Templates (the "Modèles" tab)

A template is a saved chunk of a folio — the elements you had selected, with their own symbol definitions travelling inside the file — that you can drop back onto any folio, in any project, as a group. QElectroTech calls them templates in the interface and macros in the source and on disk (.qetmak); the two words mean the same thing.

They are the right tool for the wiring block you draw over and over: a motor starter, a lighting circuit, a standard supply arrangement. An element is one symbol; a template is an arrangement of them.

Placing a template is drag-and-drop only. Clicking or double-clicking its name in the list does nothing at all — deliberately, in the code — and its right-click menu has no "insert" entry. If you have selected a template and waited for something to happen, nothing was broken: drag it onto the folio instead. This is the single most common confusion about the feature.

1. Creating a template

On a folio, select the items you want to keep. Anything you can select works — elements, conductors, texts, images.
Right-click the selection → "Créer un template". The entry only appears when something is selected; right-clicking empty space gives you the folio menu instead (properties, add/remove row or column).
A dialog, "Enregistrer un template", asks where to put it. Pick the collection in the tree, type a name in "Nom du nouveau template", and press Save.
A message box confirms the full path it was written to.

The .qetmak extension is added for you, and is hidden again when the template is listed in the panel.

The tab is called Modèles but the collection inside it is called Macros — the two names mean the same thing. It is the user templates folder described below.

2. Placing a template

Open the Modèles tab of the elements panel (beside Collections), then drag the template onto the folio.

Step	What happens
You drop it on the folio	A semi-transparent preview of the whole template appears and follows the pointer, snapped to the grid
Left click	The template is placed at the preview's position
Right click	Placement is cancelled, nothing is added
Escape	Also cancels — from the moment you drop, not just after the first click

While a placement is in progress the folio's own right-click menu is switched off, which is why right-click cancels rather than opening a menu.

What does not place a template, by design:

Action	Result
Single click on the name	selects the row, nothing else
Double click on the name	nothing — an explicit early return in the code
Right-click menu on the template	offers delete (and folder management), never "insert"

3. Where templates are stored

Templates live in their own collection, separate from elements:

	Path
Default	(application data folder)`/macros/`
Linux	`~/.local/share/QElectroTech/QElectroTech/macros/`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\QElectroTech\QElectroTech\macros\`
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/QElectroTech/QElectroTech/macros/`

The exact base is Qt's application data location, so a portable or sandboxed install (Snap, Flatpak, AppImage with a custom home) will resolve it inside that sandbox rather than in your normal home folder.

You can move the folder elsewhere — a shared network drive, for instance, so a team draws from the same template library — in Preferences → General, in the same group of settings that relocates the custom element and title-block collections. QElectroTech falls back to the default folder if the configured path no longer exists, so a missing network share leaves you with an empty template list rather than an error.

Each template is one file. Copying a .qetmak into the folder makes it appear in the panel, and deleting the file removes it; you can also create subfolders to organise them.

4. What is inside a `.qetmak` file

A template is XML, and it carries the symbol definitions with it. That is what makes a template portable between projects and between machines: the receiving project does not need the elements to be installed already.

<qet_macro>
    <collection>
        <element path="import/lampe_pe.elmt">
            <definition height="50" hotspot_x="15" hotspot_y="25" ...>
                ...the full symbol drawing...
            </definition>
        </element>
    </collection>
    <diagram_content>
        <diagram projectId="0" ...>
            <elements>
                ...the items you had selected...
            </elements>
        </diagram>
    </diagram_content>
</qet_macro>

Part	What it holds
`<collection>`	one `<element>` per distinct symbol used, with its complete definition — a template using six identical relays stores the relay once
`<diagram_content>`	the selected content itself, as a normal folio fragment
`type` attributes	rewritten to `macro://…` so the placed items resolve against the definitions carried in the file

A template holding a single lamp is around 3 KB, almost all of it the symbol definition.

5. Templates compared with the alternatives

	Template (`.qetmak`)	Element (`.elmt`)	Copy & paste
Holds several items and their wiring	yes	no — one symbol	yes
Survives closing the project	yes	yes	no, clipboard only
Reusable across projects	yes	yes	only while both are open
Carries symbol definitions with it	yes	n/a	no
Placed by	dragging from the Modèles tab	dragging from the Collections tab	Ctrl+V
Edited after saving	re-create it from a new selection	element editor	n/a

There is no template editor: to change a template, place it, adjust it on a folio, and save a new template over the old name.

6. Limitations

Drag-and-drop is the only way to place one. There is no menu item, no keyboard route and no double-click shortcut — issue #931.
Templates cannot be edited in place. Re-create them from a corrected selection.
No preview thumbnail in the panel — templates are listed by name only, so the names you choose are the only clue to what they contain — issue #932.
If you are running a development build from before 13 September 2026, dragging a template onto a folio does nothing on Qt 6 builds; that was fixed in PR #853. Update before concluding the feature is broken.

7. Troubleshooting

"I select my template in the list and nothing lands on the folio." Expected: selecting does nothing. Drag it onto the folio instead. See the note at the top of this page.

"I dragged it and still nothing happened." Check the build date — see the Qt 6 note above. Then check you dropped inside the folio's drawing area rather than the grey surround.

"The preview is stuck to my pointer." A placement is in progress: left click to place it, or press Escape or right click to cancel.

"My templates have disappeared." The templates folder is configurable in Preferences → General. If it points at a drive that is not mounted, QElectroTech shows an empty collection. Check the path, or copy the .qetmak files into the default folder above.