What the Custom Templates library is
The Custom Templates library is a single place to keep your organization's reusable project blueprints. Once a project is saved as a template, any admin on your account (within their permissions) can spin up a new project from it in a couple of clicks — no copy-pasting, no rebuilding from scratch, no hunting through old projects to find "the one we used last time."
Typical uses:
A standard public comment page format used by every department.
An annual budget survey re-run each fiscal year.
A boilerplate construction-project page with your branding, contact block, and standard questions already in place.
A meeting registration project with your standard speaker rules and reminders pre-set.
Where to find Custom Templates
Custom Templates only shows up for accounts that have the Custom Templates feature enabled on their plan. If it's enabled, you'll see it in three places:
Left sidebar: Click Custom Templates (the book icon, just under Email & SMS).
Settings → Custom Templates: Open Settings from the sidebar, then choose the Custom Templates tab.
New Project chooser: When you create a new project and pick Start from a Template, the Manage Custom Templates link in the top-right of the template picker opens the library.
Don't see Custom Templates anywhere? It isn't enabled by default on every plan — reach out to your account manager or PublicInput support to turn it on.
Creating a new template from an existing project
Templates are made from real projects, so the easiest path is to build the project you want once — exactly the way you'd like every future copy to start — and then save it to the library.
Open the project you want to use as a template.
Go to the project's Settings tab.
Click Copy to Template (next to Copy to a New Project).
If your account uses departments, pick the destination department for the new template, then click Copy.
PublicInput creates a new copy of the project, marks it as a template, and the new template appears in your Custom Templates list. The original project is untouched and continues to operate normally.
Tip: The original project doesn't have to be "finished" or published. Many teams build a project specifically to serve as a template — naming it something like "[TEMPLATE] Standard Public Comment Page" makes it easier to recognize later.
Using a template to start a new project
From the Custom Templates page:
Find the template you want in the table. Use the search box (by name) and the department filter to narrow the list.
Click the blue Use button on that row.
Give the new project a name. If you can manage more than one department, choose where the new project should live.
Click Create Project. PublicInput copies the template into a new project and drops you into it, ready to edit.
You can also start from a template through the standard + Create New flow — pick Start from a Template in the chooser and follow the same prompts.
Managing your template library
The Custom Templates page is built around a table of every template in your library. From there you can:
Search by template name.
Filter by department (when you manage more than one).
Sort by Name, Department, Created date, or Active status by clicking the column headers.
Show / hide inactive templates using the Show Inactive toggle above the table.
Activate or deactivate a template using the per-row toggle in the Active column. Inactive templates stay in the library but are hidden from the New Project chooser — handy when a template is being revised or retired.
Remove a template entirely with the red Remove button. This removes the project from the template library but does not delete the underlying project — it just stops being a template. Projects already created from that template are completely unaffected.
How templates work with departments
Custom Templates respects your account's department structure. What each admin sees is automatically scoped to the departments they're allowed to manage.
Account-wide admins
If you have access across the whole organization, you see every template in the library. You can filter by department to focus on one team's templates, but the unfiltered view shows them all. You can create a new project from any template, into any department you manage.
Department-only admins
If your account is scoped to specific departments, Custom Templates automatically narrows itself to just those departments. You'll see only templates that belong to a department you can manage, and Use will only let you create the new project inside a department you're allowed to manage.
What department does a new template belong to?
When you create a template with Copy to Template, the destination department you pick in the dialog is the department it's filed under. If you don't see a department picker, your account only uses a single department and everything lives there.
Cross-department use
A template's department mostly affects who sees it and how it's organized — it doesn't lock the template to that department. Account-wide admins can pick any department they manage when creating a new project from any template. Department-only admins can only create the new project inside a department they're allowed to manage, even if the template itself is filed elsewhere.
Permissions required
Custom Templates is an admin feature. Here's exactly what's needed for each action:
Plan / feature: Your account must have Custom Templates enabled on its plan. Without it, the sidebar link, the Settings tab, and the Start from a Template chooser option are hidden.
Open the Custom Templates page: You must be an admin on the customer account. Department-only admins can open the page; their view is automatically scoped to their departments.
Copy a project to a template: You need at least Editor permission on the source project. If your account uses departments, you must also be allowed to manage the destination department.
Create a new project from a template: Standard project-creation permissions apply. Department-only admins can only create the new project inside a department they manage.
Activate / deactivate or remove a template: Admin access to the template's department. Account-wide admins can manage every template; department-only admins can only manage templates in their own departments.
If a teammate can't see Custom Templates and you expect them to, check (in this order): the feature is enabled on your plan, they have admin access on the account, and — if you use departments — they're assigned to the right department(s).
Frequently asked questions
What gets copied when I use a template?
Everything that makes the project look and behave the way it does — branded styling, content sections, questions, settings, and structure. Responses and reports from the original project are not copied; new projects start fresh.
If I update the template later, do existing projects update too?
No. A template is a snapshot at the moment you create a new project from it. Updating the template only affects projects created from it after the change.
What happens to a template if I delete the underlying project?
Deleting the project also removes it from the template library. To take a template out of circulation without deleting anything, use Remove on the Custom Templates page, or just mark it inactive.
Can I share templates with another organization on PublicInput?
Not from the Custom Templates page itself. Account-to-account sharing is a separate workflow — reach out to PublicInput support if that's something your organization needs.
Why doesn't a teammate see the Custom Templates link?
Most often: the feature isn't enabled on the plan, the teammate isn't a full admin, or department permissions are scoping their view. See Permissions required above.