Manage and control template access for your team | GetAccept Help Center

Manage and control template access for your team

Set up template governance: control which templates users can access, lock content, organize with tags, and retire old versions.

Table of contents

Understanding Templates vs. Documents

A template is a reusable base structure that your team can use repeatedly across multiple deals or transactions. Templates contain consistent content, layouts, and settings that serve as the foundation for your sales process or document workflows.

A document (or Deal Room) created from a template is a customer-specific instance. When you create a document from a template, you start with the template's structure but then customize it with buyer-specific information, pricing, names, and details. The original template remains unchanged and available for the next use.

Think of it this way: the template is your blueprint; each document created from it is a unique custom version of that blueprint. This distinction is critical because editing a template affects all future documents created from it, not existing ones.

Note: GetAccept has two separate template types - Deal Room templates and Contract templates - and they use different access models. Public/Private visibility controls apply to Deal Room templates only. Contract templates do not have Public/Private visibility settings. Read each section below carefully to see which template type the guidance applies to.

Know When You're Editing a Template

To remove any ambiguity about whether you're editing a template or an individual document, GetAccept displays a persistent blue status banner in the editor when you're editing a document template. The banner shows the message "You are editing a template," along with a reminder that:

This visual cue gives you a clear distinction between editing a template and editing an individual document, so you can make changes with confidence and avoid accidentally modifying the master template when you only meant to tweak one deal's document.

Setting Template Access: Public vs. Private (Deal Room Templates Only)

You can control who in your organization can access and use each Deal Room template by setting it as either Public or Private. This Public/Private access setting applies to Deal Room templates only. Contract templates do not have Public/Private visibility settings and use a different access model - see the section below for details.

Public Deal Room Templates

A Public Deal Room template is visible and usable by all users in your entity. Any user can find it in the Content Library and create a new Deal Room from it. Public Deal Room templates are ideal for standardized processes that your entire sales or operations team should follow.

Who can access: All users in your entity
Best for: Standard Deal Room structures and repeatable processes that every team member needs

Private Deal Room Templates

A Private Deal Room template is visible only to administrators and the user who created it. Private Deal Room templates are useful for templates under development, specialized workflows for specific teams, or sensitive content that shouldn't be broadly available.

Who can access: Administrators and the template creator only
Best for: Deal Room templates being tested, team-specific processes, confidential structures, or templates not yet ready for company-wide use

How to Set Deal Room Template Access

When creating or editing a Deal Room template, you'll see an access setting in the template configuration. Select either Public or Private based on your needs. Admins can change a Deal Room template's access between Public and Private at any time.

Contract Template Access

Contract templates do not have Public or Private visibility settings. The Public/Private concept only applies to Deal Room templates. If you are managing a Contract template, you will not see the option to set it as Public or Private - those settings do not exist for Contract templates.

Lock Content Blocks to Prevent Edits

Critical content in templates , such as pricing, legal disclaimers, branding elements, or company boilerplate , should remain consistent across all documents created from that template. GetAccept allows you to lock content blocks so that users cannot edit them when building a document.

When a content block is locked, users can still see it and include it in their document, but they cannot modify the text, formatting, or structure. Only administrators or the user who locked the block can unlock it to make changes.

When to Lock Content

Lock content blocks for:

How to Lock a Content Block

While editing a template, select the content block you want to lock and apply the lock option available for that block. Users creating documents from this template will see the locked content but won't be able to edit it.

Organize Templates Using Content Tags

As your template library grows, finding the right template quickly becomes important. Content tags let you label and organize templates so users can filter and search efficiently in the Content Library.

Administrators set up tag categories , for example, "Process," "Segment," "Content Type," or "Language" , and then apply individual tags within each category to templates. Users can then filter templates by one or more tags to narrow down what they see.

Setting Up Content Tags

Navigate to Settings (top-right profile image) → Entity Settings → Content Tags. Here you can:

Applying Tags to Templates

When creating or editing a template, you'll see a tags field. Select relevant tags from the available categories. When users browse the Content Library, they can filter by any combination of tags using AND logic (e.g., "Enterprise" AND "SaaS" AND "Q1-2025").

Duplicate a Template to Create Variations

Rather than editing an existing template and affecting all future documents created from it, you can duplicate the template to create a new, independent variation. Duplicating is useful when you want to:

The duplicated template is a complete copy , it has its own settings, content, tags, and access level. Changes to the original template do not affect the duplicate, and vice versa.

How to Duplicate a Template

From the Content Library, locate the template you want to duplicate. Click the action menu (three dots) next to the template name and select Duplicate. GetAccept creates a copy with a name like "Original Template - Copy." You can then rename it, adjust tags, change access level (for Deal Room templates), and make any edits you need.

Retire Old Templates: Delete vs. Make Private

Over time, templates become outdated as your processes evolve. When you no longer need a template, you have options for retiring it. The available approach depends on the template type.

Make Private (Deal Room Templates Only)

For Deal Room templates, change the access setting to Private rather than deleting it. This hides the Deal Room template from regular users while keeping it in your system for reference or recovery. Private Deal Room templates are invisible in the Content Library for most users, but administrators and the template creator can still access them.

Use this approach when:

Note: Because Contract templates do not have Public/Private visibility, you cannot "make private" a Contract template. To retire a Contract template, deletion is the available option.

Delete (Permanent Removal)

Deleting permanently removes a template from your GetAccept account. Deleted templates cannot be recovered. However, documents or Deal Rooms already created from that template remain unaffected and continue to function normally.

Use this approach when:

Documents Persist After Template Changes

An important note: deleting or making a template private does not affect documents or Deal Rooms already created from that template. Active documents continue to work, can be edited, and can be sent. This separation between template and document is by design , it protects active customer work from changes to your template library.

Note: Before retiring a template, communicate with your team so they understand which new template to use instead. Include replacement recommendations in your announcement.

Best Practices for Template Naming and Organization

A well-organized template library makes it easy for your team to find and use the right template. Follow these best practices:

Naming Conventions

Folder Organization

If you create many templates, organize them into folders by category (e.g., "Sales Documents," "HR Documents," "Legal," "By Industry"). Folders reduce scrolling and help users navigate intuitively.

Tag Strategy

Create a tag structure that covers the dimensions your team filters by , such as document type, sales process stage, customer segment, industry, or language. Avoid over-tagging; 3-5 well-chosen tags per template is more useful than 10 generic ones.

Documentation

Consider maintaining a simple reference document (internal wiki, spreadsheet, or shared doc) that explains: which template to use for which scenario, who owns updates to each template, when templates are deprecated, and where to find replacements. This reduces confusion and onboarding time for new team members.

Conditional Template Selection

GetAccept supports conditional template selection, which automatically suggests or filters templates based on data in your CRM. For example, you can configure rules like "if the deal size is over $100K, show Enterprise templates only" or "if the customer industry is Healthcare, show HIPAA-compliant templates."

This feature is particularly powerful in Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive, and Upsales integrations. It reduces friction by showing users only the most relevant templates for each opportunity.

Summary: Template Governance Checklist

To maintain a healthy, well-governed template library: