Checklist Templates are reusable checklists you build once and apply to any task — a site-safety walkthrough, a spring start-up sequence, a close-out punch list. Instead of retyping the same items on every job, a crew lead opens the task, picks the template, and the full checklist appears, ready to work through in the field. Each item can be a simple pass/fail check or something richer: a text answer, a number, a photo, even a signature.
One idea to hold onto before anything else: an applied checklist is a snapshot. When a template lands on a task, the task gets its own copy. Editing the template later — or deleting it — never changes checklists already attached to tasks.
Where to find Checklist Templates
From the left sidebar click Settings, then choose Checklist Templates (in the Workflow & Scheduling group, just below Workflows).
The page has two tabs:
Templates — the list of every template.
Items — the items inside one template. This tab stays greyed out until you drill into a template: click the › chevron on a template row (or right-click → View Items), and the tab becomes Items — {template name}.
Creating a template
On the Templates tab, click Add Template (top right). A blank row appears at the top of the grid with the Name cell already in edit mode — templates are edited right in the grid, like a spreadsheet.
| Column | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Name | Required. What people see in the task picker — e.g. "Weekly Site Safety Audit". |
| Category | Optional label shown as a badge, useful once you have many templates. |
| Description | Optional — what the checklist is for. |
| Notes | Optional. Copied onto the checklist when it's applied, so crews see them on the task. |
| Status | Active or Inactive. Only active templates appear in the task picker. |
Press Enter (or click the green check in the row) to save. To edit later, single-click any cell and type. To delete, right-click the row → Delete Template — the items go with it, but checklists already applied to tasks keep their own copy.
Adding items
Drill into the template (the › chevron), then click Add Item. The Add Checklist Item dialog is where each line of the checklist gets its shape:
Item text — what the person in the field reads, e.g. "All team members wearing hi-vis vests". Required. This is a small formatting editor, not a plain box: a compact toolbar above it gives you bold, italic, underline, a link, and a bullet list, so you can emphasise the part that matters or break a long instruction into points. There's no length limit — write as much as the item genuinely needs. Whatever formatting you apply here is what crews read on the task checklist, and it carries through to the audit report PDF as well.
Response type — how the item gets answered (see the table below).
Required — tick "Required (must be checked to complete the task)" for items that can't be skipped. Items default to optional.
Help text — an optional hint shown to whoever fills the checklist in.
Display order — leave blank to append to the end.
Response types
| Type | The field crew sees |
|---|---|
| Pass / fail | A checkbox. The default, and right for most items. |
| Text answer | A free-text box. |
| Numeric answer | A number field. |
| Select (pick one) | A dropdown of options you define (up to 50). |
| Multi-select (pick many) | The same, allowing several picks. |
| Range (min/max number) | A number that must land between a minimum and maximum you set — with an optional step and unit (e.g. °F). |
| Image | Photo capture — optional or required, with a minimum and maximum photo count (1–20). |
| Signature | A signature capture. |
Photos and clock triggers
Any non-photo item can also collect photos — tick "Also capture photos on this item". If the photo itself is the point, use the Image type and tick "Photo required to complete this item" with a minimum count.
Capture on clock event ties a photo item to the crew's clock: Clock-in (site arrived) or Clock-out (site departed). This is how before-and-after site photos become automatic instead of remembered. A clock trigger only works on items that capture photos.
Applying a template to a task
Open any task and go to its Checklist section. Next to the ad-hoc "Add checklist item…" box there's an Apply Template button (clipboard icon). Click it, pick a template from the list — each shows its item count and category — and the whole checklist is added to the task, below anything already there.
The applied checklist keeps the template's name and notes, and every item keeps its type, required flag, photo rules, and order. From the checklist header you can also Download an audit report PDF once items are being completed.
Applying the same template twice adds a second copy — GO doesn't stop you, so check what's already on the task first.
Retiring a template
Don't delete templates you might want history from — set their Status to Inactive instead. Inactive templates stay in the Settings grid but disappear from the task picker, which is the intended way to retire one.
Good to know
Snapshot, always. Template edits never touch checklists already on tasks. If a checklist on a task looks "out of date", that's by design — it reflects the template as it was when applied.
Response types lock once used. After any task has answered an item, that item's response type can no longer be changed — GO will refuse with an error telling you to create a new template instead. Get the type right before rolling a template out.
Only Required edits inline in the Items grid — tick or untick it straight in the row. Item text is formatted text now, so it's edited in the dialog like everything else (type, photos, options, ranges): click the pencil icon on the row.
Signature items can't collect photos, and a clock-in/clock-out trigger requires a photo type — GO enforces both.
Permissions: viewing the page needs settings access; creating and editing templates needs the manage checklist templates permission; applying a template to a task needs the task manage checklist permission. If the task's workflow state locks its checklist, the Apply Template button is disabled until the task moves on.
Managing who can do what happens in Roles; the task side of checklists is covered in Tasks.