Templates

Templates let you save time and ensure consistency by reusing logic, layouts, or designs across projects and workspaces. They’re especially useful for:

  • Starting new canvases with a consistent structure (dashboards, reports, frameworks)
  • Sharing reusable elements like control panels, KPIs, or analysis frameworks
  • Standardising styling and workflows across a team

There are two types of templates:

  • Custom templates – templates you and your team create, either scoped to a project or the whole workspace.
  • Built-in templates – provided by Count, including:
    • Getting started guides
    • Example canvases (with data)
    • KPI/metric cards
    • Presentation layouts
    • Visualization examples

Creating a template

You can create a template from either an entire canvas or just a selection of objects.

  • From a whole canvas → click Save as template in the design sidebar (when no objects are selected) or from the File menu.
  • From a selection of objects → select the objects, then click Save as template in the design sidebar.

In both cases you’ll see the Save as template dialog where you can configure:

  • Template name – the display title of the template
  • Description – optional notes for clarity
  • Project vs Workspace – share only in the current project, or make available to the whole workspace
  • Preview area – choose which part of the canvas is shown in thumbnails
  • Upload image – add a custom thumbnail
The template dialog options.
The template dialog options.

These properties can also be updated later after the template has been created.

When you save a template, a new “Template” canvas is created in the same project as your original canvas. It will appear in the project sidebar with a Template badge next to the name.

Editing templates

Templates are just canvases. Open a template and edit it like any other canvas: move objects, adjust logic, update visuals.

Key differences:

  • Alerts cannot be added to templates.
  • Changes are unpublished by default – edits are saved continuously, but other canvases won’t see them until you click Update template.

Updating a template publishes a new version. Old versions remain available in version history.

Updating an existing Template
Updating an existing Template

Using templates

There are two main ways to use templates:

  1. Insert a template into an existing canvas
    • Click Add template in the corner of a canvas.
    • Browse your workspace’s custom templates or built-in Count templates.
    • Use template to insert it directly, or Preview first.
  1. Create a new canvas from a template
    • Right-click a template on the project home page and select Create canvas from template.
    • Or, if pinned, pick it from the pinned shortcuts in your project.

When you insert a template:

  • Shared styles are copied.
  • Cells with duplicate names are renamed.
  • Images and CSVs are copied.
  • Overviews are copied.
  • Database connections you don’t have access to will error.