Create and Manage Templates

Step-by-step guide to creating, linking, and testing notification templates.

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Create and Manage Templates

This guide walks you through the complete workflow of creating, configuring, and managing notification templates in Collate.

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Creating a Custom Template

Use the steps below to create a new notification template.

1. Click the Profile icon and navigate to Settings > Notifications > Templates.
2. Click Add Template.
3. Enter the required details. See Template Details.
4. Click Save.

Alternatively, create a custom template while creating a notification:

1. Navigate to Settings > Notifications > Alerts.
2. Click Add Alert.
3. In the Notification Template dropdown field, select Create Custom Template and enter the required details. See Template Details.
4. Click Save.

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Template Details

The Add Template form has three required fields. Type {{ in the Subject or Body field to browse available Handlebars placeholders and helpers.

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Template Name

Enter a descriptive name that identifies the template’s purpose. This name appears in the template picker when configuring alerts.

Guidelines:

• Use a clear, descriptive name that indicates the template’s purpose.
• Examples: Data Quality Alert, Incident Notification, Weekly Report

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Template Subject

Define the subject line for your notification. This appears as the email subject or message header.

Type {{ to access available helpers. Placeholders are read from the event and entity objects, so always include the prefix (for example, {{event.eventType}}, not {{eventType}}):

• {{event.eventType}}: The type of event that triggered the notification (for example, entityCreated, entityUpdated).
• {{event.entityType}}: The type of entity involved (for example, table, pipeline, dashboard).
• {{entity.name}} or {{entity.displayName}}: The name of the affected entity. entity.displayName is empty if the entity has no display name.
• {{formatDate event.timestamp}}: When the event occurred.
• {{publisherName}}: The name of the alert that sent the notification.

Example:

[{{event.eventType}}] {{event.entityType}}: {{{entity.name}}}

The subject uses the same placeholders and helpers as the body. It is plain text, so don’t add HTML tags. To keep a & in a name from showing as &, use triple braces: {{{entity.name}}}.

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Template Body

Create the main content of your notification using the rich text editor. The editor supports bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, lists, links, images, code blocks, quotes, and dividers.

Available Placeholders:

Placeholders must start with the object they belong to. A bare placeholder such as {{entityName}} or {{eventType}} renders empty.

Placeholder	Description
{{event.eventType}}	Type of event (for example, entityCreated, entityUpdated)
{{event.entityType}}	Type of entity (for example, table, pipeline)
{{event.entityFullyQualifiedName}}	Fully qualified name of the entity
{{event.userName}}	User who made the change
{{formatDate event.timestamp}}	Event timestamp, formatted as a date
{{entity.name}}	Name of the entity
{{entity.displayName}}	Display name of the entity
{{entity.description}}	Description of the entity
{{buildEntityUrl event.entityType entity}}	Link to the entity in Collate
{{publisherName}}	Name of the alert that triggered the notification
{{baseUrl}}	Base URL of your Collate instance

For the full list of objects and properties, see the Template Context Reference. For the full list of helpers, see the Custom Helpers Reference.

Conditional Blocks:

Use {{#if condition}}...{{/if}} for conditional content:

{{#if entity.description}}
Description: {{entity.description}}
{{/if}}

Iteration:

Use {{#each items}}...{{/each}} to iterate over lists. To list the fields that changed, group the change description first:

{{#with (groupEventChanges event.changeDescription) as |changes|}}
{{#each changes.updates}}
- {{name}}: {{oldValue}} → {{newValue}}
{{/each}}
{{/with}}

event.changeDescription is empty for entityCreated and entityDeleted events, so change lists render only for update events.

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Best Practices

• Keep templates concise and actionable.
• Include relevant links for quick access to affected entities.
• Use conditional blocks for optional information.
• Select Validate before saving to check Handlebars syntax.

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Modifying Templates

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Editing User Templates

User templates (those you created) can be fully edited:

1. Click the Profile icon and navigate to Settings > Notifications > Templates.
2. Find the template in the list.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Modify any fields (Name, Display Name, Description, Subject, Body).
5. Click Save.

