Publication templates let you create a "model" publication that can be used as a starting point for other publications. This is especially useful if you need to create many similar publications, as it reduces the amount of repeat work and helps to make your content more consistent.
When you create a new publication based on a publication template, it automatically contains:
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The same structure as the publication template.
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New topics based on the publication topic templates containing the same elements and content as the topic templates, but with unique IDs. You can edit them without affecting the template topics.
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Reused regular topics. If you make changes to these, those changes will affect the content wherever it is used, just like content reuse elsewhere in Paligo.
1 = Publication template, 2, 3, 4 = Publications that reuse the template.
The following example shows how publication templates work.
Let's say you have a range of products called "Acme 100", "Acme 200", and "Acme 300". You want all of these products to have user guides with this structure:
To ensure consistency, you create a publication template (1) used as the basis for other user guides that you can add content to and publish as PDF, HTML5 help centers and other outputs. Then you build the structure:
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Drag-and-drop regular topics for "Warranty" and "Customer Support" into the publication template structure.
When a new publication is created based on this publication template, the "Warranty" and "Customer Support" topics are added as reused topics in the template. Any changes you make to those will affect those topics wherever they are used.
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Add new template topics for "Introduction", "Quick Start", "Monitoring", "Controls", and "Troubleshooting".
When a new publication is created based on this publication template, there will be new topics created for "Introduction", "Quick Start", "Monitoring", "Controls", and "Troubleshooting" in each publication, each with unique IDs so that you can edit them independently.
When new user guides (2, 3, and 4) are created, they inherit the structure from the publication template. Paligo creates new publications, new topics, and link reused topics inside the publications so that their content matches the template.
1 = Publication template, 2, 3, 4 = Publications that reuse the template.
Before you create a publication template, we recommend that you read the Publication Templates article, to get familiar with the concept and expected result.
First, you create a publication template in the Templates section and then you build its structure with:
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Regular topics - see Create a Topic and About Reusing Content.
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Template topics created in the Structure View of the publication template, see Create a Publication Template.
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Template topics created outside the publication template, see Create a Topic Based on a Template
Note
You can create new topics in a publication template in the Contributor Editor's Edit View.
However, adding topics in Edit View will not result in Topic Templates. Instead, these become reused topics saved in your Contributions folder.
Topic templates can only be created from the Templates section in Content Manager or inside the Structure View of the publication template.
To create a publication template:
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Find the Templates section in the Content Manager.
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Select the dotted menu (...) for the Templates section and select Create Content.
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Enter the settings for the publication template:
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Enter a name
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Select the Publication option
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Add the Languages you want the template to support.
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Select OK to confirm.
Paligo creates your publication template and saves it in the Templates section of the Content Manager.
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Select the publication template in the Content Manager to open the Structure View.
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Select New topic to create a new template topic inside the publication template.
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Give the template a suitable name.
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Repeat step 6 and 7 until you have added all of the new topic templates that you want to include in the publication template.
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Drag-and-drop regular topics from the Content Manager into the publication template structure.
The topic is added, and when you base a new publication on this template, it will reuse the topic.
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Select Save.
Your template is now ready to be used as the basis for new "real" publications. To find out how to do that, see Create a New Publication Based on a Template.
If your Paligo instance contains Publication Templates, you can create a new publication that is based on one of those templates. When you create the publication, Paligo will:
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Create a new publication with the same structure as the template.
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Create new topics to match the topic templates containing the same elements and content as the topic templates, but with unique IDs. You can edit them without affecting the template topics.
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Reuse any regular topics that are in the publication template structure.
You can then work on the new topics and publications, adding and reusing content where needed, until it is ready to publish.
Important
When you create a publication based on a template, the new publication only matches the template structure and the template topics at the time of creation.
If the template is changed at a later date, those changes will not apply to publications that have already been created.
To create a publication that is based on a publication template:
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In the Content Manager, select the dotted menu (...) for the folder to contain the new publication and choose Create content.
If your content is not in a folder, select the Documents section at the top of the Content Manager instead. Documents is the top-level "parent" folder for any content that is not inside another folder.
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On the Create Content dialog:
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Enter a name for your new publication
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Select the Languages it should support
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Select From template to select the template that your new publication will be based on.
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Select OK to confirm your choices.
Paligo creates a new publication and topics in the selected folder. The publication's structure matches that of the publication template, and its forks link to the new topics and any reused "regular" topics.
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