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Everything about a template as a whole lives in one place: how big it is, what file you get when someone orders, and which option set follows it. That place is Design Settings. Open your template in the editor and click the gear icon on the Design Template label above the canvas.
The Design Settings window for Besties Since Canvas. Canvas Size shows Unit Pixels (px), Width 1200 and Height 1200. Print Export shows Format PNG and Print resolution (PPI) 300, with the line Prints at 4.00 x 4.00 in (10.2 x 10.2 cm). Below is Sync to Option Sets, then Cancel and Save.

Design Settings, opened from the gear on the design frame label.

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Canvas size

The canvas is the printable area of your product. Set it once, at the size you actually print. Working in centimetres or inches is easier to think about: a 20 x 25 cm canvas at 300 dots per inch is a print shop’s idea of a photo print. Working in pixels is fine too, and the box under each measurement shows you the pixel size either way.
Changing the Pixel density of a template that already has artwork rescales every layer so the artwork keeps its physical size, and this cannot be undone. The window warns you before it happens. Decide the density before you build, not after.
The largest canvas allowed is 8192 pixels on a side. Anything over 4096 gets a warning, because a canvas that big makes the editor slow to work in.
This is the file you receive when someone orders. The resolution box changes its name with the canvas Unit:
  • With a canvas in pixels, it reads Print resolution (PPI). Your file keeps the exact pixel size of the canvas. The number only says how big it should print, and the line underneath tells you that size, for example Prints at 4.00 x 4.00 in.
  • With a canvas in centimetres, millimetres or inches, it reads Output resolution (DPI). The print size is fixed, and the line underneath tells you how many pixels the file will have.
PNG at 300 is the right answer for almost every print-on-demand product. Only move to PDF or CMYK if your printer has asked you for it.
Ask your printer what they want before you settle this. A file in the wrong colour mode is the most common reason a print comes back looking duller than the screen.

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What the Maker plan includes

On the Maker plan, print files come as PNG, JPG or PDF, at up to 300, in RGB. The other formats, CMYK and higher resolutions come with Studio and Atelier. On Maker you can still see every choice. The ones outside your plan have a padlock (🔒) after their name. Pick one and a note appears straight away saying which plan includes it. If you click Save anyway, Customei offers the upgrade instead of saving.
A template you set up on a higher plan keeps its print settings if you later move to Maker.

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Which option sets follow this template

The last section, Sync to Option Sets, is where a template and an option set are tied together. When they are tied, the option set gets one question per layer you chose, and later changes to those layers keep the questions up to date.
The Sync to Option Sets section of Design Settings outlined, showing the option set Besties Since Canvas with Resync and Remove buttons, an Enabled tickbox, a Cascade library changes tickbox, and a Search option sets box.

Sync to Option Sets. Each connected option set has its own two tickboxes.

A connection with Enabled unticked is the usual reason a Sync values button never appears on an option set. Tick it here and the option set starts following the template again.
Turning on Enabled for an option set you built by hand will add questions for the layers in this template. If you have carefully written your own questions, leave it off and update them yourself.
The option-set side of this story, covering the seeding banner, the per-question badges and Reset to library values, is on keep options up to date.

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Where to next

Keep options up to date

What happens on the option-set side when a template changes.

Create a template

Sizes, presets and the editor tour.