other pages.
- Let’s say you have saved a “Template” and you load it on ten different pages. The changes you make on one of the pages will not be applied to the rest of the pages, where the “Template” can be found. The modification will only affect the instance/page you have applied it to.
- However, if you do the same thing with a “Symbol”, meaning that first you save an element as a “Symbol” and then, you load it on ten different pages. After that, you apply changes to it on one of the pages. Those changes will be visible on all ten pages where the “Symbol” was used on.
As a conclusion: “Symbols” are synchronized (change one and all of its instances will change as well), while “Templates” are not synchronized (need to be customized on every instance).
How to save a (Content) Template or Symbol
The way to save a “Template” or a “Symbol” (=a globally updated template) is simple.
Save the Template/Symbol
Select any element (or the container of the elements) you want to save as a “Template” or a “Symbol” and click on the “Save” option (folder icon), which is the second option in the upper right corner of the element:
Choose between a Template or a Symbol
This will open a pop-up where you can select either “Template” or “Symbol”. Choose one of these tabs, based on how you want to save your element:
Preview the Template/Symbol
On the left side of this pop-up, there is a small preview of the element that you are saving as a template or symbol:
Show All Saved Templates Option
Also on the left side, below the preview, you can find the “Show All Saved Templates” option:
If you click on it, all the existing templates that you have previously saved will appear below. This is useful if you want to update an already existing template.
For example, if you want to replace an old template with the one you’re trying to save, go this option and choose the template that you want to replace, like so:
Next, click on the green “Update Existing Template” button:
If you have not made any modifications to the name, you will be asked if you are sure that you want to overwrite the existing template. If you are, click on “Update Existing Template” again:
Now, the old template will be replaced with the new one.
There is also the option to simply save the template as a new one, instead of updating an old one. To do that, follow the steps below:
Name and Category
Give a name to the element you are about to save and, if you wish, add it to a category to make it easier to find when you will have more templates/symbols saved.
When you are done, simply click on “Save” and the element will be saved, either as a normal template or as a symbol:
How to use a saved Template or a Symbol
After you have saved the element as a “Template” or a “Symbol”, you will have the possibility to use the saved “Template” or “Symbol” again, on the same page, or on the other pages of your website. Here is how you can do that:
Add the Template/Symbol to the page
First, you will need to add the “Template” or “Symbol” to the page. In order to do this, click on the plus sign from the right sidebar of the editor:
This will open the list of elements. Look for the “Templates & Symbols” element. When you have found it, drag and drop it to the place, where you want the “Template” or “Symbol” to be, on the page:
Select the Template/Symbol & insert it
Once you have dragged the “Templates & Symbols” element, a pop-up window will open with every “Template” and “Symbol” that you have saved so far. From here, you will be able to select the “Template” or “Symbol” you want to insert to the page.
Select Type
This pop-up will contain every saved “Template”/”Symbol”, organized in two sections. You will see these two sections (the “Templates” and “Symbols” sections) under the “Type” option, on the left part of the pop-up:
Based on what you need, click on either the “Templates” or the “Symbols” section, in order to select it. Then, according to what you have selected, the saved “Templates” or “Symbols” will appear in the pop-up.
Select specific Template/Symbol & insert it
All you need to do is to look for the one you want to insert to the page, and click on it:
Then, the “Template”/”Symbol” will be automatically added to the page. After the saved “Template”/”Symbol” is added to the page, you can continue building your page.
Search & insert
There is an additional way to look for the “Template”/”Symbol” you need from the pop-up window. You will see a “Search” field, in the upper left corner of the pop-up:
You can use this “Search” field to find the “Template”/”Symbol” you need directly. After you have selected the “Type”, simply start typing in the name of the saved “Template”/”Symbol” you are looking for, in the “Search” field.
This way the results of your search will appear in the pop-up window and, just as showcased above, you can click on the “Template”/”Symbol” you need to add it to the page.
Rename or Delete a Template/Symbol
There are two additional options you can use in the pop-up window for each “Template”/ “Symbol”. You can rename or delete them from this pop-up. In order to do either of these, first click on the three dots above the “Template”/”Symbol” you want to rename or delete:
Then a small drop down will open with the two options. Click on the option you want to use and take the necessary steps for using it:
Rename
After you click on the “Rename” option, the field with the name of the “Template”/”Symbol” will be editable. You can delete the current name from it, and replace it with the new one, you want to assign to the “Template”/”Symbol”.
After you have done that, you will have to click on the check mark sign next to the field, in order to save and apply the changes you made:
Delete
If you want to delete a “Template” or a “Symbol”, after choosing the “Delete” option, you will have to confirm that removing them is indeed what you want to do. Once you confirm this, the “Template”/”Symbol” will be deleted.
Note: It is important to consider the following things before deleting anything:
- If you delete a “Template”, you will not be able to use it on your website anymore.
- Deleting a “Symbol” will mean that the “Symbol” will be deleted from every instance, where it was used on your website!
If you want to find detailed information about how other features and elements work in Thrive Architect, check out the tutorials from our knowledge base.