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How to create and configure a template

Prerequisites​

  • Admin access to your Uwazi instance

Steps​

Create a template​

  1. Go to Settings > Templates.
  2. Select Add template.
  3. Enter a name in the Name field. The name must be unique across all templates in your instance.
  4. Select a colour from the colour picker. Uwazi picks one at random — you can change it to any of the 15 preset colours. The colour appears on entity cards and labels across Uwazi.
  5. To use a custom page as the entity view, select Display entity view from page and choose a page from the drop-down. Only pages with the entity view setting enabled appear in the list.
  6. Select Save.

Add and configure properties​

Every template includes three locked properties: Title, Date added, and Date modified. You can't remove or reorder these. Add your own properties to capture the details your work needs.

To add a property:

  1. Select Add property in the property list. A settings panel opens on the right.
  2. Choose a property type from the Type drop-down. Each type sets what kind of data users can enter — text, a date, a value from a list, a file, or a link to another entity.
    warning

    You can't change a property's type after you save the template.

  3. Enter a label in the Label field. The label must be unique within the template. If another template already has a property with the same label, the type and settings must match exactly. The editor highlights conflicts in red and blocks saving until you resolve them.
  4. Set the options shown in the sections below.
  5. Repeat steps 1–4 for each property you want to add.
  6. Drag rows in the list to reorder properties.
  7. Select Save.

Configure options available on every property​

These options appear for every property type:

Required — Users can't save an entity without filling in a required property. Use this for fields that must always have a value, such as a case number or a date.

Show in cards — The property value appears on entity cards in the library. Limit this to two or three properties per template so cards stay clear.

Hide label — The label doesn't appear in the entity view. Useful when the value speaks for itself, such as a full-width image.

Configure filter options​

For most property types, you can also control how the property works in the library sidebar filter.

Use as filter — The property appears as a filter in the library sidebar. Users can filter entities by this property's values.

Default filter — This option appears when Use as filter is on. Select it to turn on the filter when users open the library.

Priority sorting — This option appears when Use as filter is on, for text, numeric, select, and date properties. Select it to sort library results by this property by default.

Configure select and multi-select properties​

Select and multi-select properties let users choose values from a thesaurus — a shared list of set values.

  • Select — users choose one value.
  • Multi-select — users can choose more than one value.

To set up either type:

  1. Choose a thesaurus from the Thesaurus drop-down. If the thesaurus you need doesn't exist yet, select Add thesaurus to create one without leaving the template editor.

Configure relationship properties​

Relationship properties connect entities to other entities through a named connection type.

  1. Choose a type from the Relationship type drop-down. If you need a new type, select Add relationship type to create one without leaving the editor.
  2. To limit which entities users can link to, choose a template from the Entities drop-down. Leave it empty to allow links to any entity.
  3. To show a property from the linked entity inline, choose it from the Inherit property drop-down. You must select a value in Entities before this option appears.

Configure image and media properties​

Image and media properties have two display options:

Style — Choose Fill to scale the image or video to cover its container. Choose Fit to scale it without cropping.

Full width — Select this to make the image or video span the full width of the entity view.

Remove a property​

warning

Removing a property deletes its values from all existing entities. Uwazi runs this in the background after you save, and the change can't be undone.

  1. Select the checkbox next to one or more properties.
  2. Select Remove.
  3. Select Save.

Set a default template​

The default template is pre-selected when a user creates a new entity. To set one:

  1. Go to Settings > Templates.
  2. Find the template in the list.
  3. Select Set as default.

Delete a template​

You can only delete a template that has no entities linked to it and isn't the default template.

  1. Go to Settings > Templates.
  2. Select the checkbox next to the template.
  3. Select Delete and confirm.

Result​

Uwazi saves your template. It's now ready to use.

tip

If your instance has more than 3,000 entities on this template, Uwazi warns you before saving that the update will take time to process. A progress bar appears in the editor header. Uwazi locks the template for editing until the job finishes.

See also​