PTC Template Creation

A template can be multiple pages, a page tree, which will later be instatiated to create new content. PTC Tag (Placeholders) will help to create unique content.

PTC templates are page trees shown in the confluence create dialog and therefore, widely and dynamically useable for different sets of users and locations.

• Visibility and Edit abilities

Since the pages of a PTC Template are ordinary Confluence pages, the pages themselves are visible based on your Confluence configuration. Same applies for the edit abilities.
The template configurations can be edited on the top page of the template.

• Usability

To make use of a PTC template via Confluence 'create' from template dialog, the template needs to be global or authorised for the current space.
If the template has no special view page restrictions, everyone can use it.

• Location

PTC Templates are located in template spaces.

Create a new Template from an empty page

1. Go to the template space you want your template to be stored in

2. Open the create from template dialog

3. Select New Template

4. Chose a template name and a optional description

5. Chose a scope

Create a new Template from an existing page

1. Go to the page you want to create a template from

2. Select Create Template in the tools

3. Fill in the form the same way you would for an empty page

4. Choose if you want to copy or move the page to the template space

Edit a Template

The pages of a template can be edited as every other confluence page.

The configuration of a template can be edited from the top page of the template

1. Select the template you want to configure

2. Open the popup dialog on the top right and configure the template as you wish:

   • Choose an icon for the template and set a name and description

   • Choose which pages you want to watch after instantiating the template (All pages, only the main page or no pages at all)

   • Select if you want to jump straight into edit mode after instantiation

   • Select if you want the template to be shown in the create dialog

   • Select if you want to select which pages to copy in the create wizard

Template Usage

Template Statistics lists you the pages which were instantiated from the given template, it reports by whom and when.

1. Select the template you want to see its usage statistics

2. Open the popup dialog on the top right

3. Go to the Statistics tab

Move a Template from one category to another

1. Go to the template you want to move (eg. a global Template)

2. Open the tools and select move

3. Then chose a new destination (eg. a Category)

4. The template will move to the new category

Delete a Template

1. Go to the template you want to delete

2. Open the tools and select delete

3. Now the template won't show anymore in the create template dialog

Add Tags and Macros to your Template

Tags and macros can be added to the pages of a template to help instantiate individual content.

• Tags are placeholders that will be replaced in the Replacement Dialog just before a template is instantiated. (eg. __Tag__)

• Default Tags are special tags that will be replaced automatically (eg. __current_date__)

• Consecutive Tags are configured in the space tools and will be counted up after each instantiation

• A template sticker can be added in front of the page title to indicate a template. The sticker will be removed after instantiation. 

• A PTC Tag Description Macro can be added to give a tag a special format and a description that will be shown in the replacement dialog (eg. a dropdown tag, or a user tag)

• The PTC Ignore Tags Macro can be used as a wrapper to not replace any tags inside the macro body

• The Confluence Jira Macro doesn't support any invalid links, so the PTC Jira Macro can contain a query with a tag, which will later be replaced and display the desired Jira issue(s). (eg. Query String __jira project number__ inside the PTC Jira Macro will later be replaced)

• The PTC Button Macro predefines a source (what template should be instantiated) and a target (where should the new content be added to) to help the user instantiate a template with one click.

• The PTC Default Value Macro can give a tag a predefined value. (eg. the tag __company__ should be replaced with EPS)