Guide Templates let you build a Guide structure once and reuse it across every client. Instead of rebuilding the same pages and components from scratch each time, you create a template with the layout you want, and every new client can start from that structure. You manage all of your guide templates in one place: the Guides tab on the Templates page.
Where to Find Your Templates
Click your profile icon in the top-right corner of any page.
Click Templates.
You'll land on the Guides tab — this is where all your guide templates live.
The Templates page has several sub-tabs across the top. Guides is the one for guide templates. The other sub-tabs handle related firm-wide settings:
Guide Fields — reusable text fields and values you can drop into any guide template.
"Changes" Categories — your firm's custom categories for Changes to Be Made.
Spending Categories — firm-wide spending categories that flow into client Cash Flow.
Document Folders — folder templates for organizing the Documents section.
Model Portfolios — target portfolios assignable to client accounts.
This article is about the Guides sub-tab.
The Guides Tab
The Guides tab is split into two sections:
Your Templates — Templates you've created. Click any one to open it in the editor.
Kerdora Templates — Ten built-in templates that come with every account, covering common meeting types and planning topics. Click one to preview it, or make your own editable copy (more on this below).
Creating a New Template
From the Guides tab, click New Template in the top-right corner.
Choose how to start: Build with Dora or Start blank.
Name your template (e.g., "Annual Review," "New Client Onboarding," "Mid-Year Check-In") and you'll land in the template editor, which has a Components sidebar on the left.
Start blank opens an empty editor. From there, drag components into your layout to build the structure you want. Components include things like goals summaries, account tables, charts, text blocks, changes to be made, and more. Arrange them in the order that makes sense for your deliverable.
Build with Dora has Dora draft the layout for you. You fill in a short brief — guide type (First meeting, Annual review, Retirement check-in, and so on), a detail level (Concise, Balanced, or Comprehensive), the topics to cover, and an optional note about your client. Submit it and Dora builds the template and drops you into the editor with the Dora panel open, so you can keep chatting to refine the layout. You can reopen the Dora panel from the toolbar any time to revise an existing template.
Editing an Existing Template
Click any template card under Your Templates to reopen it in the editor. You can add, remove, or rearrange components at any time.
Each template card also has three quick-action buttons:
Eye icon — Manage which clients can see this guide.
Copy icon — Duplicate the template (great for creating variations like "Annual Review - Retired" vs. "Annual Review - Accumulation").
Trash icon — Delete the template.
To reorder your templates, drag and drop the cards. The order here controls the order they appear in a client's Guide, so put your most important template first.
Setting New Client Defaults
Click New Client Defaults at the top of the Guides tab. This lets you choose which templates are automatically visible when you create a new client.
Without this setting, you'd need to manually toggle visibility for every new client you add. Setting your defaults means new clients immediately get the right Guides without extra steps.
Using a Template for a Client
When you open a client and go to Guides in the sidebar, the Guides you see are based on the templates that are visible for that client. If you've set your New Client Defaults, those templates are already active.
To toggle which templates are visible for a specific client:
Go back to the Guides tab on Templates.
Click the eye icon on any template card.
Check or uncheck clients to control who sees that guide.
You can also manage visibility from within a client's Guides section directly.
How Template Changes Work
This is the most important thing to understand about templates:
A template renders live for every client who can see it. Edit the template — add a component, remove one, rearrange the layout — and every client with that template visible sees the updated version, filled in with their own data. One edit, everywhere at once.
The exception is a client guide: a frozen, per-client copy. When you're editing a guide inside a client and click Save for this client only, Kerdora copies the layout into a standalone guide owned by that client (you'll name it, and it appears in the client's guide dropdown under Created for client). From that point on, edits to the original template don't touch the copy — and edits to the copy don't touch the template.
This means:
Want a change to reach everyone? Edit the template on the Templates page.
Want a one-off layout for a single client? Open their guide, make your changes, and use Save for this client only.
Made a client copy and later improved the template? The copy stays as-is. If you'd rather have the updated template version, switch the client back to the template in their guide dropdown (or delete the copy).
Using Kerdora's Built-In Templates
Every account comes with ten Kerdora templates, each built for a common meeting type or planning topic:
Overview — A general-purpose snapshot: net worth, goal progress, changes to be made, and tasks.
Changes to be Made — Focused on the client's strategic changes and the specific tasks they need to act on.
Annual Review — A full review-meeting layout: changes you've made and still plan to make, tasks, balance sheet, goal progress, spending, investing, and a tax estimate.
Retirement Check-In — Retirement readiness: net worth, how on-track they are, how long their assets will last, retirement accounts, allocation, tax status, and key dates.
Liquidity Plan — The liquidity picture: progress toward liquidity goals, total liquidity, the share of net worth earmarked for liquidity, and cash net of credit cards.
Prospect Meeting — A first-meeting layout for prospects: financial objective, net worth, goals, and where their income is going.
Insurance Review — How the client is protected against major risks, plus the insurance changes to make.
Investments — A portfolio view: allocation, tax buckets, holdings, time horizon, and current vs. target allocation.
Cash Flow Summary — Income and spending: income statement, where income goes, key cash flow metrics, a cash flow map, saving, and debt paydown.
Estate Plan — Estate readiness: what happens if the client dies or can't make decisions, document status, beneficiaries, and recommendations.
Built-ins are read-only, but there are two ways to make one yours:
Preview, then fork. Click the template card to open a read-only preview — you'll see a "Kerdora template · preview" badge, and you can preview it against any of your households to see it with real data. When you're ready, click Edit a copy and Kerdora forks an editable version under Your Templates.
Duplicate from the list. Click the copy icon on the card to duplicate it straight into Your Templates without previewing first.
Either way, the copy is fully customizable, and you can hide the original Kerdora template (eye icon) if you don't want clients to see it.
This is a good way to get started: pick the built-in closest to the deliverable you have in mind, make a copy, and adjust it to match your workflow.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of Templates
Start from a built-in. The ten Kerdora templates cover most common meeting types. Preview the closest one, then Edit a copy rather than building from scratch.
Set your New Client Defaults early so you don't have to think about visibility every time you add a client.
Duplicate before you experiment. Since template edits reach every client who can see the template, duplicate first when you want to try a new layout — experiment on the copy, not the live one.
Use Template Fields for reusable text. If you have standard language (introductions, disclaimers, process descriptions) that appears across multiple guides, set those up in the Guide Fields sub-tab rather than typing them into each template individually.