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Feature guide

Templates

Keep forms, emails, notifications, and document metadata consistent while letting designers update reusable content.

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Complete feature description

Understanding templates in UserTasks

Templates separate reusable design and content from the workflow or document that consumes it. UserTasks supports form templates, HTML email templates with plain-text fallbacks, user-task notification reuse, and typed document metadata templates.

Email templates store a subject, sanitized HTML body, and plain-text body. Workflow expressions are resolved at send time, so one design can support many tasks and processes. Every tenant receives an editable UserTasks default and designers can preview representative values safely before use.

Metadata templates define typed fields applied to folders or documents. Form templates go further by packaging an entire interactive schema, including components, rules, themes, translations, variables, and versions.

When to use this feature

  • Branding or wording should be consistent across workflows.
  • Designers need to update content without editing automation logic.
  • Documents require the same typed classification fields.
  • Several tasks or pages reuse the same structured form experience.

What you can build

  • Branded assignment and approval emails
  • Reusable task notification language
  • Standard request and review forms
  • Document classification schemas
  • Localized form experiences
  • Tenant-specific visual and communication standards

Production design notes

  • Keep template variables documented and provide fallbacks for optional values.
  • Use the plain-text email body for accessibility and in-app notification reuse.
  • Preview across realistic long and missing values.
  • Treat field IDs and metadata keys as stable contracts once workflows bind to them.

Core concepts

Email templates

Tenant-scoped subject, sanitized HTML, and plain-text content with workflow expressions and preview.

Notification reuse

User-task assignment notifications can use the same template subject and plain-text body.

Form templates

Reusable form schemas contain fields, layout, rules, variables, translations, themes, and versions.

Metadata templates

Typed document metadata schemas can be applied to folders, documents, and workflow actions.

Actions and capabilities

What designers and operators can do in this product area.

Templates actions

The main operations available in Templates.

Templates actions

Create email template

Author subject, HTML body, and optional plain-text fallback with {{variable}} expressions.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Create email template”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Templates actions

Preview email

Render the design safely with representative task values before using it.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Preview email”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Templates actions

Select in Send Email

Choose a template while keeping recipient, sender, and reply-to settings in the workflow node.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Select in Send Email”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Templates actions

Select in User Task

Use template subject and plain text for the assignment notification.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Select in User Task”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Templates actions

Edit tenant default

Customize the seeded UserTasks default without changing platform code.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Edit tenant default”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Templates actions

Apply metadata schema

Bind typed metadata fields to a folder or individual document.

Example: Create one branded approval email and select it in every User Task notification.
Configuration inputs
  • Permission to view and edit the relevant templates assets.
  • The target email, form, or metadata template and its variables or typed fields.
  • Any required mappings, recipients, filters, variables, permissions, or lifecycle settings shown by the designer.
How to use it
  1. 1.Open Templates from the main navigation.
  2. 2.Create or open the relevant asset and choose “Apply metadata schema”.
  3. 3.Complete the required fields, map dynamic values, and review access to every referenced asset.
  4. 4.Use preview, test, or validation where available; correct errors before publishing or executing.
  5. 5.Run the action and inspect its status, output, history, or audit record.
Expected results
  • Designers can reuse centrally maintained content without rebuilding it in every process.
  • Failures remain visible with enough context to correct configuration or retry safely.

Potential use cases

Patterns you can adapt to your own operating model.

Branded approval email

Keep every approval message on-brand while each workflow supplies task values.

Edit default HTML
Select in user task
Render variables
Notify assignee

Document classification

Require the same metadata for every document in a regulated folder.

Create metadata template
Apply to folder
Upload document
Validate values
Report by metadata