Page Templates

Episodes in the Microsoft 365 Templates Series

In this Ask Sympraxis session, we explore the intricacies of page templates in SharePoint and Microsoft 365. For a broader understanding of templates, check out our templates overview session. In short, templates play a crucial role in ensuring consistency, repeatability, and encapsulating institutional knowledge.

Creating Page Templates

To create a page template, we suggest starting off with building a page using your desired content. Once the content is ready, select the ‘Save as Template’ option, located in the upper left corner while editing the page, this clones the page and places a copy in the templates folder of your site.

Using Page Templates

When creating a new page, Microsoft provides three out-of-the-box options: Blank, Visual, and Basic Text. Additionally, the ‘Saved on this Site’ tab displays previously saved templates in the site library. The ‘App Pages’ tab is reserved for custom SharePoint Framework solutions.

News Templates

SharePoint introduces a slightly larger set of out-of-the-box templates for news. These are particularly useful for newsletters or content meant for email distribution. However, they come with some limitations regarding the web parts that can be used.

News Template Use Cases

The team explores various use cases for news templates, emphasizing their utility in maintaining consistency for content such as weekly employee recognition emails, new hire announcements, and CEO corner posts. Consistency in these types of communications enhances both the reader’s understanding and the content creator’s ability to provide information effectively.

Page Template Limitations

While page templates offer numerous advantages, they are restricted to the site collection in which they were created. If metadata is attached to the site pages these elements are fixed at the point of template creation, so we suggest saving the templates with those blank. However, the positive aspect is that creating templates requires no coding, making them accessible to all users with edit access.

Automating Page Templates

Another potential limitation is the absence of an official Pages Application Programming Interface (API), but the PnP community, Orchestry, and ShareGate have come up with workarounds using third-party tools that offer reverse-engineered versions for those seeking more automated solutions.

Page templates offer a powerful means of ensuring consistency and efficiency in content creation and distribution. By understanding their creation, usage, limitations, and potential automation, organizations can harness the full power of these templates to streamline their processes and enhance collaboration across teams!

All Resources

Do you have any questions for us? Continue the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #AskSympraxis and mention @SympraxisC.