A template is the reusable starting point for every proposal you send. You build your standard sections, content, pricing and design once, and every new document starts from that foundation. When it's time to send a proposal, you only change what's specific to that prospect.
Templates save your team hours on every deal and keep your proposals consistent. Every document created from a template inherits its sections, content and styling, so your brand looks the same no matter who on your team hits send.
Templates are for your team and are never shared directly with buyers. When you're ready to send something to a prospect, create a document from your template and share the document.
This guide covers how templates work, how to find and create them, the basics of designing one, and how to turn a template into a document.
Jump quickly to a section:
- Create a new template
- Design, styles, and formatting
- Set currency and custom fields
- Section structure
- Add content blocks
- Add placeholder variables
Start with your starter template
When you create your Proposify account, we build a starter template for you automatically. It pulls your logo, branding and colours from your website, matches its structure and content to your industry, and drafts copy for your About Us section.
We recommend starting here instead of building from scratch. Open your starter template, review each section, and edit the content until it reads the way your team sells.
Where to find your templates
Templates live in your Content Library. Click Library in the left navigation, then select Templates.
You'll see every template your team has saved, along with any folders you've created to organize them. Use the sort menu to order templates by when they were last edited, or the search bar to find one by name. Your Content Library also holds your reusable Sections, Images and Snippets, which you can pull into any document.
Further reading
Organizing your Content Library with folders
Create a new template
If you need a template for a different service line or sales motion, you can create a new one from the Content Library.
- Click Library in the left navigation and select Templates.
- Click Create New in the top right.
- Choose how you want to start:
- Start from scratch opens a blank template in the editor.
- Choose from Template Gallery lets you pick a pre-built design and make it your own.
- Generate with AI creates a first draft of your template for you to refine.
You can also build a template from a document you've already customized. See Save a document as a template below. Want a professionally designed template instead? Click Request a custom design and our design team will build one for you.
Further reading
Requesting a custom template design
Design your template
The template editor has three main areas: the Sections panel on the left, the page canvas in the middle, and the editing panels on the right. You'll know you're editing a template by the Template label next to its name.
Set your design and styles
The Design panel controls the look of the whole template. Under Page Setup, set the background colour, page size, orientation and margins.
Under Format, set the font, size, colour, line spacing and alignment for each text style. Changes in Format apply across the entire document, so set them once here instead of formatting text by hand.
Further reading
Set currency and custom fields
The Details panel sets the template's default currency and lets you assign custom fields.
Further reading
Structure your sections
Sections are the building blocks of your proposal, like Cover, Introduction, About Us, Our Services, Meet Our Team, Your Investment and Next Steps. They are like chapters in a book that let your buyer navigate your proposal.
Click on the + above a page to create a new section. You can reorder them from the panel. A good template includes every section you send in most deals, so your reps remove what they don't need rather than rebuilding what's missing.
Want to learn what goes into a perfect proposal? Check out our annual state of proposals report.
Further reading
Add content blocks
Open the Build panel to drag content blocks onto the page: Text, Image, Video, Text Table, Shape, Pricing Table and Embed. The toolbar at the top of the editor handles text formatting, and the AI menu can help you write and rewrite copy.
Further reading
Connect the MCP server to create and update documents using Claude. Learn more.
Personalize with variables
Variables fill in details automatically when you create a document, like your client's name, company, the document's details, the sender's information and data from your integrations.
Open the Variables panel and insert them anywhere in your text. Using variables in a template means reps don't have to type the same details into every proposal.
You can also click into a text box and type the [ to bring up the variable menu
Variables can be copied and pasted into text blocks. In the template editor, variables appear as placeholders and won't show real contact details. They populate once you create a document and assign contacts to it. Keep real contact information out of your templates and let variables fill it in on each document.
Note: Using our CRM integrations, you can pull contacts, companies and pricing directly from your CRM using variables.
Further reading
Create a document from a template
Documents are what you share with buyers. You can create a document from a template in two places.
From the template editor. Click Create Document in the top right of the editor. A new document opens with everything from the template already in place.
From your Docs list. Click Docs in the left navigation and start a new document. In the Create a new document window, search or browse for your template, then click Use this template. Click the eye icon next to any template to preview it before you choose.
You can also choose Start from scratch in this window, but starting from a template is faster and keeps your proposals consistent.
Tailor the document for each prospect
Once your document is created, make it fit the deal. Remove any sections that don't apply, and import what you need from your Content Library: saved sections, snippets of reusable text, and products from your Pricing catalog. Edits you make to a document stay in that document, so your template remains clean for the next deal.
Further reading
- Importing sections into a document
- Importing snippets into a document
- Adding products from your Pricing catalog
Save a document as a template
If you've customized a document and want to reuse it, save it back to your Content Library as a template. In the document editor, click the more options menu (⋮) in the top right and select Save as template. The new template appears in Library > Templates, ready for your team.