In Compendium a template is basically a Compendium xml export file, which holds a set of maps/nodes which you wish to use over and over again. For example, you might create a template map for a type of meeting discussion with certain question nodes that always come up in each meeting. Then at the start of a discussion of that type, you would create a new Map and populate it from your meeting template.
What makes a Compendium xml export file a template rather than a backup or a way or sharing data is simply the way that the file is imported. If you import a Compendium xml file and do NOT select 'Preserve Transclusions' or 'Preserve Imported Node IDs', then Compendium creates new nodes with new node ids rather than transclusions to existing nodes.
You can, of course do this your self through the standard Import From XML option. But Compendium has some built-in support to make things easier.
In the Compendium application home directory, there is a subfolder called 'Templates', which is initially empty. This is suggested as the best place to store the xml exports that you wish to use as templates.
There are currently two ways in which Compendium provides additional support for using templates, and these are discussed below.
Template Menu
On the Tools Menu there is a submenu called 'Templates'. This menu will list all files and folder found in the Templates folder which is in your Compendium application folder.
It will create submenus as required by the folder structure you create in your Templates folder. For each folder it will create a submenu and for each xml file it will create a menu item. When you select a menu item, that xml file will be automatically imported into the current view as a template (with new nodes and node ids).
Stencils
As part of the Stencils system, you can associate a Compendium xml file with a Stencil item, provided it is a map or list type. When that stencil item is dragged from the stencil palette onto a view, the map or list node is created and is populated automatically with the contents of the associated Compendium xml file. See Stencils section for more details.