A template in Trilium serves as a predefined structure for other notes, referred to as instance notes. Assigning a template to a note brings three main effects:

1. Attribute Inheritance: All attributes from the template note are inherited by the instance notes. Even attributes with #isInheritable=false are inherited by the instance notes, although only inheritable attributes are further inherited by the children of the instance notes.
2. Content Duplication: The content of the template note is copied to the instance note, provided the instance note is empty at the time of template assignment.
3. Child Note Duplication: All child notes of the template are deep-duplicated to the instance note.

Example

A typical example would be a "Book" template note, which might include:

• Promoted Attributes: Such as publication year, author, etc. (see promoted attributes).
• Outline: An outline for a book review, including sections like themes, conclusion, etc.
• Child Notes: Additional notes for highlights, summary, etc.

Instance Note

An instance note is a note related to a template note. This relationship means the instance note's content is initialized from the template, and all attributes from the template are inherited.

To create an instance note through the UI:

For the template to appear in the menu, the template note must have the #template label. Do not confuse this with the ~template relation, which links the instance note to the template note. If you use workspaces, you can also mark templates with #workspaceTemplate to display them only in the workspace.

Templates can also be added or changed after note creation by creating a ~template relation pointing to the desired template note. 

To specify a template for child notes, you can use a ~child:template relation pointing to the appropriate template note. There is no limit to the depth of the hierarchy — you can use ~child:child:template, ~child:child:child:template, and so on.

Default parent for new notes

A template can gather the notes created from it in one place, instead of having them land wherever they happen to be created. To do so, add a ~template:newNoteDefaultParent relation to the template note, pointing at the note that should hold the instances, for example a Person template pointing to a People note.

Adding the relation several times places the new note in every target, as Cloning Notes. The relation can also be inherited (e.g. from a folder holding several templates), in which case a relation owned by the template itself replaces the inherited one. The default parent is only inherited from the template's ancestors in the tree: a template created from another template does not adopt that template's default parent.

The default parent is used whenever a note is created from the template through the Choose note type dialog:

• Via @-completion in a Text note
• Via the Create note or Create child note options of the note search (new tab or Internal (reference) links), but only if the default/empty location is set.

Creating an instance note from the Note Tree context menu (Insert child note, Insert note after) still creates it at the chosen place.

Unlike the Note Inbox, which holds quickly captured notes until they are sorted, the default parent is meant as the instances' permanent location.

Regarding note types

By default, newly created notes are Text notes. If a parent note defines a child:template pointing to a template of a different type (e.g. a Code note), the behavior depends on how the new note is created:

• If no note type is explicitly chosen (e.g. the + button in the Note Tree), the template is applied and the new note takes the type and content of the template.
• If a note type is explicitly selected (e.g. Note Tree → Insert note after / Insert child note):
  • If the selected type matches the template's type, the template is applied.
  • If the selected type differs, the template is disregarded entirely — the new note is an empty note of the selected type.

Selecting a specific template from the creation menu always takes precedence over child:template.

Additional Notes

From a visual perspective, templates can define #iconClass and #cssClass attributes, allowing all instance notes (e.g., books) to display a specific icon and CSS style.

Explore the concept further in the Demo Notes, including examples like the Relation Map, Task Manager, and Day Notes.

Additionally, see Default Note Title for creating title templates. Note templates and title templates can be combined by creating a #titleTemplate for a template note.