Templates

Every template type shares a common set of settings. Learn these once and they apply to process, workflow, document, message, form, ledger, worklist, and contact templates alike.

Applies to

The kind of parent record this template’s records may attach to. For example, a contact template that applies to Organization can only create contacts on organizations.

Repeatable

How many records from this template a single parent may have.

Setting	Value	Rule	Example
One	0	Exactly one per parent, ever	One cost ledger per process
One active	1	One active record per parent at a time	One open request per customer
Many	2	Any number per parent	Many contacts on an organization

Active means the record’s status isn’t a final status. When it reaches a final status (for example, Closed), a new one can be created.

What happens when someone saves “one more”

When a record is saved from a template under a parent that already has one, QBO applies the rule before inserting anything:

• One / One active: if a qualifying record already exists, QBO updates that record with the new values instead of creating a duplicate.
• Many: a new record is created every time.

This applies no matter where the save comes from — a person, a workflow step, an import, or the API (for example, a web form). If you want every request to start its own record, use Many; if repeat requests should land on the open record, use One active.

Custom statuses and types

When enabled, the list of statuses (or types) available to a record comes from its template rather than from the record type as a whole. This lets two templates of the same kind — say, two different case templates — each have their own status list.

Extranet

Whether records created from this template take part in partner (extranet) row-level security:

Setting	Effect
None	No partner access is created for these records.
Self	Partners get access to the record itself.
Family	Partners get access to the record and the records beneath it.
Template	Access follows access to the template: anyone permitted on the template can see its records, with no per-record grant needed.