Templates in TUM eLabFTW help standardize and streamline the documentation of experiments and resources. They provide a reusable structure that saves time, improves consistency, and supports reproducibility across your team’s work.

Purpose of Templates

Templates act as predefined formats for frequently used experiment types or resource entries. They are especially useful for recurring procedures, teaching labs, or collaborative projects where consistent documentation is essential.

Using Templates 👤🟩

Templates can be created, edited, and browsed in the Templates section. You can:

  • Build structured templates with predefined sections, instructions, or placeholders.
  • Search and filter existing templates to find what you need quickly.

When creating a new experiment, you can select a template to automatically fill in a structured layout. This layout may include predefined sections, instructions, or placeholders for required information.

Templates can also be inserted into existing entries, allowing you to reuse content without starting from scratch.

Favorites

💡 To make access easier, you can mark frequently used templates as favorites. These will appear in the quick access menu next to the create button in the experiment overview.

Creating Templates 👤🟩 👥🟦

Templates can be created in two ways:

  • In the user menu: Navigate to the Templates section under the user menu. Click the create button to define a new template, give it a title, and structure the content as needed.
  • By existing experiments: You can import data from previous experiments using ELN or CSV files to generate a new template based on that content. Download an example template

Template Design

💡 Best Practice: Templates are most effective when they reflect the typical structure of your experiments. You can include:

  • Standard sections for methods, materials, or observations
  • Checkboxes to track repeated steps or workflows
  • Embedded links to related resources or project entries

This ensures that all relevant information is captured consistently and that your documentation remains complete and organized.

Managing Templates 👤🟩 👥🟦

All templates you create are accessible through the Templates section in the user menu. Permission to edit templates is dependent on the team management setting of your team admin. Use the scope filter to view templates created by you, your team, or across the entire TUM eLabFTW. Ownership of a template can also be transferred to another user if needed.

Examples of Template Use 👤🟩

Templates can be adapted to suit different disciplines, like:

  • Chemistry: Reagents, quantities, reaction conditions, solvents, analysis methods
  • Biology: Cell lines, media, antibodies, buffers, protocol steps
  • Engineering: Equipment specs, software tools, calibration, system setup
  • Physics: Measurement parameters, experimental setup, environment, data analysis
  • Social Sciences: Question sets, participant data, consent tracking

Templates in Resource Categories 👥🟦

In the Resources section, categories serve as templates for new entries. These are defined and managed by team admins.

Admins can also assign a default experiment template for their team to ensure consistency across all new entries. This ensures that a standardized template is used for describing resources such as chemicals.

For example, for lab equipment, you could do this:

  • Mandatory field for the responsible person
  • Free text field for last calibration
  • Editor template points for:
    • Device name:
    • Device location:
    • Important user info:
    • Introduction by: 

Templates Permission Handling 👥🟦

By default, all team members may have access to create templates. However, team admins have the option to restrict template creation to admin-level users only.

This setting can be useful for maintaining consistency and quality control of team templates. If needed, consider enabling this restriction and informing your team accordingly.

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