Templates

Templates are saved collections of categories and elements that you can use when you create a new schedule. If your productions use the same categories, colors, cast numbering or element settings again and again, a template saves you from setting them up from scratch each time.

What’s in a Template

A template holds:

• Categories: Their names, colors, order and the breakdown field they’re linked to
• Elements: Their names, ID numbers and settings, such as Day Out of Days options, drop/pickup days, palette colors and linked elements

Templates don’t include breakdowns, boards, scenarios or calendars. They only set up your categories and elements.

The Templates Page

To see your templates, click “Templates” in the sidebar. The Templates page lists every template in your current project. Each template’s card shows how many categories and elements it contains.

The Templates page works just like the Schedules and Scripts pages:

• New: Create a new template
• Select: Turn on select mode to choose several templates. You can also use “Select All”.
• Duplicate: Make a copy of the selected templates
• Move: Move the selected templates to another project
• Pin and Archive: Pin your favorite templates, or archive the ones you no longer use
• Delete: Permanently delete the selected templates
• Archive view and card or list view toggles, plus a filter at the top right to search by name

You can also right-click a template’s card to manage, pin, archive or delete it. See Working with the Projects, Scripts, Schedules and Templates Pages for more about these features.

Creating a Template

There are two ways to create a template.

Save a Schedule as a Template

The easiest way is to start from a schedule you’ve already set up:

1. Go to the Schedules page
2. Right-click the schedule’s card and choose “Save as template”. You can also click “Select”, check one schedule, and click “Save as template” in the menu bar. Only one schedule can be saved as a template at a time.

Think Crew copies the schedule’s categories and elements into a new template called “New Template” and lets you know when it’s been saved. Rename it from the Templates page so it’s easy to find later.

Create a New Template

To start a template from the standard set of categories:

1. Go to the Templates page
2. Click “New”
3. Enter a name for the template. You can also add an optional description.
4. Click “Create”

The new template starts with Think Crew’s default categories and elements, ready for you to customize.

Note: You need to be online to create a template.

Editing a Template

Click a template’s card to open it. The template page has two tabs:

• Categories: Add, remove, rename, reorder and recolor categories, just as you would in the Category Manager
• Elements: Add, remove and edit elements and their settings, just as you would in the Element Manager

Changes are saved automatically. For more about working with categories and elements, see Managing Categories and Managing Elements.

To change a template’s name or description, right-click its card and choose “Manage template”.

Using a Template

To use a template, choose it when you create a new schedule:

1. Create a new schedule as usual
2. In the “Use template” list, click the template you want. Click it again, or click “Clear”, to go back to no template.
3. Finish creating the schedule

Archived templates don’t appear in this list. Templates can only be selected while you’re online.

When you use a template together with scripts, Think Crew combines the two:

• Categories from the template come first, in the template’s order, using the template’s names and colors. Categories that only exist in your scripts are added after them.
• Elements are matched by name, ignoring upper and lower case. When a script element matches a template element, it takes on the template’s ID number and settings. Elements that are only in the template are added too, and elements that only appear in your scripts are listed after the template’s elements.

For example, if your template lists “JOHN” as cast member 1 and your script has a character called “John”, John will be cast member 1 in the new schedule, with all of the settings from your template.

A template is copied into the schedule when the schedule is created. Changing the template later doesn’t change schedules you’ve already created from it.

Deleting a Template

To delete a template, right-click its card and choose “Delete template”, or select one or more templates and click “Delete” in the menu bar. Deleting a template doesn’t affect any schedules that were created from it.

Templates help you start every production with the categories, cast numbering and settings you already know work, so you can spend less time on setup and more time scheduling.