# Creating a checklist template

Build an opening, closing or cleaning checklist once as a template — groups, tasks and answer types — and Mays turns it into your team's task list in the app.

For: Admins, Managers · On: Web · [Help Center](https://www.mays.app/help) › [Tasks & checklists](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists) · Last updated October 8, 2026 · Mays Team

A template is a checklist you build once — "Opening Checklist", "Weekly Deep Clean" — and Mays turns into your team's task list in the app, on the days and at the locations you choose.

Templates live on the web, under **Tasks → Templates** (the page is called **Task Templates**). Admins and managers can create them; employees only see the tasks they produce in the app. Checklists are part of every plan.

![The Task Templates page with search, the status and location filters and four templates grouped under Daily, Weekly and Monthly, each showing its task count, frequency and how many assignments it has](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__create-a-checklist-template__01-templates-list.404a5f8fd4.png)

## Create a template

1. Go to **Tasks → Templates** and click **Create Template**.
2. Type a name — for example *Opening Checklist* — and click **Continue**.
3. On the **Tasks** tab, click **Add Task Group**. A group called **New Group** appears; click its name and rename it, for example *Front of House*.
4. In the group, type a task into **Add a task (press Enter)** and press **Enter**. Keep typing to add the next one.
5. Next to each task, click the answer type (it starts as **Checkbox**) to change how staff complete it — see the table below.
6. Add more groups the same way, for example *Kitchen*.
7. Set when it runs and who does it on the **Settings** and **Assignments** tabs — see [Scheduling and assigning checklists](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/schedule-and-assign-checklists). A template with no location never produces any tasks.
8. Click **Create Template**. If something can't be saved, Mays says why in a message at the top right, and your template stays open so you can fix it.

![The template editor's Tasks tab: a Front of House group and a Kitchen group, each task with its answer type (Checkbox, Photo, Number) and a Required tag, and the Add Task Group button](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__create-a-checklist-template__02-tasks-tab.e0cadf57ba.png)

## Answer types

For each type's settings and where it can be used, see [Task answer types](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/task-response-types).

| Type | What staff do in the app |
| --- | --- |
| **Checkbox** | Tap once to mark it done. |
| **Photo** | Take a photo with the phone's camera. Photos can be checked by AI — see [AI photo verification](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/ai-photo-verification). |
| **Number** | Enter a number, such as a temperature. |
| **GPS** | Record where they are when they do it. |
| **Multiple Choice** | Pick one of the **Options** you add in the task's settings. |
| **Text** | Type a short answer. |
| **Inventory Count** | Count a list of items. Click the items button on the task (for example **0 items**) to list them, each with a **Min Stock** and **Case Size**. See [Inventory-count and restock tasks](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-count-tasks). |
| **Custom form** | Fill in a form you built under **Tasks → Types**. Only people who can see Types (admins, by default) can pick it, and you choose which form under **Task Type**. See [Building custom forms](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types). |

## Edit a task

- **Rename:** click the task's name, type, and press **Enter**.
- **Required or Optional:** click the **Required** tag to switch it.
- **More settings:** hover over the task and click the pencil. The **Edit Task** window has a **Description**, **Instructions**, the answer type and its options, **Priority**, **Required**, and **Assign to person (optional)**, which gives that one task to a specific person — see [Scheduling and assigning checklists](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/schedule-and-assign-checklists).
- **Reorder:** drag the handle on the left, or use the up and down arrows that appear when you hover.
- **Delete:** hover and click the trash icon.

Groups have a **⋯** menu with **Rename**, **Move Up**, **Move Down** and **Delete Group**. Deleting a group that still has tasks asks first, because its tasks go with it; an empty group is removed straight away. A group with no tasks isn't saved.

Changes in the **Edit Task** window only stick once you click **Save Changes** (or **Create Template**) at the top of the page. If you leave with unsaved changes, Mays asks before throwing them away.

## Turn a template off, copy it or delete it

- **Active / Inactive:** the button next to **Save Changes**. An inactive template stops producing tasks from the next day; tasks already on today's list stay.
- **Duplicate:** on the **Task Templates** page, hover over a template and click **⋮ → Duplicate**. The copy is called *… (Copy)* and opens straight away. It starts **Inactive**, with the same tasks, schedule and assignment, so your team doesn't get the checklist twice. Change what you need, click **Inactive** to switch it to **Active**, then click **Save Changes**.