Changes take effect immediately for any subscriptions using the template.

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Editing System Templates

System templates (pre-built by Collate) can be partially edited:

• You can modify: Subject and Body.
• You cannot modify: Name and Display Name.
• System templates track if you’ve customized them.

Important: If you don’t customize a system template, it automatically updates when Collate releases improvements. Once you customize it, you’re responsible for maintaining it.

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Linking Templates to Event Subscriptions

Templates become useful when connected to event subscriptions. Here’s how to use them:

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Step 1: Navigate to Subscriptions

1. Click the Profile icon and navigate to Settings > Notifications > Subscriptions.
2. Create a new subscription or edit an existing one.

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Step 2: Select a Template

1. In the subscription form, find the Notification Template dropdown.
2. Choose from:
   • System Templates - Pre-built templates for common entity types.
   • User Templates - Custom templates you’ve created.
   • (blank) - Use default formatting per channel.

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Step 3: Configure Other Settings

Complete the rest of the subscription setup:

• Event Type - Which changes trigger the notification.
• Destinations - Where to send notifications (email, Slack, Teams, etc.)
• Filters - Optional conditions for when to send.

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Step 4: Save the Subscription

Your template is now active and will be used for all notifications from this subscription.

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Show Failed Rows in a Data Quality Alert

Test case alerts use the default Entity Updated Notification template. There is no separate data quality template. The default template already shows the failed row count and a table of failed rows, so if your alert uses it, steps 1 to 3 below are all you need. Step 4 is only for alerts that use a custom template.

To show failed rows in an alert:

1. In the test settings, turn on Compute Row Count. The failed row count and sample aren’t available when this option is off. The Compare 2 tables for differences test is the exception: it collects a sample whenever it fails.

2. Check that the test type collects a sample. Only these tests do:

   • Column Values To Be Between
   • Column Values To Be In Set
   • Column Values To Be Not In Set
   • Column Values To Be Not Null
   • Column Values To Be Unique
   • Column Values To Match Regex Pattern
   • Column Values To Not Match Regex
   • Column Value Lengths To Be Between
   • Custom SQL Query
   • Compare 2 tables for differences

   Other tests don’t produce a table.

3. Under Settings > Preferences > Profiler Configuration, check that Enable Storing of Sample Data is on. It’s on by default. When it’s off, no sample is collected.

4. If your alert uses a custom template, add the snippet below to the template body.

5. Run a test that fails.

6. In the resulting notification, confirm that the failed row count and sample table appear.

The snippet below shows the failed row count and a table of up to 10 columns and 3 failed rows, with the tested column in bold:

{{#with (groupEventChanges event.changeDescription) as |changes|}}
{{#if (and (eq event.entityType 'testCase') (hasFieldInChanges changes 'testCaseResult'))}}
{{#if entity.testCaseResult.failedRows}}Failed rows: {{entity.testCaseResult.failedRows}} ({{math entity.testCaseResult.failedRowsPercentage 'round' 2}}%){{/if}}
{{#with (parseEntityLink entity.entityLink) as |link|}}{{{renderTableSample entity.failedRowsSample link.arrayField 10 3}}}{{/with}}
{{/if}}
{{/with}}

Copy all six lines. The first two make the block appear only when a new test result arrives, and the last two close them.

The sample only appears when the test fails.

Collate masks columns tagged PII.Sensitive in the sample. If the table has the PII.Sensitive tag, Collate masks every column.

A test notification uses generated data without a failed result or failed-row sample, so the test case section stays empty. To view this section, run a test that fails and inspect the actual notification.

The editor suggestions that appear after you enter {{ list the basic Handlebars blocks (if, each, with, unless), the custom helpers with an example of each, and the event, entity, baseUrl, publisherName, and emailingEntity placeholders. For more information, see the Custom Helpers Reference.

