In a template, an editable region is a part of a page based on the template that can be modified. For example, the text of a newsletter should appear in the editable region so that each document can contain different text. The locked (non-editing) area is part of the page layout and remains unchanged in all pages.

When you create a template, all areas in the new template are locked, so to make the template useful, you must first define some editable areas (unlock them).

When editing a template file, you can modify the editing area and the locking area. However, in a template-based document, you can only modify the editable region of the document, but not the locked region of the document.

Note: When naming a range, you cannot use the following characters: single quotation marks or double quotation marks (""), angle brackets (

To define the contents of an existing template as an editable region:

1 In the template file, select the text or content to be converted into an editable region.

2 Please perform one of the following steps:

Select modify > template > new editable region.

Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Macintosh) the selected text and select New Editable Region from the shortcut menu.

3 In the New Editable Region dialog box, enter a unique name for the region. (You cannot use the same name for multiple editable regions in the same template. )

In the template, the editable region is surrounded by a highlighted rectangular box, and its color can be changed by using the highlighted color option in the settings. See Setting Template Parameters. The tab in the upper left corner shows the name of the area.

You can mark an entire table or a single cell as editable, but you cannot mark multiple cells in an editable area. Note that Dreamweaver doesn't know the difference between marking table cells as editable and marking cell contents as editable.

Layers and content in layers are independent elements. Marking a layer as editable allows you to change the location and content of the layer. However, by marking the contents of a layer as editable, you can only modify the contents of the layer, not the position of the layer. To select the contents of a layer, click in the layer and choose edit > select all. To select the layer itself, make sure that invisible elements are displayed, and then click the icon representing the location of the layer. For more information about layers, see Layers: Overview.

Note: If you set the contents of a layer to be editable, and later you want to set its position to be editable, you need to cancel editing the contents of the layer first, and then set the layer to be editable. See Locking editable regions.

To insert an empty editable region in a template:

1 Place the insertion point where you want to insert the editable region in the template.

2 select modify > template > new editable region.

3 In the new editable region dialog box, enter the name of the region.

The region names enclosed in braces will be inserted into the template as placeholders and enclosed in highlighted rectangular boxes.

When applying a template to a document, you can choose braces and region names and replace them with text, images, and other content.