What is a template?

A template is a Prism file that you recycle. Choose a template, add new data, and all the analyses and graphs will be created automatically. Templates are an older feature, and we recommend you clone a graph, or use the Wand, instead.

A Prism template is a regular Prism file, with three differences:

•A template has the extension .pzt. When Prism opens such a file, it will "forget" the file name and open the file without a name. Then it will prompt for a file name when you save. This prevents accidentally overwriting the template.

•When you save a template, you can enter some brief instructions that will appear when the template is opened. This can be useful when you are creating a template for others to use.

•A list of templates will appear on the Open a File tab of the Welcome (File..New) dialog.

Creating a template

Follow these steps to create a template:

1.Create a Prism project with only the sheets you want to see when a template is opened.

2.(Optional) Delete the portions of the data that will change with each experiment (for example, delete the Y values but leave the X values and the column titles). Don't delete entire columns, just the values in those columns by selecting and then using the Delete key.

3.Go to the data table you want to see when the template is opened, drop the File menu, choose Save Special, and finally choose Save Template. You'll also find this command if you drop the Save menu from the toolbar. This command will be gray (unavailable) unless you are looking at a data table (not results or graph).

4.On the Save Template dialog, choose (or create) a category (folder),  enter a name for the new template, and optionally enter a description and/or instructions for using the template. If it will be used by others, you can write a help file for it and install the files onto other computers.

To use a template

You'll see a list of templates at the bottom of the Open a File tab of the Welcome (File..New) dialog. When you open a template, any description of instructions you entered will appear in a popup dialog.

Informal templates

The instructions above assume that you save the template from Prism, and open it via a link on the Welcome (File..New) dialog. But you can rename any Prism file in any folder to have a .pzt extension, and open it from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder by double-clicking on it. The difference is that when Prism opens a .pzt file, it instantly forgets the file name so will prompt you for a file name when you first save it. That way you won't accidentally overwrite the template.