Manage default templates & themes

Supported editions for this feature: Business Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Plus  Compare your edition

You can upload, view, sync, replace, and delete default templates and themes in the Google Admin console for Google Slides, Forms, and Sites.

You can manage default templates and themes only after you’ve activated organization branding. For details, go to Activate organization branding features.

Note: If your organization’s sharing policies don’t let users share documents with users outside of their organizational unit, this can affect an admin’s ability to upload templates and themes and the user’s ability to access templates and themes.

Service accounts

A service account is a special type of account that Google creates that is typically used by an application rather than a person. Slides, Forms, and Sites authenticate as a service account in order to upload default templates and themes to the shared drive. If you have a customer merge, this results in more than one organizational branding account, but only one is used. For details, go to What are service accounts?

Manage default templates & themes

Before you begin: To apply the setting for certain users, put their accounts in an organizational unit (to set by department) or a configuration group (to set for users across or within departments).

Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more

Upload a default template or theme

To upload a default theme or template, you must have both edit access to the document and the ability to share to the organization branding service account.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsTemplates.

   Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.

3. (Optional)  To apply the setting to everyone, leave the top organizational unit selected. Otherwise, select a child organizational unit or a configuration group. Learn more about the organizational structure.
4. To upload a default template, click Add default template. Or to upload a default theme, click Add default theme.
5. Select the required file.
6. Click Save.

View source & published documents

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsTemplates.

   Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.

3. (Optional) To apply the setting to everyone, leave the top organizational unit selected. Otherwise, select a child organizational unit or a configuration group. Learn more about organizational structure.
4. Click More View source document or View published template.
   The source document or published template is displayed.

Sync templates

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsTemplates.

   Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.

3. (Optional)To apply the setting to everyone, leave the top organizational unit selected. Otherwise, select a child organizational unit or a configuration group. Learn more about organizational structure.
4. Click More Sync.
   Sync is available only if there is a difference between the source document and the published document.
5. Click Save.

Replace a template or theme

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsTemplates.

   Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.

3. (Optional) To apply the setting to everyone, leave the top organizational unit selected. Otherwise, select a child organizational unit or a configuration group. Learn more about organizational structure.
4. Under the default template or theme, click Replace.
5. Select the required file and click Upload.
6. Click Save.

Delete a template

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  AppsGoogle WorkspaceDrive and DocsTemplates.

   Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.

3. (Optional) To apply the setting to everyone, leave the top organizational unit selected. Otherwise, select a child organizational unit or a configuration group. Learn more about organizational structure.
4. Under the default template or theme, click Delete Continue.
5. Click Save.

Related topics

• What are default templates & themes?
• Activate organization branding features