![A duplicated template, Monthly Fire Safety Check (Copy), open in the editor with the Inactive button next to Save Changes](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__create-a-checklist-template__03-duplicate-inactive.0282afff57.png)

- **Delete:** **⋮ → Delete**. Mays asks first and names the template; click **Delete template** to confirm, or **Cancel**. No new checklists are created from a deleted template. Tasks that were already created stay, with their answers. To stop a template for a while instead, switch it to **Inactive**.

![The Delete “Monthly Fire Safety Check (Copy)”? box on the Task Templates page, with Cancel and Delete template buttons](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/help__create-a-checklist-template__04-delete-confirm.b82a852473.png)

## Import checklists you already have

Admins see **Import from Document** on the **Task Templates** page: upload the checklists you already use and Mays AI drafts the templates for you to review. It uses AI credits. See [Set up faster with the AI setup assistant](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/ai-setup-assistant).

## Who can do what

- **Admins** can create and edit any template.
- **Managers** can create templates for the locations they're assigned to. A template that runs at more than one location opens read-only for them; they can click **Duplicate** to make their own copy for their locations.
- Templates are made on the web. The apps show the tasks they produce, not the templates.

## Good to know

- **Changes apply from the next day.** Today's list keeps the tasks it was created with; a new template, a new task or an edit shows up in the next day's checklists. A task you delete also disappears from today's list if nobody has done it yet.
- **In the app, groups are sorted alphabetically** (with one-off tasks first), not in the order you arrange them here.
- **Description, Instructions and Priority** from the **Edit Task** window are saved with the template and show on the task in the app. Empty a box to remove its text.
- The template's own **Description** (on the **Settings** tab) is kept and shows on its card on the **Task Templates** page.

## Related articles

- Tasks & checklists: [Scheduling and assigning checklists](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/schedule-and-assign-checklists) — Choose which days a checklist runs, the hours staff can see it, whether unfinished tasks carry over, and who does it — a role, a department, specific people or one person per task.
- Tasks & checklists: [Task answer types](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/task-response-types) — Every task has an answer type that decides how staff complete it. Tick a box, take a photo, enter a number or text, pick an option, record a location, count stock or fill in a form.
- Tasks & checklists: [Completing your tasks in the app](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/complete-tasks-on-mobile) — Your checklist lives in the Tasks tab of the Mays app. Tick checkboxes with one tap, take photos, enter numbers, add a note — and fix and resend a task your manager sent back.
- Tasks & checklists: [Reviewing and rejecting completed tasks](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/review-and-reject-tasks) — Check what your team completed — photos, numbers, notes — on the web Tasks page or in the app, and send a task back with a reason when it isn't done right.
- Tasks & checklists: [AI photo verification](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/ai-photo-verification) — Let AI check every photo your team submits on a task. It flags weak photos for the manager to review, or rejects them straight away once you trust it. Each check uses AI credits.
- Getting started: [Your first week with Mays](https://www.mays.app/help/getting-started/getting-started-checklist) — A step-by-step plan for your first week — locations, your team, your first checklist, Square or 7shifts, and the mobile apps — with where to find each in Mays.
- Team & roles: [Roles and permissions](https://www.mays.app/help/team-roles/roles-and-permissions) — What the built-in Admin, Manager and Employee roles can do, how location access works, and how to build a custom role from individual permissions.
- Tasks & checklists: [Building custom forms (Task Types)](https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/custom-form-task-types) — Build your own task forms, like a cash count, a temperature log or a waste log, under Tasks → Types. Staff fill them in the app, and every answer lands in Task Data, ready to export.
- AI & automation: [Set up faster with the AI setup assistant](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/ai-setup-assistant) — Upload the checklists you already use, in PDF, Word, Excel or a photo, and Mays AI drafts your checklist templates, departments and roles for you to review and save.
- Inventory: [Inventory-count and restock tasks](https://www.mays.app/help/inventory/inventory-count-tasks) — Add an Inventory Count task to a checklist so staff count a short list of items. Anything under its minimum becomes a Restock Order task for managers.

## Still need help?

Send us a support request and a real person on the Mays team will get back to you.

[Contact support](https://www.mays.app/contact?topic=support) · [Call +1 (561) 286-3939](tel:+15612863939)

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/help/tasks-checklists/create-a-checklist-template