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Reacting to a Data Contract Status Change

A data contract has an approval status in entity.entityStatus. The values are Draft, In Review, Approved, Archived, Deprecated, Rejected, and Unprocessed. When the status changes, the change event records it under the field name entityStatus.

To show a message only when the status changed, group the changes and check for that field:

{{#with (groupEventChanges event.changeDescription) as |changes|}}
  {{#if (hasFieldInChanges changes "entityStatus")}}
    <p>The status of <strong>{{entity.name}}</strong> changed to <strong>{{entity.entityStatus}}</strong>.</p>
  {{/if}}
{{/with}}

{{#if entity.owners}}
  <p>Owners:
  {{#each entity.owners}}{{name}}{{#unless @last}}, {{/unless}}{{/each}}
  </p>
{{/if}}

Use {{buildEntityUrl event.entityType entity}} to link to the contract.

A change to entityStatus appears only on update events. A create event has no list of changes, and soft-delete and restore events list only the deleted field.

A template changes only what the notification shows. It can’t stop the alert from firing. A data contract alert can’t currently filter on the approval status (entityStatus). The only status filter for data contracts, Get Data Contract Status Updates, checks the validation result (such as Failed or Aborted), not the approval status. An alert on data contracts therefore sends a notification for every matching contract change, not only for status changes.

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Template Validation and Testing

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Validating Templates

Before you save a template, click Validate in the template editor. Validation checks the Handlebars syntax. It doesn’t check whether a placeholder exists, so a misspelled placeholder passes validation and renders as empty text.

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Sending Test Notifications

Send a test from the alert form, not from the template editor:

1. Click the Profile icon and navigate to Settings > Notifications > Alerts.
2. Open or create an alert, and select a source.
3. Add at least one external destination, such as Email, Slack, MS Teams, or Google Chat.
4. Under Notification Template, select a saved template or Create Custom Template. Test Template isn’t available for System Default Template.
5. Click Test Template.
6. Check your destinations to verify formatting and content.

The test uses generated sample data, not a real event.

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Modifying vs. Duplicating Templates

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When to Modify

Modify a template when you want to update all existing subscriptions using it:

• Impact: All active subscriptions using this template immediately get new formatting.
• Use when: Improving a template everyone already uses.

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When to Duplicate

Create a new template based on an existing one when:

• You want a variation for a specific use case.
• You want to test changes before affecting production subscriptions.
• Different teams need different formatting.

How to duplicate:

You can’t automatically duplicate, but you can:

1. Copy the template content.
2. Create a new template.
3. Paste the content as a starting point.
4. Modify as needed.

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Deleting Templates

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Delete User Templates

You can safely delete user templates you created:

1. Go to Settings > Notifications > Templates.
2. Find your template.
3. Click the Delete button.
4. Confirm the deletion.

Note: If the template is actively used in subscriptions, consider what will happen to those subscriptions when you delete it.

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System Templates

System templates cannot be deleted (they’re read-only by default).

If you’ve customized a system template and want to revert to the original, click Restore. After restoring, the template will once again stay synchronized with the Collate-provided system default (unless you modify it manually).

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Troubleshooting Template Issues

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Template Won’t Save

Common causes:

• Body exceeds 65,536 characters - simplify the content.
• Subject exceeds 255 characters - shorten the subject.
• Invalid Handlebars syntax - check brackets are balanced.
• Required fields are empty - fill in Name, Display Name, Subject, and Body.

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Notifications Not Using Template

Check:

1. Is the template selected in the subscription settings?
2. Is the subscription active?
3. For system templates, do the subscription’s event type and entity type match your template name?

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Template Shows Wrong Data

Check:

1. Are you using the correct property names? See Template Context Reference
2. Is the data available for this entity type?
3. Are you using conditionals for optional fields?

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Next Steps

• Learn about available data → Template Context Reference
• Master Handlebars → Handlebars Templating Guide
• Get help with issues → Troubleshooting Guide