Templates and Boilerplate

A template is the design of a book: its page size and margins, its fonts and heading styles, and the front and back matter that comes as standard. You pick one when you create a project, and you can change it later.

Changing the template

Open Project Settings → Template, then click Change Template and choose a new one. The design settings are replaced; your writing is not touched.

Beneath the button is a Sections list — every part the template supplies, each with a checkbox. Clearing one leaves that section out of your book. This is how you drop the parts of a standard structure you do not want, such as an acknowledgements page, without abandoning the template.

Boilerplate chapters

Chapters that come from the template are marked as boilerplate. They appear in the chapter list with their own icon, and they are managed by the template rather than by you.

Two switches in Local Settings → Chapter control this per chapter:

• Boilerplate — mark this chapter as template-supplied.
• Preserve in Template — keep this chapter when the template changes, instead of letting the new template replace it.

If the boilerplate clutters your view while you are writing, Tools → Boilerplate hides it from the chapter list.

Publishing your own template

Any project can become a template. This is worth doing if you produce a series, or if you run an imprint with a house style.

First switch it on: Project Settings → General → Template. A Template entry appears at the top of the chapter list.

On that page you give the template a Title and a Description — these are what other people see when choosing it — and click Publish. Inkwell renders a page of the book to produce the thumbnail shown in the template picker, so make sure the book is in a presentable state before you publish.

Publishing again updates the template.

Reusing template content

Chapters can also be pulled out of a template one at a time, without adopting the whole design: Insert → Import from Template in the chapter list. That is the quick route to a standard copyright page or a boilerplate disclaimer.