Program Templates and Plans Drafts
How Program Templates and Plans Drafts work, from building and organising reusable programs to duplicating, deleting and finding plans that seem to have vanished.
This guide covers the two places your unassigned work lives: Program Templates, which hold reusable sets of plans, and Plans Drafts, a staging area for plans that don't have a home yet.
Watch the video walkthrough if you'd rather see it in motion.
Note: QuickCoach's features and screen layouts may change over time, but the core workflow stays the same.
Program Templates
Think of a Program Template as a folder that holds a series of plans you've created. Build a program once and assign it to as many clients as you like, whenever you like.
Coaches use templates for:
- Multi-week workout programs
- Body-part or goal-specific workout collections
- Meal plans and recipes
- Habit-based programs
Note: Keep a template to 100 plans or fewer. See the FAQ below for why.
Click the lightning bolt icon in the navigation to get there. Check which tab you're on and switch if needed: the 'Program Templates' tab holds your templates, the 'Plans Drafts' tab holds loose plans.
Search, sort, and change the view
Type in the search box to find a template by name. The dropdown next to it changes how templates are sorted.
Pick 'Custom' in the sorting dropdown and you can drag templates into whatever order suits you, so the ones you reach for most stay up top.
Once you have more than 15 templates, a 'Cards Per Page' dropdown appears so you can show more at once. You can also switch between the card view and list view icons, whichever you find easier to scan.
Ways to organise your templates
There's no single right way to structure a template library. Pick whatever helps you find plans quickly:
- By program length, like 4, 8 or 12-week blocks
- By training focus, such as upper body, lower body, push or pull
- By workout type, like HIIT, AMRAPs, resistance or cardio
- By equipment, such as dumbbells, bodyweight, suspension or barbell
- By diet type for recipes, or by macro and calorie focus for nutrition plans
- By difficulty for habit programs
Watch the organising walkthrough (3:01) for ideas in action.
The template card menu
Click the three vertical dots on any template card to open its menu.
From here you can:
- Add a plan. Move plans from Plans Drafts into this template. Select the plan or plans, then click 'Add to template'.
- Assign to Client. Select one or more clients, then click 'Assign to client(s)'. Assigning this way sends the whole template to the client's Upcoming (Published) plans.
- Duplicate template. The copy keeps the same name with ' - Copy' on the end. Rename it from inside the template.
Create a new template
- Click either 'Create Template' button.
- Type in your template name and click 'Create template'.
- Click the new template to open it.
For a guided build of your first template, follow the build-along program template walkthrough.
Working with plans inside a template
The search box inside a template filters its plans by name. Click 'Edit Template' to rename the template, then 'Save'.
There are two ways to add plans:
- Build from scratch. Click a 'Create a Plan' button to start a fresh plan. The plan builder tour covers everything from there.
- Copy an existing plan in. From any plan in QuickCoach, click 'Copy To', pick the template under 'Select Templates', then click 'Copy Plan'. Copies made with the Copy Plan button arrive as drafts in the destination, so look for the copy in the template's 'Draft Plans' section. Copying, duplicating and repeating plans covers the whole flow.
Each plan row has its own controls. The pencil icon next to the name lets you rename the plan in place (click the save icon when done). The edit icon opens the plan for editing. The trash icon deletes it, after you confirm with 'Delete'.
Assigning plans from a template
Where assigned plans end up depends on how you assign them.
From inside the template, click the assign icon on a plan, search for the client (you can select several), and click 'Assign'. Plans assigned this way go to the client's Drafts, because QuickCoach assumes you'll want to tweak them first.
From the folder view, use 'Assign to Client' in the template card menu. The whole template goes straight to the client's Upcoming (Published) plans.
Assigning always creates a copy, so template edits are not retroactive. The full picture, including every publish destination, is in assigning plans to clients.
Mass editing
Click 'Select All' or tick the checkboxes of the plans you want to change, and a new menu appears.
The assign icon assigns every selected plan. The copy icon duplicates them. The trash icon deletes them, and 'Clear' unticks everything.
Duplicated plans land in the template's 'Draft Plans' section, which is not included when you assign the template. When you've finished editing them, select the plans and click the publish icon to move them to 'Ready Plans'.
At the bottom, the 'Rows per page:' dropdown sets how many plans you see in both sections. Your choice saves automatically.
Plans Drafts
Plans in Plans Drafts don't have a home yet. Treat it as a staging area.
The sorting dropdown and the card and list view icons work the same as they do for templates, and 'Create Plan' starts a new plan right here.
Click the three vertical dots on a plan to open its menu.
- Add to Template sends the plan to one of your existing templates. Search for the template, select it, and click 'Add to template'. A plan can only go to one template.
- Assign to Clients sends it to clients instead. Search, select, and click 'Add to client(s)'.
The trash icon deletes a draft plan once you confirm with 'Delete'.
Deleting plans and Program Templates
Old drafts and retired templates pile up. Clearing them out takes a few clicks.
Watch the deleting walkthrough (0:29).
- Click the lightning bolt icon to open your Plans Drafts & Program Templates page.
- Check which tab you're on and switch if needed: plans live in one tab, templates in the other.
- Click the trashcan icon next to the plan or template you want to remove.
Important: Proceed with caution. Once you delete a plan or template, it is gone forever. There's no undo and no recycle bin.
If there's any chance you'll want a plan again, make a copy first and delete the original. A tidy library beats a crowded one, and sorting your templates using the schemes above often removes the need to delete anything at all.
Frequently asked questions
How many program templates can I make?
The maximum is 99 program templates.
How many plans can I have in a program template?
We recommend no more than 100 plans per template. You can technically add more, but a template only displays 100 plans per page, and you won't be able to move a plan to a different page. Split large collections across templates using the organising schemes above.
I can't find my plan. Where did it go?
Don't panic. Nothing disappears on its own; the trashcan is the only way to lose work, and that deletion is permanent, with no undo. As long as you had an internet connection, QuickCoach saved your work automatically. Three common explanations:
- You assigned it from inside a program template, so it went to the client's Drafts folder.
- You're looking at the client's side of their account. Clients only see six plans at a time, and more appear as they complete plans.
- You assigned it from Plans Drafts. Assigning a draft moves the plan to the client's account rather than leaving a copy behind.
What's the difference between a plan and a program template?
A plan is individual. It's most commonly a single workout, meal plan, recipe, or habit tracker. A program template is a reusable set of plans you can assign to any client at any time, either as an entire set or one plan at a time.
What can I use program templates for?
However you'd like. The most common uses are workout programs (a 12-week at-home muscle builder, say), organising plans by topic such as location or duration, keeping recipes and meal plans tidy, or holding an inspiration gallery you dip into when programming.
Why do plans go to my client's drafts when I assign them from inside a template?
Assigning individual plans from inside a template sends them to the client's Drafts, because the system assumes you want to make edits first. Assign the entire template from the folder view instead and every plan goes straight to the client's Upcoming plans.
A useful next step is learning to copy a client's plan into a Program Template, so your best work becomes reusable.