Creating Proposal Templates

Overview

Proposal Templates are reusable templates that govern the branding, styles, and formatting of the proposals built using Proposal Builder. You can create multiple templates that suit the various needs of your organization.

Permissions

You must have the Create and Update Proposal Template permission to create a new template and manage the templates created by other users. Refer Proposal Builder Roles and Permissions article to learn more on the user roles and permissions.

Creating New Proposal Templates

To start crafting a new proposal template switch to the Templates page, click Get Started.

If a template has already been created you can click on New Template from the top bar.

Template creation involves the following steps.

1. Template Information
2. Theme Files
3. Sections (Content & Catalogs)

Step 1: Template Information

Enter the Template Name and Business Unit (if enabled), and if desired, include a Description and Tags. Then, click Next to proceed to the next step. Template Name and Business Unit are mandatory.

Note:

• Tags offer a great way to keep your templates organized. Additionally, the Tags filter in the search tool helps you quickly locate the templates you need.
• A quick help popup appears when you hover over each step, providing more details about it.

Step 2: Theme Files

The Theme Files (Response Templates) determine the style, formatting, and layout of the documents to which they are applied. You can upload a new theme file or choose from the existing list. If multiple theme files are added to the proposal template, they will be presented as choices for the proposal author to select from. Refer to Working with Theme Files article to learn more about theme files.

1. Search the Theme Library.
2. View and Sorting options for the Theme Library.
3. Add a new theme to the library.
4. List of themes in the library.
   • Add: Click to add the theme to the proposal.
   • Added: Indicates that the theme has been added to the proposal.
5. List of themes that have been added to the proposal.
   • Set as Default: Indicates the theme that is currently the default for the proposal. 
   • Preview: Displays a preview of theme.
   • Remove: Remove the theme from the proposal.
6. Open the theme library in a new browser tab.
7. Next - Proceed to the Sections step.

Note: You can skip selecting/uploading themes and proceed to the next step by choosing I’ll do this later. If skipped, the preview will use Responsive's default theme.

Step 3: Configure Sections & Content

Next, you can start adding sections and content to the proposal template. The Add Sections pop-up is displayed by default where you can find the list of section templates that were created in the Sections module.

Note: To create a proposal template, you need to add at least one section.

Finding Sections Using Filters

You can use the filters on the left to find the specific section you want to add to the proposal template.

Adding Sections to the Selection List

You can add sections from the list in any of the following ways.

Click Add on the sections that you want to add to the Selected list on the right.

You can use Add All in the center pane to add all the sections in bulk.

To add a section from the preview pop-up, click on a section to bring the preview pop-up, then click Add.

Remove Sections from the Selection List

To remove a section click the corresponding Remove button.

You can use Remove All to remove all the sections in bulk.

To remove a section from the preview pop-up, click on a section to bring the preview pop-up, then click Remove.

Previewing Section Pop-up

To preview the section, you can click the section or the preview icon.

In the preview pop-up, you can use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate to other sections.

You can also use the Add or Remove button to include or exclude the section from the selection list.

To exit the preview pop-up, click Close.

Reorder Section in the Selection List

You can reorder the selected list of sections by simply clicking and dragging a section.

Click Done to add the selected sections to the proposal template.

Once the selected sections are added to the proposal template the following page is displayed.

1. Switch between Edit and Preview tabs.
2. Click  to expand or  collapse all the sections.
3. Add Section - Click to add more sections to the proposal template.
4. The following actions are available for each section.
   
   1.  - Displays the section in a new tab
   2.  - Remove section
   3.  or  - Expand or Collapse section
5. Displays the contents of the section.
6. Reorder the section by clicking and dragging the six-dot handle.
7. Displays the list of catalogs in the proposal template grouped by sections. See Working with Catalogs to learn more about catalogs.

Note: Dynamic Fields, such as Merge tags and Catalogs, are distinguished by color-coded lines. Merge tags are marked with a blue line, while catalogs are marked with a deep orange line.

Updating Theme’s Dynamic Fields

Dynamic fields introduced to the proposal via the theme files but are not a part of the selected section content are listed on the Preview tab. The theme name is displayed below the dynamic field, indicating that it is a dynamic field associated with the selected theme.

To update the values on the preview pane, enter the replacement text and click Rebuild Preview.

Preview Template

Switching to the Preview tab generates a template preview. The system recognizes dynamic fields in the proposal, enabling you to input sample content.
Note: Sample values added to the fields are displayed on the preview pane on clicking Rebuild Preview.

In case you chose to skip adding a theme file, you can opt to add one by clicking Add a Theme File. The system automatically applies the Default Template if a theme is not selected.

Note: When there are multiple theme files added to the workflow, you can set any theme file as the default file apart from the already selected theme file.

Rebuild Preview

To generate a preview with sample content, fill out sample data on the left pane, then click Rebuild Preview.

Note: The Rebuild Preview option will be available only after updating any values for the dynamic fields on the left. Also, the sample content added here is for preview only, and will not be saved to the template.

Save Draft

When you reach the Sections step in the template creation process, you can save your progress by clicking Save Draft. You can access your drafts on the Draft tab of the Templates list page.

Publish Template

After configuring the sections, when you're ready, click Publish to make the template accessible to proposal authors. You can access the template on the Active tab of the Templates list page.