Cannot Create Templates

[JamesW]

I cannot create templates in Google workspace... Docs, Sheets and others. When I go to template gallery, there is no organization. I cannot submit any new documents for templates. I don't know what I am going wrong.

I am new to being a workspace admin. Your help is most appreciated.

[Charlotte]

Hi James, I must admit I don't know much myself but have you by any chance going through Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > templates and enabled a few things there? Documented at https://support.google.com/a/answer/3055325?hl=en. If you enable it, it should allow you to create a custom template rather than just using what is generally available in the template section. Now I will say this article does say that the person who can deal with those settings is the admin with Drive and Docs privilege so do ensure you have that (what the privilege is: https://support.google.com/a/answer/1219251#drive&zippy=%2Cdrive-docs). 
Feel free to let me know if that helps or not. 

[JamesW]

Thanks for replying, but when I go to that location, "templates" is simply not there. You did help me find where to assign roles, but I was already set as a super admin.

I think the issue may be that I am the only user, but I'm not sure. I still can't submit any custom templates.

[Charlotte]

I know there are different types of admins so it is possible to be an admin without Drive and Docs privileges for example. But it sounds like you are saying you are the admin of the entire organization and you have a supported Workspace edition as well? Because you are the admin of the entire organization, have you tried the one-on-one support option available for admins at https://support.google.com/a/answer/1047213?hl=en? 

[HestiaLIVING]

My account has super admin access and templates are not available. I have spent hours googling this. As a "just incase" I added the user to the service admin rights. Still no access to templates following: https://support.google.com/a/answer/3055325?hl=en

Additionally, when in docs, I have no ability to create a template for a company letterhead.

[Jan-Carlos]

Maybe it's because you have business starter:

[Caldwell]

Thank Jan-Carlos, I couldn't find anything saying I needed to upgrade from Business Starter in order to get custom templates until I saw your post here.

[Kishore-Mandyam]

I have the same problem: I don't see "Templates" under Drive and Docs, to enable. And I am a SuperAdmin. And we have G Suite Basic, which is a supported edition. So the same problem as @JamesW . One other point: the link to enable Templates gives me a helpful "400. That's an error." Any other suggestions? All help appreciated!

[Charlotte]

(I just saw your comment now, Kishore-Mandyam.) Is your issue still persisting for you or has it been fixed since June? 

[Kishore-Mandyam]

@Charlotte yes, my issue persists. There is no Templates option under Drive and Docs, to enable. And if I try the link directly (like this: https://admin.google.com/ac/appsettings/<some ID>/docstemplates?rapt=<some strng>), I get the helpful message "

400. That’s an error.

The server cannot process the request because it is malformed. It should not be retried. That’s all we know."

☹️

[Charlotte]

Hi @Kishore-Mandyam , sorry for taking so long to reply back to you. I am going to see what I can find out for you concerning this. 

And just to reconfirm, you are the superadmin with Drive/Docs administrator privileges (https://support.google.com/a/answer/1219251#drive_and_docs&zippy=%2Cdrive-docs)? The reason I am reconfirming is because I believe it is possible to have superadmins who don't have all of the privileges that the full Workspace admin might have. 

[Kishore-Mandyam]

Yes, I am the Superadmin. Thank you for following up!

[Charlotte]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I did ask some colleagues of mine and they wondered if some features are being discontinued because the G Suite legacy versions are supposed to be discontinued and switched over to completely paid Workspace versions (or Workspace nonprofit which is free I believe). 

[Josef_K]

I've wasted too much time on this already. The templating feature has been removed in the G Suite transition and is not included in the small Google Workspace package. This is from Google Support:

I would like to inform you that the "business starter" workspace edition does not have a "custom template" option. You need to upgrade at least to the "business standard" edition. You can refer to the below article : https://support.google.com/a/answer/6043385?hl=en( refer under drive and docs editors).

So double the price to keep the essential templating functionality in Google Docs. Even one-man freelancers need templates. It have made Google Docs almost unusable for us. I don't know what essential functionality Google is removing next? Email signatures would be in the same line I guess.

[Charlotte]

Thought I had already replied here but apparently it doesn't show. But I was going to say thank you for sharing that! Too bad for the folks who have so much use out of the custom templates. 

[Josef_K]

Maybe there is another way, a bit convoluted but just for completeness. I just found out about a new, to me, free workspace product: Google Workspace Essentials Starter. It's a workspace account with a non-Google email. And according to Create document templates:

Supported editions for this feature: Business Standard and Business Plus; Enterprise; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus; Nonprofits; G Suite Basic and G Suite Business; Essentials.

Custom templates is supported on Essentials. So we could host our custom domain email elsewhere and sign up for Google Workspace Essentials and get the custom template functionality. It appears that custom templates is only missing on Gmail free accounts and Google Workspace Business Starter.

I think the same scenario exist for appointment schedules:

Business Starter accounts don’t have access to appointment schedules.

I'm very curious about the thought process that led to this functionality grouping. Hopefully it will stabilize in the future 🤞

[Charlotte]

I never knew there was an Essentials and an Essentials Starter! I see thanks to the article you posted that Essentials is no longer available for new customers. And am I still right in thinking Business Starter is in fact different than Essentials Starter?

[Josef_K]

• Business Starter is a paid product with a custom domain and less features.
• The Essential Starter is a free product for companies with their own mail hosting. So like Business Starter with more features but no custom domain.

So yes they are different.