Note Templates
Start an activity's notes from a template: a built-in one, changed to suit you, or your own, shared with everyone in the Space.
Most writing tabs on an activity's page come with a template. A meeting's notes start with Discussion, Decisions and Next meeting, and a proposal's terms with Scope, Fees, Timeline and Conditions. Once you have found the shape that works for you, save it as a template of your own, and everyone in the Space can start from it.
Part of PrimeCRM
Note templates are part of the Pro tier, alongside the rest of PrimeCRM. To use them, upgrade from License Settings.
What you can do
Start a tab from a template
instead of a blank page
Add a template to writing already under way
without losing a word
Save your own
from any tab's writing, for one kind of activity or for every kind
Change a template
in the notes themselves, with the same editor you write in
Change or remove a built-in template
for your Space, and restore the original whenever you like
Bring templates over from another Space
in one go
How to open your templates
- On an activity's page: In its notes, click Template. The menu starts a tab from a template, saves a new one and opens Manage templates.
- Settings: Open Settings → PrimeCRM Settings, choose a Space under Select Space, then open the Note Templates tab to copy templates into it from another Space.
- Settings search: Open Settings and type CRM.
Using a template
Click Template on a tab and pick one. What happens depends on what is already there:
- An empty tab starts from the template. Choose Blank to start with nothing.
- A tab with writing gets the template added after it.
- While you are writing, the template goes in where your cursor is.
Either way you are left in the editor, so fill it in and click Save.
A template never replaces your writing
It only ever adds to what is there, so picking the wrong one costs nothing. Take out what you do not need before you save.
The menu lists the tab's Built-in template, or your Space's own version of it, and under Your templates the ones offered on that tab, each with who made it.
An email's Email tab and a LinkedIn message's Conversation tab hold the message itself, so they have no Template menu.
The built-in templates
| Tab | Starts with |
|---|---|
| A meeting's Notes | Discussion, Decisions, Next meeting |
| A meeting's Agenda | A numbered list |
| A call's Notes | Summary, Key points, Next step |
| An email's Notes | Context, Follow-up |
| A demo's Feedback | What landed, Questions raised, Concerns |
| A demo's Next steps | A checklist |
| A proposal's Terms | Scope, Fees, Timeline, Conditions |
| A completed task's Deliverables | A list |
| A LinkedIn activity's Notes | Why I reached out, Next step |
| Description and Additional notes | Summary, Outcome |
Saving your own
Write the notes the way you like them, on any tab with a Template menu.
Click Template, then Save as template….
Give it a name and choose where it is offered.
Check what it will add, then click Save template.
There are two choices for where a template is offered:
- Only on that type, such as Meetings only: in the Template menu on the same tab of that type of activity
- Every activity type: in the Template menu on every writing tab of every type
A template you save belongs to the Space. Everyone in it finds it in their Template menu, and it travels with the Space wherever the Space syncs, through File Sync, or iCloud Sync on macOS. A project with its own CRM uses the Space's templates too.
Managing templates
Click Template, then Manage templates. The window lists:
- Built in: the built-in templates of the kind of activity you opened it from. To change a call's built-in templates, open it from a call
- Offered here: your templates offered on the tab you came from
- More templates: the rest of the Space's templates
Each one shows a preview and where it is offered. Your own templates show who made them, and a built-in one shows whether it is the original or who changed it. Search finds templates by their name or by what they contain.
Changing a template
Click Edit on a template. It opens in the activity's notes, in place of the activity's own writing, so you change it at full size with the same editor you write notes in. Change its name and its writing and, for your own templates, where it is offered. Then click Save template, or press ⌘+S (or Ctrl+S).
What you save goes to the template, not to the activity you are on. Cancel asks before throwing away your changes. If someone changes or deletes the template while you are editing it, the notes tell you.
Your writing waits for you
If you were writing on the activity when you clicked Edit, that writing is kept on this computer. When you are done with the template, go back to its tab and choose Resume.
Deleting a template
Click Delete on one of your templates and confirm. It is removed from the Space's templates, for everyone.
Changing the built-in templates
Under Built in, you can:
- Edit a built-in template. Your version takes its place in the Template menu, for everyone in the Space
- Remove it from the Template menu
- Restore it. A changed template goes back to the original, and a removed one comes back to the menu
The original is never lost: a change to a built-in template applies in this Space, and the app always keeps the original.
Restoring deletes your Space's version
When you restore a built-in template you changed, your Space's version is deleted for everyone and the original comes back. PrimeTask asks before it does.
Who can change what
In a Space only you use, every template is yours to change. In a shared Space:
- A template can be changed or deleted by the person who made it, and by the Space's owner and admins
- A built-in template can be changed, removed or restored by the Space's owner and admins, and once someone has changed or removed it, by that person too
Point at the lock on a template you cannot change to see who can. See File Sync Collaboration.
Bringing templates from another Space
Open Settings → PrimeCRM Settings.
Under Select Space, choose the Space the templates should go into.
Open the Note Templates tab and pick the Space to copy from.
Check the list, which marks each template Copy or Skip, then click Copy.
Your own templates come across. A template whose name is already offered in the same place is skipped, so it is safe to copy again later. Changes a Space made to its built-in templates stay in that Space. Each copy stands on its own: changing it in one Space does not change the other.
Copying only adds
The Note Templates tab never renames, changes or deletes anything. To change or delete templates, use Manage templates on an activity's page.
If your Spaces are linked with Space Sharing Between Spaces, you can also share Note Templates there. A link keeps them flowing from one Space to the other, and it carries a Space's changes to its built-in templates too.
Things worth knowing
Notes already written stay as they are
A template is a starting point. Changing, deleting or restoring one never changes the notes already written with it.
Templates belong to the whole Space
Templates are not kept per project or per person. Everyone in the Space, and every project in it, shares one set.
Common questions
"I changed a built-in template. Can I get the original back?"
Yes. Open Manage templates from an activity of that kind and click Restore on the template. Your Space's version is deleted and the original comes back.
"Why can't I change a template?"
In a shared Space, a template can be changed by the person who made it and by the Space's owner and admins. A built-in template, as it comes, can be changed by the owner and admins. Point at the lock on the template to see who can.
"Why isn't my template in the Template menu?"
A template is offered where you chose when you saved it: on one tab of one kind of activity, or on every writing tab of every kind. Manage templates shows where each one is offered, and Edit lets you change it.
"Do my teammates see my templates?"
Yes. Templates belong to the Space, so everyone in it has them in their Template menu once the Space has synced.
"Can I use my templates in another Space?"
Yes. In Settings → PrimeCRM Settings, choose the other Space, open the Note Templates tab and copy them in.
Where to go next
| If you want to… | Read this |
|---|---|
| Write an activity's notes | Activity Page |
| Log activities and browse them all | Activities |
| Copy templates and set other CRM options per Space | PrimeCRM Settings |
| Write outreach messages from templates | Message Templates |
| Share a Space with your team | File Sync Collaboration |