> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.leaf360.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# SMS Templates
> The SMS template library in Leaf360 Mortgage CRM: folders, categories, merge variables, and how the character and segment counter works.
SMS Templates is the library every text message in Leaf360 Mortgage CRM gets built from. A template is a name, a category, and a message body, saved so a workflow, a Drip Campaign, or a colleague can reuse it.
Open it from **Marketing**, then **SMS**, under **Tools** in the sidebar.
Your folders sit on the left, and the templates matching your filters fill the rest of the screen, with a header and filter bar across the top. This screen looks a lot like [Email Templates](/mortgage-crm/email-templates) — close enough to confuse the two — so pay attention to the differences below.
## The header
| Control | What it does |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Refresh | Reloads the template list and folder tree. The icon spins while it's working |
| **AI Builder** | Opens the [AI SMS Builder](/mortgage-crm/ai-sms-builder) |
| **New Template** | Opens the editor on a blank template |
On Email Templates, **New Template** files the new template into whatever folder you were viewing. SMS Templates works differently: a template started here always saves as unfiled, no matter which folder was selected when you clicked the button. File it afterward with **Move to folder** if you need it somewhere specific.
## Finding a template
The filter bar holds a search box and a row of category buttons.
* **Search templates...** searches your whole library, not just what's currently on screen.
* The category buttons are **All**, **Lead Nurture**, **Transaction**, **Realtor**, **Marketing**, **Follow-Up**, **Reminder**, and **General**. You set a template's category in the editor.
* Two buttons on the right switch between a card grid and a list. The list view adds columns for character and segment counts, ownership, folder, and status.
### Folders
The left column holds your folder tree, split into two halves.
* **My folders** are yours. Nobody else sees them.
* **Company folders** are shared with the team. You need an administrator role to create one — if you're not an administrator, the create box fails and tells you why.
Above both sit **All templates** and **Unfiled**. Folders can nest, so each one can hold subfolders. Hover over a folder row for controls to create a subfolder, rename it, or delete it. Deleting a folder doesn't touch the templates inside it, and the confirmation box says so. A folder with subfolders can't be deleted until you remove those first.
The heading above the results shows where you are: the folder name, a description, a small label reading **Workspace**, **Unfiled**, **Company folder**, or **My folder**, and a count of matching templates.
## What a template card shows
Each card previews the message body as a chat bubble, with a category label and a status label (**draft**, **active**, or **archived**) in the corners. Below that: character and segment counts, the template name, ownership (**My Template** or **Company Template**), category, tags, and the folder it lives in.
Hover over a card and the same five actions from Email Templates appear: **Preview**, then **Edit** or **Duplicate to edit**, then icon buttons for **Duplicate** and **Move to folder**, and a trash icon if you're allowed to delete it.
Company templates are read-only for anyone who didn't create them, unless you hold the administrator role. Where you can't edit one, the button reads **Duplicate to edit** — clicking it makes your own copy instead of opening the original.
Clicking a card's preview button expands a small phone mockup showing the message as a chat bubble, with the character and segment count repeated underneath.
## Acting on several at once
Check the box on a card, or use **Select all deletable templates** in the filter bar. A row of actions appears:
| Action | What it does |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| **Move selected (n)** | Opens the folder picker for the whole selection |
| **Delete selected (n)** | Deletes them, after you confirm |
**Move to folder** offers **Remove from my folders** and **Remove from company folders** at the top of the list. Deleting is permanent — the confirmation box names exactly what it's about to delete and warns you can't undo it.
Unlike Email Templates, there's no bulk **Activate** or **Move to Draft** here. You change status one template at a time, in the editor.
## Pagination
The library loads twenty-four templates at a time. Once there are more, a bar appears reading **Showing X-Y of Z templates**, with **Previous**, **Next**, and the page number in between.
## The template editor
Opening a template, or pressing **New Template**, opens the template editor.
The layout is a phone preview on the left and a settings panel on the right.
### The phone preview
The message shows as an outgoing chat bubble. A **Preview data** control above it lets you pick a **Lead**, **Loan**, or **Contact**, search for a real record, and refill the body with that record's actual values instead of the merge fields. Three counters sit below the phone: segments, characters, and the number of merge fields used in the body.
### Properties
* **Template Name**, required to save.
* **Category**, the same seven options as the filter buttons.
* **Message Body**, a plain text box. An **Insert Variable** button opens the same merge field picker used across Leaf360, grouped and searchable.
* **Description**, an internal note, and **Tags**, separated by commas.
* **Status**: **draft**, **active**, or **archived**, set with three buttons. This is part of the template record, and gets written when you click **Save**, not separately.
### Reading the segment and character counter
The counter reads your message as plain text: up to 160 characters counts as one segment, and past that, Leaf360 splits the rest into 153-character chunks — that's how carriers actually break up a longer text message. A row of up to four dots next to the counter fills in with the segment count, turning from blue past one segment to orange past three. There's no test send on this screen — sending happens elsewhere.
### Saving and other actions
**Save** writes the template and shows **Saved!** at the top. On a template you can't edit, **Save** is grayed out and the bar shows **This is a Company Template. Duplicate to edit your own copy.** with a **Duplicate to edit** button next to it.
**Duplicate**, at the bottom of the settings panel, makes a copy named "(Copy)" and opens it in draft status. **Archive** sets the status field to archived, but that change isn't saved until you click **Save**. There's no delete option in the editor — deleting happens from the library.
## Where templates get used
A template is the raw material for a text, not the sending itself. There's no schedule and no audience list on this screen.
* A [workflow](/mortgage-crm/workflows) can send one when it's triggered, and opening the editor from a workflow hands your saved template back to the step you came from.
## Common problems
That template belongs to the company, not to you, and you don't hold the administrator role. Duplicating it gives you an editable copy and leaves the original untouched.
Only an administrator can create company folders. Ask one to create it for you, or use a personal folder instead.
New SMS templates always save as unfiled, no matter which folder was open when you clicked **New Template**. File it with **Move to folder** after saving.
Check the category buttons, and make sure you haven't filtered into a specific folder. Click **All templates** to clear the folder narrowing.
## Related
* [AI SMS Builder](/mortgage-crm/ai-sms-builder)
* [Email Templates](/mortgage-crm/email-templates)
* [Leaf360 Mortgage CRM](/mortgage-crm/overview)