StartDeck
Customize and Brand Templates

Customize and Brand Templates #

Start at the Dashboard Template Library:

  1. Copy a template from the StartDeck library to My/Team Templates. If you are starting from scratch, start with the 'Blank' template. 
  2. Customize and brand your templates (remember to set the template status to Draft during edits)
  3. Copy customized and branded templates to My/Team Projects

Template and Project Ownership and Privacy

Templates copied from StartDeck to My/Team Templates and Projects are private to and owned by the Google account holder. Templates and projects reside on the owner's G Drive.

 

Tip & Tricks to Branding Reports

Format your templates to match your brand. We have intentionally used neutral colors so that simply adding your logo to the letterhead will identify the report under your brand and get you started with minimal editing. 

The basics include:

Setting up template description, tags for quick sorting, and default preview for the project page. Additional tasks include anonymizing document merge fields and sheet tables.

 

Describe and Tag Templates # 

To access your templates: StartDeck Dashboard > My/Team Templates

  1. Access template descriptions settings with the 'More' menu on the tile.
  2. Click the document icon to edit the template
  1. Enter a description for tile display. This is what users will see on the template page.
  2. Add Tags for fast sorting.
  3. Set the default preview file type icon for the Project page. 
  4. Set to Draft when templates are in development, this will prevent the template from displaying in the user's view of the templates page. When the template is no longer in use, it can be archived. 
     

Unlink Tables

When doc templates include linked sheets and tables, unlink each table and add instructions to copy/paste from the active project sheet. For example: 'replace with linked table'. This text should be immediately over or under the table in the document. Example below.

Tables are re-linked manually for new projects. (We're waiting on new Google Sheets API tools to automate this).

Include clear table instructions for the writer. 
Unlink tables when building templates

 

Anonymize Template Data

  • Doc:  Use sidebar forms to remove merge field data and set merge fields to default values. Most StartDeck merge fields will display the field name in brackets when there is no entry to the form field. Empty merge field example: [Vendor_First_Name]
  • Sheets: Remove sheet input variables and set values to zero where possible.
  • Sheets: Format tables to hide unused columns and rows.

 

Tip: If you have a series of templates that are closely related, consider setting up a master template. Apply your branding and styles to the master template, then make copies of this template for individual variations.

 

Stay Compliant

StartDeck is a centralized single source for templates - the ‘true north’ for your organization's report content. Be sure to update these documents for compliance regularly and remove obsolete templates.

Reminder: Review your Content Library for obsolete content.

 

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