This article is for administrators who manage Drive and Docs editors for an organization. For help managing your own files, go to the Learning Center.
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, see 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 both 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, see What are service accounts?
Manage default templates & themes
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
Changes can take up to 24 hours but typically happen more quickly. Learn more
Upload a default template or theme-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Templates.
Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
Learn more about the organizational structure. - To upload a default template, click Add default template. Or to upload a default theme, click Add default theme.
- Select the required file.
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Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
Learn more about organizational structure. - Click More
View source document or View published template. The source document or published template is displayed.
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
Learn more about organizational structure. - Click More
-
Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
Learn more about organizational structure. - Under the default template or theme, click Replace.
- Select the required file and click Upload.
-
Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).
Before you begin: If needed, learn how to apply the setting to a department or group.
-
Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.
If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.
-
Go to Menu
Requires having the Drive and Docs administrator privilege.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced). Show me how
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
Learn more about organizational structure. - Under the default template or theme, click Delete
-
Click Save. Or, you might click Override for an organizational unit.
To later restore the inherited value, click Inherit (or Unset for a group).
