A template is a set of pages you build ahead of time and reuse, and each student gets their own copy.
Preparing a template before your student joins
Open the Nearo desktop app and press the blue Open my room button at the bottom of the My room card on the home screen. Until a student is admitted, your room is empty.
In your empty room, click the Notebooks icon in the Controls bar, the dark gray strip along the bottom of the room window, right after Share Screen. A blank template opens with its name field selected, so you can name it and build your pages. Until you rename it, it is named "Template" followed by the date and time, such as "Template - Sep 21 2026, 10:17 PM EDT".
Opening a template turns your camera and microphone off.
When your student is admitted, the template closes and a copy opens for the session, with the notice "Now working on a copy for" followed by your student's name, or "Now working on a copy for this session" if there is no name. If the copy cannot be made, the notice reads "Couldn't copy the notebook — this session has its own." A session notebook you already had open from an earlier student stays open.
To start another template, press the Notebooks button in the upper right of the open template, in the top band, and click New template, the large button under the heading of the list. In a narrow window, the Notebooks button moves into the More (⋮) menu at the right end of the top band.
The top band is the strip across the top of the open notebook.
Saving a notebook or page as a template
Click ···, the three dots in the middle of the top band next to the Add page icon, a page with a plus sign, to open the page options and click Save as template…. In a very narrow window, ··· moves into the More (⋮) menu as Page options…. You can also click ··· at the end of a notebook's row in the notebooks list and click Save as template….
Type a name in the Template name field.
If the notebook has two or more pages and you started from the page options, choose This page or Whole notebook.
Click Save as template. "Saved to Templates." appears when it is done.
Everything on the page or in the notebook is saved into the template, including your student's work. Save as template… is not available in the page options while a template is open. Margins and locked items you set in a template carry into each copy.
Using a template with your student
During a session, click the Notebooks icon in the Controls bar to open a notebook, then press the Notebooks button in the upper right of that notebook, in the top band. In a narrow window, it moves into the More (⋮) menu at the right end of the top band.
Find the template in the TEMPLATES section and click Use.
Nearo makes a copy for this student, named with your student's name, the date, and the template's name, so the template itself never changes.
Editing a template
Open the notebooks list with the Notebooks button in the upper right of the open notebook, in the top band. In a narrow window, it moves into the More (⋮) menu at the right end of the top band. In an empty Room, the Notebooks icon in the Controls bar opens a blank template first.
In an empty Room, click Edit on the template's row to open the template itself.
In a session, in the notebooks list, click ··· at the end of the template's row, click Edit template, and confirm by clicking Edit template in the "Edit the template?" dialog.
Changes you make appear in every future copy. Notebooks already made from the template do not change. While a template is open, a Template badge shows in the top band, beside the notebook name at the left. Pointing at it reminds you that you are editing the template itself.
ℹ️ Your student never sees the notebooks list.