QUICK TIP: How to Use Boilerplate Templates

Do you have products in your store that use the same basic product description layout? If you do, you can use this tip to create a boilerplate template to help you when adding new products to your store.

By creating “templates” for your products, you can use the template as a starting point each time you add a new product – just fill in the blanks of your template for each product. Not only will this save you time, it will also help you keep your product descriptions consistent, which makes it more user friendly for your customers.

Here’s how to do this.

Create a Boilerplate Template:

1. From your Shopify Dashboard, click on Products, then click the Add Product button
   
2. Create a Title for your template
   TIP: I recommend you give your template the name of “TEMPLATE – [descriptive name]”. See additional tip below for why this is helpful.
   
3. Add all the boilerplate text into the Description area that will be the same for every product in the category for which you are creating the template
   TIP: Include any formatting along with the standard text. See screenshot below for an example of this boilerplate text.
4. Add any text needed to the SEO description that you want to be the same for every product
5. Choose the Sales Channels, Product Type, Vendor, Collection, and Tags that you want to be the same for all products using this template
6. Set the product weights (if they are all going to be the same), inventory (if it’s going to be the same), and any other information that you always want to be the same
7. If your products in this category all have the same variations, set them up in the template
8. Click SAVE to save your template

To Use Your Boilerplate Template:

1. When you are ready to add a new product, open the template for that type of product
2. Click DUPLICATE to create a copy of your template that you can use to fill in your product information
   
3. Change the product Title and add any information to the item that is specific for just that one item (i.e., description details, price, inventory, etc.) – it’s like “filling in the blanks” of your template form
4. Click SAVE to save your product

Here’s a quick and easy way to find the templates you’ve created when you need them.

1. From your Shopify Dashboard, click on Products then on All Products
2. In the Search Products bar, type the word “Template”
   All products with this word in the title will appear.
   
3. Click the Save this Search button and give it a name of “Templates”
   When you need to use a template, all you have to do now is go to the Products, All Products page and click on the Templates tab at the top of the window. Just choose the template you want to use, and follow the steps above for creating a product listing.
   TIP: If you use your Templates a lot, I recommend you save the search screen to your browsers Favorites bar, then you will just have to click on that button to get to your templates when you need them.