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Pro Feature

Create custom templates.

Define your brand with design tokens, cover styles, and CSS overrides. Every PDF you export uses a consistent, professional look — no manual formatting.

Get started Token reference →

Built-in templates

Eight professionally designed templates ship with PaperQuire. Duplicate any of them to create your own.

Executive Report

Centered cover, serif headings, small-caps H2

Georgia · Letter · centered

Business Requirements

Band cover, clean sans-serif, blue accent

Helvetica · Letter · band

Technical Design

Minimal cover, monospace H3, indigo accent

Helvetica · Letter · minimal

Architecture

Sidebar cover, uppercase headings, teal accent

Helvetica · Letter · sidebar

Project Plan

Band cover, warm orange accent, task-friendly

Helvetica · Letter · band

Minimal Clean

No cover, no decoration, pure content focus

System sans · Letter · none

Functional Spec

Sidebar cover, Georgia headings, A4 page size

Georgia · A4 · sidebar

Corporate Branded

Sidebar cover, thick H1 underline, bold tables

Arial · Letter · sidebar

How templates work

A template is a folder with two files. Design tokens set your colors and fonts; CSS overrides handle structural tweaks.

template.json

Design tokens (colors, fonts, sizes), cover page style, page layout, and document defaults.

→

theme.css

Optional CSS overrides scoped under .tpl-<id>. Structural tweaks that tokens alone can't express.

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PDF output

PaperQuire applies tokens as CSS variables, then your theme.css, then any per-export overrides.

Template directory location

macOS ~/Library/Application Support/paperquire/templates/

Linux ~/.config/paperquire/templates/

Windows %APPDATA%\paperquire\templates\

Quickstart

Two ways to create a custom template. No build tools needed.

A Duplicate a built-in template

The fastest way. Open Document Setup, select a template, and click Duplicate. PaperQuire copies the template to your user folder and opens it in Finder/Explorer.

Open Document Setup (toolbar or Cmd+E)
Pick a template that's close to what you want
Click Duplicate
Edit template.json and theme.css in any text editor
Reopen Document Setup — your template appears automatically

B Create from scratch

Drop a folder with template.json and theme.css into your templates directory.

templates/
  my-brand/
    template.json
    theme.css

Minimal template.json

Only id and name are required. Everything else has sensible defaults.

template.json

{
  "id": "my-brand",
  "name": "My Brand",
  "description": "Company style guide template",
  "bestFor": "Internal reports and proposals",
  "tokens": {
    "accent": "#005A8E",
    "accentDark": "#003F63",
    "bodyFont": "Arial, sans-serif",
    "headingFont": "Arial, sans-serif",
    "tableHeadBg": "#005A8E"
  },
  "cover": { "enabled": true, "style": "sidebar" },
  "page": {
    "size": "Letter",
    "margins": { "top": 0.75, "right": 0.8, "bottom": 0.75, "left": 0.8 }
  },
  "toc": { "enabledByDefault": true },
  "footer": { "showPageNumbers": true, "showTitle": true },
  "h1NewPage": true
}

theme.css (optional)

/* Scope all rules under .tpl-my-brand */
.tpl-my-brand h1 {
  border-bottom-width: 3px;
}
.tpl-my-brand h2 {
  border-left-width: 5px;
}

Reopen Document Setup to pick up changes — no app restart required.

Manifest reference

Full template.json schema. Omitted fields are filled with defaults.

Identity Template metadata

Field	Type	Required	Description
`id`	string	Yes	Unique identifier. Must match the folder name. Alphanumeric, hyphens, and underscores only.
`name`	string	Yes	Display name shown in the template picker.
`description`	string	No	Subtitle shown under the template name. Default: `"Custom template"`.
`bestFor`	string	No	One-line use-case label. Default: `"Custom"`.

Cover Cover page settings

Field	Type	Default	Description
`cover.enabled`	boolean	`false`	Whether the cover page is on by default. Users can override per-export.
`cover.style`	string	`"none"`	Cover layout: `"band"`, `"centered"`, `"minimal"`, `"sidebar"`, or `"none"`.

Layout Page layout

Field	Type	Default	Description
`page.size`	string	`"Letter"`	`"Letter"` (8.5 × 11 in) or `"A4"` (8.27 × 11.69 in).
`page.margins.top`	number	`0.75`	Top margin in inches.
`page.margins.right`	number	`0.75`	Right margin in inches.
`page.margins.bottom`	number	`0.75`	Bottom margin in inches.
`page.margins.left`	number	`0.75`	Left margin in inches.

Document Document options

Field	Type	Default	Description
`toc.enabledByDefault`	boolean	`false`	Include a table of contents page. Users can override per-export.
`footer.showPageNumbers`	boolean	`true`	Show page numbers (N / total) in the bottom-right.
`footer.showTitle`	boolean	`false`	Show the document title in the bottom-left footer.
`h1NewPage`	boolean	`false`	Start each H1 heading on a new page (except the first).

Design tokens

Tokens in template.json become CSS custom properties. Use them in theme.css or let the base stylesheet apply them automatically.

