Contributing an Overleaf Template
How to create a template for UP Overleaf and get it listed. Anyone with a UP Overleaf account can contribute — you do not need to be an admin.
The full list of available templates is at UP Overleaf#Templates.
How templates work here
Overleaf Community Edition has no built-in template gallery, so we use a simple convention instead: a template is just a normal Overleaf project, shared read-only.
Users open the template and choose Menu → Copy Project to get their own editable copy. The copy is a snapshot — if you later fix a typo in the master template, existing copies do not pick up the change.
The Templates menu in the Overleaf top navigation carries only the most-used templates, plus an "All templates (wiki) →" link back to the full list on the wiki.
Creating a template
1. Build the project
Create it as a normal Overleaf project. Keep it blank and generic:
- Use placeholders, not real content —
Your Thesis Title Here,Your Full Name,Month Year. - Strip out personal data, real results, and anything institution-specific that other users would have to hunt down and delete.
- Leave the structure and formatting intact — that is the actual value of a template.
2. Add a README
Include a short README.md at the project root telling the user which files to edit first. At minimum: where the title/author/date live, where the chapters are, and which compiler to use.
3. Make sure it compiles
Hit Recompile and confirm you get a clean PDF. Do not list a template that does not build — that is worse than no template.
If it needs an unusual LaTeX package, check it is installed on the server first; if it is missing, contact the maintainer, since adding packages requires a rebuild of the Overleaf image.
- Click Share (top right).
- Turn on link sharing.
- Copy the "Anyone with this link (read only)" URL. It looks like
http://10.206.150.206/read/abcd1234.
Use the read-only link, not the edit link. The edit link would let anyone modify the master template.
5. List it on the wiki
Add a row to the table at UP Overleaf#Templates with the template name, a one-line description of who it is for, and the read-only link.
That's it — it is live immediately. No server access, no restart, no waiting on an admin.
Who can do what
| Task | Who | What they need |
|---|---|---|
| Create a template project and share it read-only | Any Overleaf user | Just a UP Overleaf account |
| List it on the wiki (this is what "publishing" means) | Anyone with wiki edit access | A wiki account |
| Promote it into the Templates nav dropdown | Server maintainer only | SSH access to the Overleaf host |
The nav dropdown is the only privileged step. It is driven by an environment variable (OVERLEAF_HEADER_EXTRAS) that Overleaf reads only when the container boots, so changing it requires shell access and a restart with brief downtime. That is exactly why the full list lives on the wiki instead: publishing a template should not require a maintainer.
Ask a maintainer to promote a template only if it is something people will reach for constantly.
Notes
- Read-only links require a UP Overleaf login. They are not open to the public internet, so it is safe to list them on this wiki.
- Keep master templates on the admin account, or shared read-only to it, so the links can be recovered later.