Create and Use Story Templates

Rather than building a story from scratch, you can use a template to speed up your story creation process. Templates contain predefined page layouts and placeholders for objects such as charts, tables, maps, and input controls. You can use templates in responsive or canvas pages.

You can work with templates that are already available to use in your story, or you can create your own custom templates.

To apply a template, you can search for existing templates and add them to your story. You can select a template that best suits the type of story you are planning to build.

In the SAP Analytics section of the Layouts menu, you can select a template from the following categories (category labels are below the layout thumbnails):

• Dashboard/Boardroom: These layouts can help you create a story that is ideal for monitoring your data or create a boardroom monitor. The layouts combine widgets such as maps, content, and key figures.

• Report: These layouts can help you create a story ideal for reporting. The layouts combine widgets such as charts, tables, and annotations.

• Present/Presentation: These layouts can help you create a story that is ideal for presentations. The layouts provide the formatting and elements necessary to create a slide deck.

Layouts that you have added to your story appear in the Manually Added section of the Layouts menu. You can change the layout by selecting it from the menu or add more layouts by selecting + Add Layout from the Additional Layouts section.

1. From the story toolbar, select (Layouts).

2. Select a layout from the list and select Apply.

3. In the chart, map, or table placeholder widgets that you want to use, select (Add in place).

   You can also add a specific widget by selecting (More Actions)   (Add) and then selecting the widget you want to add.

   You will be able to see the chart type (for example, bar or waterfall) that was used when saving the story as a template or in the predefined template. When turning the chart placeholder into a chart, the original chart type will be automatically selected.

4. If you want to remove the widget from the layout, select (More Actions)   (Remove) in the top-right corner of the widget.

You can create and use your own custom templates in your stories. To create your own template, you will just need to save a story as a template.

Additionally, page and widget (tile) story preferences such as background color are saved with your template. You can view and customize your preferences in the Story Preferences dialog.

1. With a story open, select Save As Template from the toolbar.

2. Add a title and description for your template.

3. In the Template Configuration section, select the pages you would like to include in the template.

4. Choose if you would like to replace images and/or shapes with placeholders.

5. Select OK.