Token	CSS variable	Default	Used for
`accent`	`--doc-accent`	`#2563eb`	Headings, cover bar, blockquotes, TOC rules, table headers
`accentDark`	`--doc-accent-dark`	`#1e3a8a`	H4 color, links, cover company text
`ink`	`--doc-ink`	`#1a1d22`	Body text color
`secondary`	`--doc-secondary`	`#4b5159`	H4, TOC H3, cover subtitle, figure captions
`muted`	`--doc-muted`	`#6b7280`	Cover meta (author/date), footer text
`rule`	`--doc-rule`	`#e3e6ea`	Table borders, <hr>, callout borders
`panel`	`--doc-panel`	`#f6f7f9`	Blockquote background, zebra-stripe rows
`codeBg`	`--doc-code-bg`	`#f6f8fa`	Code block and inline code background
`bodyFont`	`--doc-font`	`Arial, sans-serif`	Body text font family
`headingFont`	`--doc-heading-font`	same as body	All headings and cover title
`monoFont`	`--doc-mono`	`Menlo, Consolas, monospace`	Code blocks and inline code
`baseFontSize`	`--doc-base-size`	`11pt`	Body text font size
`h1Size`	`--doc-h1-size`	`21pt`	H1 heading font size
`h2Size`	`--doc-h2-size`	`15.5pt`	H2 heading font size
`lineHeight`	`--doc-line-height`	`1.6`	Body text line height (unitless)
`tableHeadBg`	`--doc-table-head-bg`	`#2563eb`	Table header row background
`tableHeadColor`	`--doc-table-head-color`	`#ffffff`	Table header row text color

Cover page styles

Four built-in cover layouts. Set cover.style in your template manifest.

Document Title

Subtitle

Company · Author

band

Accent bar across the top. Logo, title, and subtitle below. Company pinned to the bottom.

Document Title

Subtitle

Company

centered

Everything centered vertically and horizontally. Accent rule between title and subtitle.

Document Title

Subtitle

Company · Author

minimal

Top-left aligned with a short accent rule. Maximum whitespace.

sidebar

Full-height accent bar on the left edge. Content offset to the right.

Writing theme.css

Optional structural CSS that goes beyond design tokens. Scope everything under .tpl-<your-id>.

CSS cascade order

:root variables — generated from your tokens
base.css — PaperQuire's structural print stylesheet
theme.css — your template-specific overrides
Per-export overrides — user's color/layout tweaks in Document Setup

Examples from built-in templates

/* Remove H1 border (minimal-clean) */
.tpl-minimal-clean h1 {
  border-bottom: none;
  padding-bottom: 0;
}

/* Left accent rail on code blocks (technical-design) */
.tpl-technical-design pre {
  border-left: 3px solid var(--doc-accent);
}

/* Monospace H3 (technical-design) */
.tpl-technical-design h3 {
  font-family: var(--doc-mono);
  font-size: 12pt;
}

/* Uppercase tracked headings (architecture) */
.tpl-architecture h1,
.tpl-architecture h2 {
  text-transform: uppercase;
  letter-spacing: 0.04em;
}

/* Small-caps H2 with bottom border (executive-report) */
.tpl-executive-report h2 {
  border-left: none;
  padding-left: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0.15em;
  border-bottom: 1px solid var(--doc-rule);
  font-variant: small-caps;
  letter-spacing: 0.03em;
}

Per-export overrides

Users can tweak these settings in Document Setup without editing the template. The template defines the defaults.

Override	Type	Description
Primary color	color	Overrides `--doc-accent`, `--doc-accent-dark`, and `--doc-table-head-bg`
Secondary color	color	Overrides `--doc-secondary`
Page size	Letter / A4	Overrides `page.size`
Margins	inches	Overrides all four `page.margins` values
Cover page	Auto / On / Off	Overrides `cover.enabled`
Table of contents	Auto / On / Off	Overrides `toc.enabledByDefault`
H1 page breaks	Auto / On / Off	Overrides `h1NewPage`
Watermark	text	Diagonal watermark (e.g. "DRAFT", "CONFIDENTIAL")
Number figures	boolean	Auto-number captioned figures and tables

Tips

Start by duplicating

Don't start from scratch. Find the closest built-in template and duplicate it. You'll get a working baseline and only need to change what's different for your brand.

Use tokens for colors and fonts

Put all brand colors and font choices in tokens rather than hard-coding them in theme.css. This lets users override primary/secondary color in Document Setup without breaking your design.

Always scope your CSS

Every rule in theme.css should start with .tpl-your-id. Without scoping, your styles bleed into other templates and the preview pane.

Test with long content

Export a document with 10+ pages, tables, code blocks, and images. Check page breaks, repeating table headers, footer alignment, and cover page rendering.

Stick to pt units for font sizes

PDF rendering works best with point units. Avoid px, rem, vh, or vw in print styles — they can produce inconsistent results across PDF engines.

Share templates across your team

Copy your template folder to colleagues' template directories, or use Enterprise managed config to push org-wide templates via MDM/Intune.

Ready to design?

Duplicate a built-in template and make it yours. Custom templates are a Pro feature.

Download PaperQuire