Templates are firm-level layouts that control what the client sees in their portal. You can build one from scratch, start from a saved template, or let Dora draft one for you.
Where to start
Templates live at the firm level, not inside a specific client. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner to open the user menu, then select Templates. You'll see two sections: Your Templates (ones you've built) and Kerdora Templates (starter layouts). Click New Template in the top right and you'll get a choice: Build with Dora or Start blank.
Build with Dora opens a short brief so Dora can draft the whole layout for you (covered below).
Start blank asks for a template name and drops you into an empty editor to build by hand.
Three ways to build a template
Start blank. Choose Start blank from the New Template modal, name it, and drag components in one at a time.
Start from a saved template. Duplicate one of your existing templates (copy icon on the card), or start from a Kerdora Template: click the built-in to open a read-only preview, then click Edit a copy to fork your own editable version. Edit from there.
Let Dora draft it. Choose Build with Dora from the New Template modal. Dora picks components, arranges them into rows, and drops the whole thing into your template. You land in the editor with the Dora panel already open, so you can keep chatting to refine it.
If you're not sure where to begin, Build with Dora is the fastest way to get a sensible default layout. Tweak from there.
Building with Dora
Choosing Build with Dora opens a brief that tells Dora what you're after. You fill in:
Template name. What to call it (you can rename later).
What kind of guide are you building? Pick a type: First meeting, Annual review, Retirement check-in, Investment review, Tax planning, Cash flow & debt, Estate & protection, or Custom.
Detail level. Concise (client-ready essentials), Balanced (context plus recommendations), or Comprehensive (advisor-level depth).
Topics to cover. Tap the topic chips you want included (Goals, Cash flow, Investments, Taxes, and so on). Picking a guide type pre-selects a sensible set.
Anything Dora should know? An optional free-text box for a typical client scenario, audience, or topics to emphasize.
Hit Build with Dora and Dora creates the template and opens it in the editor with the prompt already sent. The drafted layout shows up in the grid, and the Dora panel stays open so you can ask for changes.
The editor
The editor has three parts:
Component sidebar (left). Search or browse the full component library, grouped by planning area. Drag any component into the grid. For the full list and what each one does, see the Embeddable Components article.
Grid (center). Your template, laid out in rows. Drop a component into a row to place it side-by-side with existing ones, or into the gap between rows to start a new row. + Add row affordances sit in every gap and above/below the grid for click-to-add. While you're dragging from the sidebar, a blue bar shows the exact insertion point inside a row, and a dashed "Drop here to create a new row" box marks the gap between rows. Hover a row to reveal the drag handle and reorder. Hover a component for its remove and settings controls.
Settings panel (right). Click a component's gear icon to open it. Each component has its own settings (fields to show, sort order, display options, etc.). Components without settings won't show the gear.
Across the top toolbar you'll find Back (to the templates list), the template name, the Build with Dora toggle (open the Dora panel any time to revise the layout), the Household selector (pick a real client to preview live data against), and a delete button.
One exception: when you open a Kerdora built-in, the editor runs in preview mode instead. You'll see a "Kerdora template · preview" badge, you can preview it against any household, and the editing controls are replaced by a single Edit a copy button that forks an editable copy into Your Templates.
Scoping components to a sub-portfolio
Three investment components — Where Invested, Tax Allocation, and Portfolio vs Target — let you narrow what they show via a Scope section in their settings. Options: follow the client's current view, show the entire portfolio, or restrict to a specific goal type, time horizon, or tax status. You can drop multiple copies of the same component scoped different ways (e.g., one Where Invested for Retirement and a second for Education) since each is independently titled. See the Scoping Guide Components article for the full breakdown.
How Investing has similar filter chips at the row level — goal purposes, tax statuses, and time horizons — so you can show, say, "How investing looks for retirement accounts only" without adding a separate component.
Tax components
The Taxes group in the component sidebar covers seven client-facing tax visuals: How Taxes Are Calculated, Tax Snapshot, Where Tax Dollars Go, Tax Bracket Ladder, Tax Payment Check, Room Before Tax Thresholds, and Tax Planning Opportunities.
Each one has a settings panel where you choose which sections are visible, plus a tax scenario picker: show the client's primary (active) scenario, or pin the component to a specific named scenario. Pinning to a specific scenario is only available when you're editing a guide for an actual client, since templates don't know which scenarios a client will have.
Pinning a component to a specific tax scenario makes that guide client-specific, so it can't be reused as a firm-level template. Switch the component back to the primary scenario if you want the layout to stay reusable.
Template fields
Template fields are reusable named values (like "Disclaimer" or "About Us") that you can reference across any custom text or custom image component. Edit the field once and every template using it stays in sync.
To create or pick one, drag a Template Field component (Custom Text or Custom Image) from the sidebar. You'll get a picker that lets you create a new field or link an existing one. Manage the full list under the Template Fields page in the template editor.
Per-client values live under Office > Notes. When you're editing a specific client's values (instead of the template structure itself), go to Office > Notes — the Template Fields panel there shows every field for the client with inline editing and a per-field edit history. See the Template Fields article for details.
Controlling which clients see it
Templates aren't automatically shown to clients. From the Templates list, click the eye icon on any template to open the Template Visibility modal. Check the clients who should see it, and optionally turn on Include for new clients so the template is added to every new household you create.
You can also set default templates for all new clients from New Client Defaults in the top right of the Templates list.
Saving and previewing
Changes autosave as you work. Use the Household selector in the toolbar to preview the template with live client data. When it looks right, open the Visibility modal to publish it to the clients you want.
Tip: Build your first template with Dora, then duplicate it whenever a client needs a variation. It's faster than starting from a blank grid every time.