Important: Everyone will have their own way of making the best of this feature but here are a few things to help crystalize the template concept.

A document that you create as a template...
...but is not shared (view or edit) within your domain will not be available for other users in your domain.

...and is shared within your domain with View permission will be available to other users in your domain. The file will be listed in both the Docs index and the Template Gallery.

...and is shared within your domain with Edit permission will be available to other users in your domain. The file will be listed in both the Docs index and the Template Gallery. Keep in mind that if you share Edit permissions, the edits will impact the template for everyone that has access to the template.

Create a new Folder in Google Docs appropriately called My Template Gallery. Don't share this Folder with others or within your domain because if the people collaborating with you open and edit the document it will change the template for everyone. Alternatively, if you have documents that managed by a few people you might want to share the Folder to allow for collaboration. Just be sure that everyone with access to the Folder appreciates how editing a "templated" document functions. Continue reading to see what why this is important...

It's best if you use a test document or something that you don't mind the other users in your domain seeing in the template gallery. We recommend creating a test document with a few lines of text to give you a feel for the end-to-end process.

1. Within the index view of Google Docs, select the document you want to use as a template
2. In More Actions choose Submit to Template Gallery

1. Enter a description for the template

2. Select a category and sub-category if relevant
Note: Categories are pre-configured by your Google Apps Administrator

Important!
3. Review the terms of sharing a template within your environment, specifically, the template will be available to everyone within your domain and edits will show immediately in the template gallery.

1. Go to your your domain's templates section

2. Review the template as others will see it

HOT TIP!
3. To delete or remove a template from the Google Docs Template Gallery, you can always return to the template and select Remove From Gallery. You'll need to navigate to My Templates in order to see this removal option

When users within your domain Create new in Google Docs and use the From Template option, they'll be given access to your template.

If a user selects your template, it will create a copy of the document in their Google Docs account. In our example above the document would be called Copy of RBS Non-Disclosure Agreement.

Using the Template feature within Google Docs is a powerful way to ensure consistency across your domain, give it a try and let us know how it works out for you.