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I have a template, which I think may be also called a workflow (some clarification on this would be good).

I want to copy it so I can make a similar template.

I can click the template name in the editor (workflow editor??) and there is a Copy Workflow option... and then what. It doesn't seem to do anything except say 'copied'. There doesn't seem to be any way to paste it anywhere, and it doesn't create a new template identical to the existing one (which would be the preferred option). It just disappears into a black hole.

I can't see anything in the documentation on this. Maybe I"m missing something really obvious, but this particular thing is not at all intuitive. What I really want is a copy template function, but there doesn't seem to be one of those.

So then I even tried sharing a workflow using the online function, and renaming the existing workflow and then downloading the original workflow to create a copy that way. But even though the workflow appeared on a website, and I clicked the install button, and it said it had added the workflow... but nothing happened. No new template, no new workflow, just nothing happening.

It seems that template and workflow are synonymous, which is unnecessarily confusing. It also seems the installing templates from the website is broken too.

I tried downloading this workflow

http://www.editorial-workflows.com/workflow/5248159185895424/K8u6w6ZPJZQ

Again, nothing happened at all. It asked me if I wanted to Add Workflow, and then... nothing. No new template or preset, nothing.

http://omz-software.com/editorial/docs/ios_workflows/index.html The docs are quite clear that these things are Workflows. Perhaps you will be less confused how this software works if you remove the word template from your vocabulary. Are you looking under the wrench icon for new or copied workflows?

The docs may be clear, but in the apps interface they are called Document Templates. The screen where you run them calls them templates. To get to the 'workflow' editor (if that is what it's called), you select 'Edit Template'. At every step of the way, they are called templates, except when you want to share or copy them, and suddenly they are called Workflows (something I've only just learned in the last hour, when I tried to do this for the first time).

So there are 2 different names for the same thing (maybe, I"m still not convinced)

The fact that the documentation, and one of the menus refers to them as Workflows, when the app itself begins by calling them Templates, is just weird.

I've never used the wrench icon. I don't know how I could have known they would be there.

I don't see what good they do me there. I would have to create a blank document first to get access to the spanner menu, which is just an extra step and creates an unnecessary extra document.

So I guess I actually am after a 'copy template' option, which it appears doesn't exist. It also doesn't seem possible to turn a workflow into a template, unless that is hidden somewhere else.

There is almost no documentation on Templates at all. It is possible to essentially turn them off, which may be why there is some confusion as to what we are actually talking about here. If you're used to creating a new blank document and then running workflows from there, then that's a totally different approach to what I'm trying to do here.

I'm all but certain there is no way to copy a template. Nor does there seem to be a way to paste a workflow into a template (either would do).

So I had to save the individual steps as presets (the ones that I wanted to copy over) and then create a new workflow one step at a time - adding the presets in order.

It's not quite as tedious as it sounds, and at least the option is there. Workflow (the app) doesn't allow you to copy actions at all, which is a major reason why I"m transition to Editorial. I'm sick of rebuilding the same functionality over and over.

Copy the workflow that you want as your template the hit the + button for making a new workflow. You should see an option that say From clipboard.

Neither the new template nor the new workflow buttons offer to create a template/workflow from the copied workflow.

This worked for me.
1. Create a new template by tapping "new template" . Let the name be "my template 3".
2. Copy the workflow ( tapping the title and tapping copy workflow)
- copies a URL scheme to clipboard
3. Rename the template " my template 3 old"
4. In safari, paste this in address bar and open(the URL scheme will be copied and it will open the editorial and create the template "my workflow 3")

Direct copy and paste should have worked for templates. This seems to be a bug. Here are some more notes. ( I rarely use editorial and some of the observations may not be right.)
1. You can think of templates as document creation workflows. Thiese workflows are executed when you create documents and they are listed separately from the normal workflows ( workflows created using wrench menu). But from the point of view of functionality they are the same as normal workflows. Default template workflow is to create a document and open it in editor.

1. You can create a workflow in wrench menu, copy to clipboard and paste in template. Copy command copies a URL scheme to clipboard. Installing a workflow basically run this URL scheme in safari.

@CascadeHush If we're talking about templating blocks of functionality from within workflows, then yes, presets work nicely— something I only discovered myself recently. In order to set a whole sequence of workflow steps as a preset, I've sometimes used "if" blocks as wrappers/containers. Put the steps you want to keep as a reusable block in an "if" block, set that as your preset, then unpack them in your new workflow when needed.

Almost forgot: "sub-workflow" might also be helpful in this context?

@omz, can you look at this bug?

1. If you copy the workflow from wrench menu workflows, and then edit a template workflow, paste appears and you can copy it by tapping on it.

2. But if you copy the workflow from template workflow and then edit another template workflow, paste does not appear and hence you can not copy it. Paste appears and you can do the copying if you do the following:: copy clipboard content to a text file, replace the "add-template" to "add-workflow" and then copy to clipboard.

@CascadeHush Here are the relevant portion of the documents about "document templates".

From the url http://omz-software.com/editorial/

Document Templates
Tired of copying and pasting boilerplate text? Simply create a template, so you don't have to start from scratch every time you create a new document.

Templates are full-fledged workflows, so they can include variables, e.g. the current date/time or clipboard. You can even make templates that are based on Python scripts for a maximum of flexibility.

From the url
http://omz-software.com/editorial/docs/ios/editorial_using.html#managing-files

Creating and Managing Files
...
When you tap the + button, the template picker is shown, and you can select the type of document you’d like to create. The document templates are all empty by default, but you can easily create your own templates by tapping “New Template” at the bottom of the picker.

Templates can be useful for creating documents that have a fixed format, e.g. report cards, but Editorial’s template system is actually much more powerful than that. Each template is a complete workflow that can include custom logic or even UI that is shown before or after the document is created. For example, if you prefer to enter a filename before a document is created, you can easily do this by adding a Request Text Input action before the Create Document action (which is included by default in a template workflow).

@enceladus said:

This worked for me.

Thanks

Here's what I ended up doing, based on your info.

1 Open the template you want to copy.
2 Copy the workflow ( tapping the title and tapping copy workflow)
3 Rename the existing template to something new (this will be the new copy)
4 In safari, paste into the address bar (this is what was copied in step 2) and open the URL which will give you the original template back

I think that makes it a bit more clear what is what, for anyone who may come along in the future.

That's some pretty crazy stuff, when all we need is a copy template button, but at least I can do it.

Thanks again.

@jsamlarose47

Wrapping in an if block might have been easier, I didn't think of that.

@CascadeHush you can write a workflow to modify the clipboard content after copying from template wporkflow. This will reduce the steps till @omz fixes the bug.

enceladus' explanation about templates is completely correct. They're essentially the same as workflows.

I'm not sure right now why there is no "Paste Workflow" option when editing a template workflow. Pasting the copied template workflow in Safari is a good workaround, though it might be even faster to paste it into Editorial's in-app browser.