The Template Builder is an in-app editor for creating and managing Templates. It provides a grid view for editing fields directly, a Gantt view for visualising and managing dependencies, validation before a template is used on a live Project, and version history for saving and restoring snapshots.

The Template Builder is a BETA feature. The existing CSV upload and download workflow remains fully available and unaffected - both approaches work with the same Templates, and you can switch between them at any time.

Opening the Builder

The Template Builder is accessed from the Open in Builder button on a Template record page. This button is only available on the record page itself - it is not surfaced from the Templates list view.

Access to the Builder follows the same record-level permissions as the Template record. If you don't have edit access to a Template, you won't be able to make changes via the Builder.

Grid View

The grid view is the default view when you open the Builder. Each row represents a Task in the template, and each column represents a field.

To edit a field, click the cell and enter a new value. Reference fields - such as Role or Stage - show a dropdown of valid existing values, and only validated entries are accepted for these fields.

Editing a cell marks the template as having unsaved changes. If you try to navigate away from the Builder with unsaved changes, you'll be asked to confirm whether to discard them.

To copy a value across multiple rows, hover over a cell to reveal the Fill Handle at its bottom-right corner. Drag the Fill Handle down to copy the value into the rows below, or double-click it to auto-fill down to the last populated row in the column.

Columns that aren't recognised by the Builder's column classification are visually highlighted, so you can spot unexpected or custom columns at a glance.

Adding and Removing Task Rows

• To add a new task, click Add Row in the toolbar. A new empty row is appended to the bottom of the grid.
• To delete tasks, select one or more rows and click Delete Rows. The selected rows are removed and the change is tracked as unsaved.
• To reorder tasks, drag a row by its row handle and drop it at the new position. Multi-row drag-and-drop is supported, with a position indicator shown during the drag.

Adding Columns

Click Add Column to open a searchable picker with two sections: Template Columns and Task Fields. Select a column from either section to add it to the grid.

Template Columns carry specific logic and behaviour in the Builder:

Column	Behaviour
Checklist	Multi-line textarea cell type
Start Date / End Date	Three-mode date expression editor: fixed date, relative (TODAY+N), or a Phase field reference with an optional day offset
Predecessor Reference	Reference resolved against the current template or any Related Templates you've added
Role Set	Five sets of Role, Planned Hours, and Reference columns, supporting up to five Task Contributors per task
Shared Notes	Multi-line textarea cell type
Internal Only, Lead/Lag (Days), List Index, Milestone, Task Category	Standard editable columns

Fields that use semicolon- or hash-separated values (such as Skills) display as pill tags within their cells.

The Date Expression Editor

Start Date and End Date columns use a three-mode editor, selected within the cell itself:

1. Fixed date - a specific calendar date
2. Relative (TODAY+N) - a number of days offset from today
3. Phase field reference - a date field on the Phase, with an optional day offset

Gantt View

Switch to the Gantt tab to see your template's tasks as a visual timeline. The Gantt is fully interactive, not a read-only preview - tasks belonging to the current template can be edited directly here.

• Drag a task bar to adjust its dates, or resize it to change duration. Changes sync back to the grid automatically.
• Drag from one task bar to another to create a dependency. The dependency is added to the target task's Predecessor Dependencies in the grid.
• Delete a dependency link directly in the Gantt to remove it from the grid.
• If you drag a task that already has a predecessor dependency, the lead/lag value on that dependency updates rather than the task's start date - and the new lead/lag is reflected in the grid.

External dependencies - references that point outside the templates currently loaded - are visually distinguished from resolved ones.

Related Templates

Click Related Templates to load other templates into context. This enables cross-template lookups for Parent Reference and Predecessor Dependencies, and List Name lookups from a List Template.

You can add:

• One or more Task Templates - their Reference column values become available for Parent Reference and Predecessor Dependencies lookups
• One List Template - its Name column values populate the List Name dropdown

Once Related Templates are configured, Parent Reference and Predecessor Dependencies fields show a grouped dropdown with two sections - This Template and Related Task Templates - plus a Fixed Value option for free-text entry.

In the Gantt view, you can choose to preview one or more Related Templates alongside the current one. Related template tasks appear read-only, with a diagonal stripe pattern to distinguish them from the current template's own tasks.

Validating a Template

Click Validate to run a dry-run simulation of the template before it's used on a live Project. Validation saves any unsaved changes first - if that save fails, you'll be asked whether to validate against the last saved state or cancel and resolve the issue.

The validation process checks that all task references are unique, creates a temporary test Project, Phase, and List, and attempts to insert the parsed tasks - including Role assignments, checklist items, and skill requirements. No data is persisted; everything is rolled back at the end of the simulation.

If validation completes without errors, you'll see a success confirmation. If it encounters a problem, a descriptive error message identifies the failure so you can fix it before applying the template to a real Project.

Saving and Version History

Save your changes at any time using the Save button. Each save creates a new entry in Version History with a timestamp, and you can optionally add a description before saving to make it easier to identify later.

To restore a prior version:

1. Open the Version History panel from the Builder toolbar.
2. Select a previous version from the timestamped list, ordered most recent first.
3. Click Restore.

Restoring loads that version's data back into the grid as a new unsaved change. You'll need to click Save again to make the restored state the current version - restoring alone does not overwrite anything until you save.

There is no limit on how many versions are retained.

Things to know

• The Template Builder is currently in BETA.
• The existing CSV upload and download workflow is unaffected and remains available at any time, regardless of whether you've used the Builder.
• Changes made in the Builder are not visible until saved - use Validate before applying a template to a live Project to catch issues early.
• Related Templates are stored per Task Template, so once configured, they're available the next time you open that template in the Builder.

Related Resources

• Task Templates
• Creating Dependencies in Task Templates