Drafts, publishing and versions
Publishing is a commitment. Editing a published template collects in a draft, and nothing built from the template changes until you publish and the work is updated.
Every template in the Builder works the same way: you edit freely until you publish, and after that your edits wait in a draft until you publish them. The same dialog publishes a plan template, an element template, a data block, a chart, a table, an infographic, a presentation or a project template.
Before it is published
A template you have never published is just a working copy. Change anything; it saves as you go. Nothing depends on it yet.
After it is published
A published template is something other people build on, so it stops changing under them. When you open it again:
- Names, descriptions and similar details save at once. They do not change what the template means.
- Everything else (fields, columns, the canvas, the structure) saves to a draft. The page shows that a draft is open, and Publish and Discard appear.
Nothing built from the template changes while the draft is open. Close the page and the draft is still there when you come back, for everyone who can edit the template.
Discard throws the draft away and shows the published template again. Nothing else is affected.
Publishing a draft
Publish shows you what would change, then lets you choose:
- The next version. The template becomes version 2, 3 and so on. For an element template or a data block this is the same item with a new version; for other templates it is a new version of the same template. Either way, work already built from an earlier version keeps that version until its owner chooses to update it.
- A new template. The draft becomes a separate template with a name you give it. The original stays as it is. A data block also asks for a variant.
Add a short note about the change if you like. It appears in the version history.
Plans, blocks and other work built from a template keep the version they were created with. Their owners see that a newer version is available and update when they are ready.
Why some changes need a new template
Some changes would break the work already built on the template, so they cannot be a new version. Changing the type of a field that already holds data is one; changing a block's name or variant, a chart's type, or a data table's data source are others. The Publish dialog lists exactly which changes are in the way, and offers A new template instead. You do not have to undo the change.
Built-in templates
Built-in templates are published and maintained by Insaplan, so you cannot change one. To adapt a built-in, duplicate it and edit your copy; the built-in is unchanged.
What a draft includes
A draft holds the template's content: its fields, layout and structure. A table's or a plan view's own style is part of the draft, and is published with it. A shared style from the library is not: a change to a shared style applies as soon as you make it, to every template that uses it.
A plan template's views are part of its version. Publishing the plan template publishes all of its views together, and each version remembers which view is the default.
Deleting
Deleting a template version closes any draft opened from it. Work already built from the template keeps working.