Tired of starting from the scratch and void every time? Tired of starting from the last vaguely related document with all the superfluous information in it? Find out here how to set up any file to act as a template on a Mac instead.
First, Riveting and Reaching
6 lanes reach across a foggy bay for 6,500 feet (2000 meters) suspended from 2 twisted cables secured on 2 massive steel-and-concrete towers for the visibly orange Golden Gate Bridge.
Each tower was erected with some 600.000–1.000.000 (and probably more) rivets holding it together. If we assume around 2 in (5 cm) per rivet, they alone should span the bay some 25 times.
That calculation (and, in all practicality, the construction) only works if the rivets are not all different, of course. Instead, they will have followed a template pretty much to a ’t’, just like templates do in macOS Finder:
How to Use a Document as a Template on a Mac
Time needed: 1 minute
To set up any file on your Mac as a document template with macOS Finder:
- Open the folder that holds the document in Finder.
Here’s how: You can use Spotlight, of course, or employ a keyboard shortcut in Finder to go to the folder.
- Click on the document you want to use as a template with the right mouse button.
Tapping is clicking: Tapping with two fingers on a trackpad will act as a right click, for example.
iWork: With iWork, you can set up document templates in Pages and Numbers themselves in addition to using file templates in Finder. - Select Get Info from the menu that has appeared.
Menu bar: With the file highlighted, you can also select File | Get Info from the menu bar, of course.
Mac keyboard shortcut: You can also press Command I to open the information window.
- Expand the General section.
- Check Stationery pad.
- Close the file information window.
Here’s how templates work: Now, when you open the file, Finder will create a copy and open that in the application.
Only Finder: Note that the stationery flag only applies to Finder. If you open a template file from Terminal (e.g., a text file in Vim), you will still be able to change the original template.
Lock it: You can also lock the file, of course, to prevent accidental changes to the file or its deletion.
How to Use a Document as a Template on a Mac: FAQ
How can I edit the template file?
To make changes to the original template document (instead of a copy):
- Uncheck Stationery pad in the file’s information window in Finder; see above.
Keep it open: The change will apply immediately; you can leave the information window open. - Open, edit and save the original file.
- Check Stationery pad again if you wish to continue using the file as a template.
Can I overwrite the original to update the template?
Yes and no.
Applying some blunt force, you can also overwrite the template if you save the copy under the original file name.
No longer a template: Note that this will remove the Stationery pad flag from the file.
Can I turn a folder into a template?
No.
You cannot set up a Mac to create a copy of a folder when you open it.
To create a folder template:
- Set up a locked folder and duplicate it (clicking on it with the right mouse button and deleting Duplicate from the menu).
Locked: You will have to unlock the copy when you duplicate a locked folder. - More simply, compress the folder to a locked ZIP file.
Here’s how this works: When you unzip the file, you will get a new copy of the original folder and files every time.
(How to use a document as a template on a Mac tested with macOS Sonoma 14.5; first published June 2024)