How to Create a Spreadsheet Template

A spreadsheet template is a target sheet that will receive data or charts from your data sources.

If you use Google Sheets, Authenticate with Google to easily pull in your sheet template.

Step 1: Create placeholders in a template sheet

Slideform uses curly braces, {{ and }} , to identify placeholders, called "pragmas", that will be replaced in the output spreadsheet. Any other text or data in the sheet will remain the same in the output.

You can create placeholders on different tabs/sheets within the spreadsheet workbook.

Tips for creating placeholders:

Data tables: Type the placeholder, like {{data:name}} , into the top left cell of the area that you want the data to be filled in.

When you configure the data mapping, you can pull in specific columns from a larger data table, apply any filters from the data source, and sort the data before embedding.

Charts: Type the placeholder, like {{chart:name}} , into the top left cell of the area where you want the chart to be placed.
Text, numbers, KPIs: Type the placeholder, like {{KPI_name}} , into the cell where you want that text or number to be filled in.

Step 2: Upload your template

Log into Slideform and use the main menu to navigate to New Project.

Enter a name and description for your project, then upload the template spreadsheet file.

There are many ways to connect your template to Slideform: Select the file from Google Drive or OneDrive, or enter the Google Sheets URL, or upload an Excel file.

Slideform will read in the template and display a list of the placeholders.

Save the template at the bottom of the page before continuing.

After saving, the template will appear as a card on the projects page. Choose Configure Data to return to the template and finish setup. The next step is to match the data to each of the placeholders in your template.