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Templates give your 1:1s a consistent structure. Instead of starting each meeting with a blank page, a template pre-populates the agenda with the sections and questions you want to cover — like wins, blockers, career growth, or anything else that matters for the relationship.

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Types of templates

  • Company templates — Created by workspace admins and available to everyone in the organization. Useful for establishing a consistent 1:1 format across teams.
  • Personal templates — Created by any employee for their own 1:1s. Only visible to the creator and the participants in 1:1s where the template is applied.
Windmill includes a set of starter templates to help you get going, or you can create your own from scratch.
The Templates picker on a 1:1 showing company and personal templates, with a template preview open

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Company templates

Company templates are created and managed by workspace admins. They’re a way to establish a standard 1:1 format across the organization — for example, ensuring every manager-report 1:1 covers key topics like priorities, blockers, and growth. Admins manage company templates from the 1:1 Templates admin page. From there, admins can:
  • Create a new company template
  • Edit a company template’s name and content
  • View Pairs — see all 1:1 pairs currently using the template
  • Delete or Duplicate an existing template
When an admin edits a company template that’s assigned to one or more pairs, the updated content is automatically applied to all future, unedited 1:1 agendas for those pairs.
Once a company template is published, any employee can apply it to their own 1:1s — either for a single meeting or as the default for all future 1:1s with a specific person.

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Personal templates

Any employee can create and manage their own personal templates from the Templates panel on the 1:1s page. From the Templates panel, you can:
  • Create a new template with a name, description, and markdown content
  • Edit templates you created
  • Duplicate any template (including company templates and starter templates) into your own personal copy
  • Delete templates you no longer need
Personal templates are markdown-based, so you can format them with headings, bullet points, or any structure that works for your meetings.

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Applying a template to a single 1:1

Use this when you want to apply a template to just one meeting — for example, a mid-year check-in that needs a different structure than your usual format.
1

Open the 1:1 list

Go to the 1:1s page and open the pair you’re meeting with.
2

Open the three-dot menu on the 1:1

Hover over the 1:1 you want to update and click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the section header.
3

Select Apply Template

Click Apply Template and choose a template from the picker.
You can also apply a template from inside the agenda editor by typing / and selecting Apply Template from the slash command menu.
If the 1:1 already has content in the agenda, Windmill will ask you to confirm before overwriting it. Applying a template this way only affects the current 1:1 — future 1:1s with the same person are unchanged.

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Setting a default template for all future 1:1s

Use this when you want every future 1:1 with a specific person to start with the same structure. The default is set at the pair level, so it applies to every upcoming 1:1 with that individual.
1

Go to the employee's profile

Navigate to the profile of the person you have 1:1s with.
2

Open their settings

Click Settings on their profile.
3

Choose a default template

In the Default Template row, click Select Template and pick a template from the picker. Click Set Default to confirm.
All future 1:1s for this pair that haven’t been edited will use this template by default. Existing 1:1 agendas are not changed. Only the manager in a 1:1 pair can set the default template.
The default template only seeds 1:1 agendas that haven’t been edited yet. Once you or the other participant has added content to a specific 1:1, that meeting’s agenda won’t be overwritten.
To change or remove the default, open the same settings row and either select a different template or choose No Template.

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Duplicating a template

If an existing template is close to what you need but you want to customize it, you can duplicate it. This creates a new personal template you can edit freely without affecting the original. From the Templates panel, open the template you want to copy and select Duplicate. Give your copy a new name and description, then edit the content as needed.